JIM FAGAN
Noosa Council will oppose a development plan for a second shopping centre on the site of the former Peregian Beach Bowls Club in Rufous Street, one councillor telling the council at its meeting on Monday it was a “threat to the village atmosphere of Peregian Beach.
“Very close to one in four residents in Peregian have made a submission opposing this development. We should keep that in mind,” Cr Tony Wellington said.
Council was deciding on a request by the Planning and Environment Court to advise it of what Noosa Council would do it if it was asked to decide on the application.
Outlining the reason for this, Mayor Noel Playford said the applicant had appealed to the court on what is called a “deemed refusal” because the Regional Council had not decided on the application in the time prescribed under the Sustainable Planning Act.
“That’s their right. The court has now requested Noosa Council to advise it of what we would do if we were in a position to decide the application. That is required by the court for the appeal so it our job now to decide whether we would approve it or refuse it and if refuse it the reasons for refusal.”
A Council assessment of the application is that it presents considerable conflicts with the Noosa Plan creating “unacceptable impacts on traffic operations and safety at the intersection of Woodland Drive and David Low Way. It will also triple traffic volumes on Rufous Street and have a substantial impact on local residents.”
“The recommendation is for Council to advise the court that were we in such a position, we would refuse the application,” Mr Playford said.
Cr Wellington said that apart from losing land for community recreation purposes, including the CBD is basically bad planning and that is what the is application requests.
“It would inevitably draw a significant amount of traffic away from the current CBD in Peregian. People as we know tend to drive to supermarkets. They don’t walk to them and there is already a Coles only three and a half kilometres away from Peregian.
“This development threatens the village atmosphere of Peregian Beach and if there was a supermarket isolated from the current facilities, such as bakers and post offices, it would further damage the current viability of the CBD and the central square area of Peregian.
“I think it very pertinent to point out this application had a massive amount of submissions opposing it,” Cr Wellington said.
Noosa Council will now advise the court of its decision.
