Margie Maccoll
Four years since planning began on Noosa Council’s Place Project, it will be rolled out, beginning with a pilot project at Pomona, and if successful, is expected to be continued across the shire.
Place making is looking at the gambit of attributes a place has, a baseline of data having already been gleaned from council’s Liveability Survey, and delivering a whole suite of community interventions – social, economic, cultural and environmental, officers told councillors at Monday’s general council meeting.
“It’s not just new street furniture and trees. The focus is on what the community values most,” officers said.
In a report to council, officers stated it was “critical that a place-based approach must truly reflect the uniqueness of different localities and communities and in order to achieve this it involves multiple stakeholders and takes a holistic approach. A place-based approach involves looking at, listening to, and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in a particular space in order to discover the needs and aspirations of those people and to create a common vision for that place.
“A successful place-based approach is reliant on clear goals, strong community ownership, leadership and facilitation. As all places are different, place-based programs need to be tailored to reflect the specific scale, status, role and resources of the place.”
Officers said the process of place-based approaches had shifted over the years from general planning of public spaces and streetscape improvements to coordinating engaged community networks to deliver new activities, programs and investment. These new activities, programs and networks create value, not only in social and cultural terms but also from an economic perspective, they said.
Councillors long debated over the village most deserving of a pilot project, arguing predominantly between Kin Kin which scored lowest on its Liveability Survey and Pomona, which was the staff recommendation.
Cr Frank Wilkie argued for the pilot to be conducted in Kin Kin because it faced challenges arising from the existing quarry, had an influx of new residents, a new owner had taken over most of its main street, had long requested council assistance and it would help the community iron out future desires and uncertainties.
In the end, Pomona won out.
Every location has benefits and strengths and could benefit, officers told councillors. We’ve been through a rigorous process spending hours and days in workshops with 40 people across the organisation.
Officers chose Pomona for the pilot program for a variety of reasons including its scale that would enable monitoring and evaluation, its existing business and community groups, planned projects that could be included in a place pilot, its historic significance and broader issues that could be improved.
Through Covid, Pomona has experienced changes including growth in tourism visitors, a changing make up of population and increased cost of living pressures – issues that officers identified could benefit from a place program to ensure community cohesion.
“The pilot location therefore needs to be one that has key strengths but has some aspects that could benefit from a place-based approach. This allows the staff to increase their skills, the organisation to adapt and the community to realise benefits,” officers stated.
Pomona has a range of issues that have to be resolved locally that have regional significance. That may help us in a range of ways, Cr Brian Stockwell said.
The Place Program has been allocated funds in the 2022/23 Budget for a dedicated coordinator and to undertake a pilot place project.
A final decision will be made on the Place pilot program at council’s ordinary meeting on Thursday but given the go-ahead the next steps are expected to roll on over 12 months beginning in the first half with the development of a community profile, community and stakeholder consultation and the creation of a Place vision. According to a program outline that will be followed by the development of the Place management plan in consultation with the community and then its implementation.
