Gympie council report reveals residents put nature first, growth second

A new report reveals how Gympie region residents want the conflicting challenges of protecting the environment, growth, and housing to be handled as a new town plan looms.

A new report has revealed how the region’s residents want the at-times conflicting challenges of protecting the environment, growth, and housing to be handled by the council as a new town planning scheme looms on the horizon.

When it comes either to accommodating a booming population or protecting the environment, Gympie region residents say the latter is more important.

This need to protect the region’s environment is front and centre in a new report commissioned by Gympie Regional Council as it works to create its new town plan in 2024.

The report by Ethos Urban, compiled from workshops, 669 mini surveys, and community meetings between April and August, reveals the tightrope the council will walk in developing a plan with conflicting needs.

These include the expectation the region will need 7000 news homes built by 2046.

When asked if they had a preference in balancing trade-offs for the competing issues of protecting biodiversity or facilitating urban growth, respondents leaned towards putting the environment first.

“There is an appreciation of the need for growth and development, but findings reflected that respondents would prefer to see biodiversity protected rather than later rehabilitated,” the report says.

Protecting koalas was the top priority for biodiversity.

This did not mean fixing the housing crisis was not urgent.

Gympie Regional Council’s will have a new town plan developed in 2024, with state legislation requiring they be reviewed every 10 years.

Housing affordability, availability, and suitability were “critical” issues for sustainable population and economic growth in the region, the report says, and there is an appetite to embrace lifestyles other than the “tree change” Gympie was known for.

Medium-sized units are on the nose but almost half of respondents (46 per cent) felt single and double storey villas, townhouses and terraced houses were appropriate for the region.

ABS data shows Gympie’s higher density housing rate is well below the rest of the state.

Almost half of respondents could choose to live in these higher density housing “were these options more available”.

Heritage protection was a priority among respondents, the report says. The question of what properties are protected was in the spotlight in August when a historic home near the council chambers was removed. Picture: Christine Schindler

Respondents said the region’s “agricultural heart” needed protecting and rural residential areas must be built in designated areas and not allowed to encroach.

New developments needed to be built near or with existing infrastructure services like water and sewerage, it said.

The region’s rural landscapes “need to be carefully managed to leverage benefits” without putting the agricultural sector at risk.

There was support for commercial and industrial growth “in the right areas”, and a need to bolster retail and commercial centres.

Heritage protection, already in the spotlight following the shock removal of an old home near the council chambers in 2023, was highly supported too.

This included along Mary St and the CBD, with concerns “some buildings and shops within the Region are not well maintained, and there are too many empty storefronts”.

Despite these challenges the report said respondents were largely happy with the direction the council’s planning policies were headed.

Originally published as Gympie council report reveals residents put nature first, growth second