By Margaret Maccoll
Noosa’s long held philosophy on protecting the environment has been acknowledged by the State Government which has not been heavy-handed in its pressure for the Shire to expand its population, according to Noosa Council’s Principal Strategic Planner Rebecca Britton who with Noosa Councillor Brian Stockwell spoke last Friday about the draft Noosa Plan to guests at Noosa Parks Association.
She said council had been able to assure the State Government the region had additional capacity for its population while providing sustainable land use, enabling harmony between people and nature and protecting critically endangered plants and animals.
A lot of areas to the south are taking up increases in population growth which enable limited growth in Noosa, she said, but acknowledged maintaining Noosa’s population cap was a constant battle against the demands of the south east Queensland regional plan.
The Noosa population at June 2017 was 54,654 which boosts to 70,000 during holiday periods. The projected population for 2014 is 63,000, Cr Stockwell said.
Rebecca said vegetation mapping for the new Noosa Plan included ecological linkages, buffer areas to protect waterways and any new development applications would be assessed against the new mapping.
She said while coastal areas had so far garnered public attention with development restrictions on new erosion zones, subdivision would be more challenging for rural areas where ecological links for wildlife, including koalas, would need to be maintained and each tree to be cleared would be considered.
Cr Stockwell said the new plan had looked at waterways from a biodiversity perspective and blockages to fish passage had been identified.
He said Council had wanted to extend the plan to require new builds include 5000 litre water tanks and more substantial solar power but these were reduced by the State Government.
He encouraged residents to put forward submissions to expand the requirements on water tanks and solar power.
Residents have until 30 May to have their say on the draft Noosa Plan. To have a say visit yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au/draft-new-noosa-plan
