Cairns council: $2.5m Toward 2050 growth strategy project goes to Brisbane company

Cairns Regional Council has awarded a contract worth almost $2.5m to create a growth strategy for Cairns. READ WHAT IT MEANS

THE Towards 2050 Cairns Growth Strategy will soon get underway with Cairns Regional Council awarding a contract worth almost $2.5m to a Brisbane-based surveying firm.

At the Planning and Environment Committee meeting on Wednesday, council moved to award the project to Wolter Consulting Group.

Its report said the Towards 2050 Growth Strategy would guide and manage the long-term growth of the Cairns local government area through to 2050 and would form the foundation for a new planning scheme.

Cr Brett Moller said the tender process had been very detailed.

“What is needed for investment is certainty, and that certainty comes in terms of planning – that’s when investment occurs and growth flows,” Cr Moller said.

Council committed to the project last August.

It is expected to be complete in 2024.

A Brisbane firm has been awarded a contract of almost $2.5m to develop a strategy for Cairns toward 2050. Picture: Brendan Radke

“The development of the growth strategy will consider trends and challenges outlined in the corporate plan 2021-2016, and will refine the need and scope for specific master plans, including development of a new master plan for the city centre,” it said in a statement.

“The growth strategy also provides an opportunity to look at planning in a holistic and integrated manner, which will allow for considerations of land availability and uses, how people travel to and from work, public transport, providing the diversity of housing needs, infrastructure provision, creating employment opportunities, managing risks and improving the liveability of our neighbourhoods.”

Wolter Consulting has experience delivering master planned communities, land subdivisions, high-rise buildings, mixed-use development, multi-unit residential development, industrial, commercial and retail projects and community use facilities.

One of its projects is the refurbishment of Pitt St in Sydney CBD.

Council adopted the CairnsPlan 2016 version 3 – the current version of the planning scheme – last October.

Council has called on the state government to urgently review what is the state’s oldest regional plan - the Far North Queensland Regional Plan, which came out in 2009.

Originally published as Cairns council: $2.5m Toward 2050 growth strategy project goes to Brisbane company