Noosa Council makes submission on South East Queensland Regional Plan
Noosa has vowed to protect its environment and residents’ way of life, slamming the door on the State Government’s push to bring another 19,100 people to the region while increasing building heights.
Sunshine Coast
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Noosa has shown its hand revealing its intention to slam the door on the state government’s bid to push 20,000 more residents into the tourist mecca by 2046.
Councillors for the world-renowned strip united in their stance as they endorsed the Noosa Council’s submission on the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan 2023 update.
The draft update of the plan estimated the tourist town would need to accommodate an extra 19,100 people by 2046, while increasing building heights between four and eight storeys in certain locations across the region.
Mayor Clare Stewart slammed the proposal as “unrealistic”.
The council’s 18-page submission listed concerns over the South East Queensland Regional Plan, which is the Queensland Government’s plan to shape the region’s future growth, and the ramifications it may have on the region.
The council cited the reality of the housing market not following planning logic, buildings taller than four-storeys not forming part of council’s planning for the future, Noosa’s iconic values becoming at risk, as well as the lack of state-funded infrastructure needed to cater for the extra people, as well as existing residents and commuters, among its reasons in the submission.
Council’s submission was also formed off the back of community consultation, which indicated that the majority of residents were not supportive of population growth and that residents were concerned about the proposal of Noosa having eight-storey buildings.
Speaking on the motion, Ms Stewart declared that council’s submission said two things.
“The draft South East Queensland Regional Plan is not acceptable to Noosa and we’re not negotiable,” Ms Stewart said.
“We will not negotiate on the values that have been fought for so long to keep Noosa the way it is.
“To put our environment first, to put our people first, our residents, our community, our amenity, it is not negotiable, and we’ll continue to fight if we have to on that.
“We’re united on it and we stand with our community on it.”
Noosa’s stance against increased housing prompted the launch of an ambitious campaign and petition seeking to increase the supply of rentals $450 or less in Noosa, as the region grapples with a housing crisis.
Achieve Real Estate owner Nicole Navarro said the issue of housing supply could be delicately managed.
“We don’t want to really change why we came here in the first place – we came here for a reason,” Ms Navarro said.
“We can look at other solutions a little bit outside of the box, there’s a lot of houses here that people don’t even live in, maybe it’s about incentivising people who already own property here to accommodate workers.
“There will need to be some more housing but it just needs to be built in the right place and for the right purpose.”
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