Noosa Mayor Frank Wilkie says there is renewed hope that the shire has avoided massively over-scale development, thanks to new legislation and game-changing approaches from the newly elected LNP state government.
The Deputy Premier and the Planning Department’s Director-General have contacted Council, while Council’s senior planning staff have also met the head of the State Facilitated Development department to discuss a more cooperative way forward.
“This collaborative approach is a positive early sign regarding the two proposed State Facilitated Development (SFD) projects in Noosa,” Mayor Frank Wilkie said.
“It gives us some confidence that the two SFD housing projects in Tewantin and Noosa Junction will now involve stronger engagement with Council’s planning staff, who will seek for the Noosa Plan 2020 and community sentiment to be respected,” Cr Wilkie said.
“With more detail to work out, we are confident that these SFD housing projects in Noosa will be of a size and scale appropriate for our shire,” he said.
The outgoing Labor government had given both proposed Noosa developments a greenlight just hours before the start of pre-election caretaker mode.
Under the SFD process, the state can approve developments that completely bypass a local council’s planning schemes, without appeal rights.
Last week, the new state government passed legislation equipping the planning minister with new powers to amend or repeal existing SFD applications.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie provided Noosa Council with a written commitment during the election campaign that Noosa SFDs would comply with Noosa’s planning scheme under an LNP government.
“If it wasn’t for the loud anti SFD advocacy of our community groups, residents, LNP candidate Clare Stewart and local MP Sandy Bolton all providing consistent, clear evidence of widespread opposition to the SFD process, the welcome intervention of the now Deputy Premier may not have occurred,” Cr Wilkie said.
“It’s a real credit to the fantastic collective effort of our community for the promising new approach by the state government.”
“We have said all along that we want to work with the state government and developers to reach a compromise that provides the housing needed, but in a way that respects our town plan and the character of our shire,” Mayor Frank Wilkie said.
