Growing communities are an interesting study of the good and bad of rapid growth and development; master planned estates and new suburbs are usually a hive of activity as the developers and tradespeople set about transforming a greenfield into a community.
The northern Gold Coast is a prime example of an area experiencing the subsequent growing pains of rapid development.
The township of Pimpama is one of the last remaining rural towns in the region between the Gold Coast and Brisbane but that is changing as its undeveloped land becomes developed at a rate of knots.
Local resident Karina Waterman lives in neighbouring Coomera, and in the nine years she has lived in the area she's seen first-hand the transformation from a quiet town into a burgeoning and busy community.
She told the ABC that not all the changes had been positive: "We're not seeing the other things that you would expect to come with development like the parks and the footpaths and the recreational areas,".
"The green space and all those sorts of things that we thought would be here.
"My daughter's school had a few hundred students a few years ago, now there are up to 1,300 kids," she said.
As the fastest growing community in Queensland it’s no surprise that the builders are the ones cashing in. Builder Nathan Dunn, is one who’s business has grown quickly. He cites annual growth of between 30 and 40 per cent.
"It's just in one word, crazy, you can put it that way," he told the ABC.
"We've seen massive growth within our business, we're a relatively young company, we have basically ridden the wave."In areas such as Pimpana it’s often the infrastructure that has to play catch-up with the growth in population. Green spaces, sporting and community facilities are often lacking in these locations.
Whilst the council and government are investing in the area the delay in getting these projects off the ground often mean that the residents play a waiting game for infrastructure and facilities that other communities take for granted.
It may be a chicken and egg dilemma for these new suburbs experiencing growth, but early investment in these facilities should be possible, especially where it’s well flagged where the next growth spot will be.
