Gold Coast Council reverses decision to infill lake following conservation campaign

Gold Coast City Council has bowed to pressure from conservation groups by voting to save a freshwater lake from being turned into a carpark.

Having previously given approval for the Black Swan Lake to be filled in to provide car parking for the Gold Coast Turf Club, the Council has now decided to save the remaining 20% of the lake.

The decision comes after five years of protests by community and conservation groups to save the lake in the suburb of Bundall which had previously been approved to be infilled for development.

Commenting on the reversal, Jess Abrahams from the Australian Conservation Foundation told the ABC "this is an inspiring result. It shows there is hope around the country.

"When communities do band together and fight for their local patch they do win."

At Tuesday's full Gold Coast Council meeting, a super majority of councillors voted to retain the remaining undeveloped section of the lake. Only Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate voted against the recommendation.

Councillor Bob La Castra put forward the recommendation to save the remaining part of the lake and said he was always opposed to infilling it.

He told the ABC "it would have been a much better win if that body of water was there in total. But we can't change what has already been done.

"We can't undo that, so for me it was 'let's try to get that 20%'."

It has been five years since plans to fill in the man-made waterway were made public, with City of Gold Coast originally voting for the area to be developed to allow the Gold Coast Turf Club to build an overflow carpark in November 2016.

Image: A couple of the swans that give Black Swan Lake its name. Courtesy of Richard Tommy Campion.