Noosa Council has finalised an 18-page submission detailing its concerns with the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan and its implications for the shire.
The submission to the state government was unanimously endorsed by council this week and says accommodating another 19,100 people in the shire by 2046 is unrealistic, especially without substantial state infrastructure funding commitments.
“We understand that by 2026 the state expects us to accommodate another 11,200 people – that’s an annual growth rate of over 3.9 per cent, which hasn’t been experienced in Noosa since the ’90s and it just isn’t sustainable,” mayor Clare Stewart said.
“The state has not committed to any new infrastructure to support the projected population increases for Noosa.
“Our low-rise built development, two-lane roads, lack of traffic lights and the prioritisation of walking and cycling all help make Noosa the place we know and love, but those qualities are put at risk potentially by the draft SEQ Regional Plan.”
The key points of the submission are that the plan doesn’t provide for any state-funded infrastructure needed to cater for the extra population; that the plan puts at risk values such as low-rise development and lack of traffic lights, which were previously protected by state legislation; and that building heights of more than four storeys have not been part of council’s planning vision for the shire, and are not supported by the community.
Cr Stewart said her council had worked hard to find solutions to a lack of housing in the shire, which wasn’t reflected in the draft plan.
“Our submission also highlights the lack of recognition by the state for the substantial and strategic work we have done as a council to address our community’s housing issues,” she said.
“We’ve completed our comprehensive housing needs analysis, been monitoring the impact of short-term accommodation on permanent housing and we’ve adopted our Housing Strategy.
“It’s frustrating that our proposed planning scheme amendments intended to provide greater housing choice and diversity for our community – many of the issues the state wants us to address – have taken months to move through State Interest Review, after first being submitted to the state in February.”
Cr Stewart said council wanted to see greater commitment from the state to providing more affordable housing, including by making better use of land it owns in the shire.
“As a council we say that some key elements of the draft SEQ Plan are not acceptable to Noosa,” she said.
“The values that have been fought for time and time again in Noosa – such as putting the environment first and maintaining our low rise-built environment – are not negotiable and we will stand with our community in fighting to protect those values.”
