Council finalises draft South East Queensland Regional Plan submission

Council has finalised its submission to the Queensland Government detailing its concerns with the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan and its implications for Noosa Shire. 

Council has prepared a submission to the Queensland Government detailing concerns about the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan and the implications for Noosa Shire.

Concerns raised in the 18-page submission, unanimously endorsed by Council this week, include:

• The plan doesn’t provide for any state funded infrastructure needed to cater for the extra 19,100 people the plan requires Noosa to accommodate by 2046.
• The plan puts at risk Noosa’s iconic values – previously protected by state legislation - such as low-rise development and lack of traffic lights.
• Building heights of more than four storeys have not been part of Council’s planning vision for the shire, nor is there community support for the increased heights.

Mayor Clare Stewart said expecting Noosa to accommodate another 19,100 people by 2046 was 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% which hasn’t been experienced in Noosa since the ’90s and it just isn’t sustainable,” she said.

“The state has not committed to any new infrastructure to support the projected population increases for Noosa,” Cr Stewart said.

“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.

“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,” Cr Stewart 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,” the Mayor said.

The Mayor 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.

Council is concerned that the draft plan is vague around delivery of social and affordable housing as well as build-to-rent housing.

“As a Council we say that some key elements of the draft SEQ Plan are not acceptable to Noosa. 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.”