Amendment No.2 to Noosa Plan 2020

housing strategyNoosa Plan 2020 originally commenced in July 2020, with a minor amendment in September 2020. In April 2024, the Minister for Housing, Local Govermnent and Planning and Minister for Public Works approved Proposed Amendment No. 2 to Noosa Plan 2020 for the purpose of public notification and community consultation, following which Council resolved on 16 May to publicly notify the proposed amendments.

The proposed amendments and accompanying explanatory material were released for public notification on 31 May for a 6 week period, which was extended for a further 2 weeks.  During the public notification period there were various opportunities for the community to engage with planners, access information and make submissions. 

A total of 475 submissions were received including an online petition with 600 unique signatories.

All submissions were considered and recommended changes to the proposed amendments where appropriate, were outlined in the report to the Special Meeting on 5 December and 12 December 2024.

As required by the Planning Act 2016 and Minister's Guidelines and Rules, a Consultation Report has been prepared.

The report provides an overview of the public notification and community engagement activities undertaken for Proposed Amendment No. 2 and outlines how Council has considered each properly made submission. This report includes Council’s decision on each specific issue.

Changes will be made to the Proposed Amendment No. 2 consistent with Council’s decision including consequential changes, and forwarded to the State Government for Ministerial approval for adoption, together with the Consultation Report. This will be prepared and submitted to the State in early 2025.

Following approval from the Minister, a further report will be submitted to Council for final adoption.

To find out more about the engagement go to Your Say Noosa

  • Noosa Plan 2020 – Proposed Amendment No. 2 is a major amendment which seeks to support housing supply, housing choice, housing diversity and housing affordability by:

    • expanding housing choice through smaller dwellings, accessible dwellings, affordable dwellings and dwellings specifically built for permanent rental;
    • creating feasible pathways for the development of additional social or affordable housing;
    • prioritising permanent residents within the Medium and High Density Residential zones and key centre zones by preventing further short-term accommodation;
    • ensuring any visitor accommodation in Rural and Rural Residential zones is in conjunction with the permanent resident's dwelling and not replacing it;
    • rezoning certain land to increase opportunities for smaller dwellings and key worker accommodation;
    • reviewing the Tourist Accommodation Zone to both rezone some areas for permanent residents and neighbourhoods and a broader range of local business uses, as well as including certain existing resorts in the Tourist Accommodation zone;
    • setting clearer expectations for the future development of the Noosa Business Centre so that it functions as an integrated village providing a diversity of housing and employment;
    • establishing clear guidelines for the development of the Innovation Zone;
    • facilitating an integrated health and wellbeing precinct within the Noosa District Sports Complex; and
    • generally improving the operation of the planning scheme.

    The proposed amendments implement the key recommendations of both the Noosa Housing Strategy 2022 and Short-term Accommodation Monitoring Report 2022.