Position paper to replace local growth management strategies
Sunshine Coast Regional Council will spend the next two months putting together a position paper on how the region will manage its growth in response to looming State Government deadlines for the South East Queensland’s Regional Plan review.
Sunshine Coast Regional Council will spend the next two months putting together a position paper on how the region will manage its growth in response to looming State Government deadlines for the South East Queensland’s Regional Plan review.
Sunshine Coast Mayor, Bob Abbot said the new focus was a result of last week’s two day workshop aimed at setting the direction for the position paper which will replace the three separate Local Draft Management Strategies.
“It has become clear that the State Government’s Local Growth Management Strategy process required by the three former council’s prior to amalgamation, no longer exists,” Mayor Abbot said.
“However the SEQ regional plan does and the deadline for the completion of the State review is only eight weeks away. This leaves councils such as ours, wishing to ensure their communities’ values are represented in the plan, with very limited time to have input.
“Last week’s workshop allowed us to review the three strategies which were all at different stages of completion at the time of amalgamation. The review showed that while about 80 percent of the former Maroochy, Noosa and Caloundra City strategies have similar values and strive for similar outcomes, staff needed some direction in relation to the differences.
“The position paper will address these differences including the provision of a significantly heavier focus on public transport – in all its modes – and the need for greater connectivity between our rural and urban town centres.
“Council will take into account the range of recent public consultation programs and documents that informed the draft LGMS strategies and our planning schemes to ensure our communities’ values are incorporated into the position paper.”
A first draft of the position paper is expected to be presented to council in late June with final adoption expected in mid-July prior to the paper being submitted to the State Government.
It is anticipated the State will provide opportunities for public feedback on the plan as the review progresses.