For more than a decade rumours have swirled about cane farms in the Norwell Valley which is just north of Pimpama selling out to property developers.

It appears that as cane farming is no longer viable the farms have created their own consortium to sell their properties as one block to developers.

According to Michelle Rafferty and Matt Eaton from ABC News, about 40 cane farmers on the northern outskirts of the Gold Coast have formed a consortium to sell their farms as a block to a major planner and property developer.

Several developers have expressed interest in buying the 6,000-hectare site in the Norwell Valley as the sugar industry becomes less viable.

The area is sandwiched between the Gold Coast and Logan and represents one of the last major tracts of undeveloped land south of Brisbane.

Rocky Point Cane Growers Association chairman Richard Skopp said they wanted the Queensland Government to change the agricultural zoning of the area, because economies of scale meant it was no longer viable to continue cane farming in the location.

“We’d like to see the South-East Queensland Regional Plan change to incorporate higher-end use for this land,” he said.

Fellow canegrower and Rocky Point Future Planning Association president David Huth said the size of the area necessitated a single zoning plan.

“It can’t be developed one corner at a time owing to flat nature, the flood plain nature, that it is,” he said.

The project is in the hands of Canford Property Group, which is seeking a developer with the capacity to develop a satellite city.

You can read the full article on the ABC Website