Queensland Deputy Premier and Planning Minister Jackie Trad. Credit:Glenn Hunt Local residents last month began court action against the development which was called the "West Village" development. The development included three 15-storey apartment towers among the seven buildings proposed for the 2.6-hectare site in the heart of West End. Local councillor Jonathan Sri also last month wrote to Ms Trad asking that she investigate calling in the project. Ms Trad had on Wednesday written to local residents in her South Brisbane electorate.

"I am writing to let you know that I have issued a proposed call in notice under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 to reassess and re-decide the Absoe development application," Ms Trad wrote. "As you may be aware, an approval for this significant mixed-use, high-density development of an urban renewal site was issued by Brisbane City Council on 19 May 2016. "Community members have expressed their concerns over the lack of open spaces, traffic impacts, the scale of the development. "They feel the proposal should provide a superior outcome for existing and future residents." Ms Trad said the action was not "an automatic refusal".

"A decision on a development application such as this requires detailed consideration and assessment based on sufficient information and engagement with all relevant stakeholders, including the developer and the community and will be determined on planning merits," she wrote. West Village Developers Payce and Sekisui House said on Wednesday they would provide any information the deputy premier's department requested on the project. "We will provide her and her department with all relevant information to assist her consideration," spokesman Stephen Williams said. Cr Sri, who had co-ordinated recent protests against the development, would welcome a recall of the project. "I just received a call from Deputy Premier Jackie Trad saying that she's initiating the process to call in the West Village development," he wrote on Facebook.

"It's not yet 100 per cent certain, but it looks like the plans for the seven 15-story tower mega-project on Boundary Street are going to be sent back to the drawing board." However, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said he worried about the impact on the 3340 jobs generated by the project. "The minister was supportive of council's earlier approval for two, 15-storey residential dwellings but now she has a different view for the remainder of the site," Cr Quirk said. "I am concerned at the message this would send to the construction industry and the impact this will have on local jobs," he said. "Council's decision was made in accordance with the state government's planning laws under which local residents have appeal rights but a ministerial call-in would remove those rights.

"Council stands by its decision to approve the master plan for the site and will lodge a submission supporting our earlier decision." Opposition leader Tim Nicholls said a decision to call in the project - which has at this stage not yet happened, but was being investigated - was a tip to the Greens in her electorate and would worry the development industry. "Queensland's developers will be shaking in their boots knowing that, having gone through all the proper legislative processes, Jackie Trad is prepared to call in a project at the last gasp," he said. The Cedar Woods development near The Gap was scaled back but approved by the state government after being called-in in 2015. Shadow planning minister Ian Walker said the approval of West Village was entirely a development decision for Brisbane City Council.

He said Ms Trad had an "obvious conflict of interest" with the development set in the middle of Ms Trad's rapidly greening electorate. The Property Council of Queensland also said the early step to consider calling in the project was worrying for developers. "Whether the Deputy Premier proceeds with the call in or not, this announcement will impact on the industry's confidence to invest in Queensland," Jen Williams, Queensland deputy executive director of the Property Council of Australia said. Developers have planned the development for several years - and allowed local markets to run on the site - but angered locals by proposing buildings higher than council's development ceiling. More information about the proposed call-in can be obtained here.