Whitsunday Regional Council votes on Shute Harbour leases, Bowen masterplan, Proserpine road upgrades and more

With road safety upgrades, new boating facilities, housing availability, and sea level rise among the issues on the table, here’s how the votes went at Whitsunday Regional Council’s meeting at Bowen.

The council adopted a long-term plan to tackle the issue of rising sea levels, but agreed to review its approach every five years. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

The council flew through its agenda at the Bowen meeting on Wednesday. Here is what councillors said about some of the key decisions affecting Whitsunday residents and ratepayers.

1. Shute Harbour leases: CARRIED

The council endorsed an officer’s recommendation to enter into a lease agreement with public transport operator Sealink Travel Group for the use of land at the soon-to-be reopened Shute Harbour Marine Terminal.

The council expects to reopen Shute Harbour on September 23 with all building works completed except for one “small tourism building,” and “the whole facility open for business” including the controversial new boat ramp.

Artist's impression of the proposed Shute Harbour Terminal and Operator Building. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

2. Road safety upgrades: CARRIED

Safety upgrades are on the cards for a 3km long mid-block section of Kelsey Creek Rd, Proserpine, with the council voting in favour of applying for $124,000 in Department of Transport and Main Roads black spot program funding to address the “high priority” area, which has been the site of six crashes in the past five years, with five of those crashes either fatal or causing serious injury.

Division 4 Cr Michelle Wright called for the council to consider applying for further black spot program funding to address at “troublesome” intersection “down the end of Powell St” in Bowen, but this was not included in the adopted motion.

Whitsunday Regional Council has proposed safety upgrades for Kelsey Creek Rd, Proserpine, July 2021. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

3. Bowen Masterplan: CARRIED

The council adopted the Bowen Masterplan and all the amendments suggested at the conclusion of the community consultation period.

Cr Wright suggested adjusting the wording of the plan’s list of projects to clarify that the “Bowen Trails” project would be a “stage 1” investigation into the “potential design and cost effectiveness” of the trails including start, middle, and end of trip facilities, and this was included in the adopted motion.

Mayor Cr Andrew Willcox and Deputy Mayor Cr Mike Brunker thanked the community for their many detailed submissions to the plan, and said the council would do its best to make use of all the information provided, even if it did not necessarily fit into the Masterplan or the council’s “realm”.

“Some of these things we have to go and seek funding for, some we’ll be able to do ourselves, some we’ll facilitate, and some we have to advocate for,” Cr Willcox said.

“We’ll do as much as we can to improve the liveability of the region for our residents,” he said.

Bowen CBD. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

4. Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategy: CARRIED

Councillors endorsed a new $513,000 plan aimed at managing sea level rise across the region over the next 80 years after it went out for community consultation.

The plan presented for the vote included no changes to the council’s recommended strategies for Airlie Beach, Bowen, Cannonvale, Conway Beach, Dingo Beach, Hydeaway Bay, Shute Harbour and Wilson Beach, and no additional tasks in each area’s action plan.

The council’s Natural Resource Management and Climate Co-ordinator Scott Hardy told the meeting the plan was based on “the best science available” but would be reviewed in five years’ time when the information was expected to have changed.

Mr Hardy said the council needed to do more investigation and cost-benefit analyses of protection measures including sea walls and artificial reefs in order to “choose the best tool for the right location” and then lobby the state government for funding.

Whitsunday Regional Council has developed a Coastal Adaptation Strategy to manage the effects of sea level rise over the next 80 years. Picture: Whitsunday Regional Council

5. Free Wi-Fi for Collinsville: CARRIED

The council agreed to donate $3000 to the Collinsville Connect Telecentre to provide free Wi-Fi to the Collinsville and Scottville communities for the 2021-22 financial year.

Cr Brunker said the council’s ongoing support of the Telecentre had gone a long way, with the Collinsville facility the only Telecentre still operating from the initial federal government program established 20 years ago.

Crs Brunker, Willcox and Clifford praised the staff at the centre, particularly co-ordinator Sue Clark, for creating and sustaining a “hub” that played an integral role in community life.

“It’s a credit to the people that work there that the facility is still going,” Cr Brunker said. “They do a mighty job.”

Whitsunday councillors agreed Collinsville Connect Telecentre is an asset to the community. Picture: Facebook

What else happened?

Action on housing ‘crisis’

Cr Clifford moved, as a matter of urgent business, a motion to write a letter to the Department of Housing expressing concerns over the lack of affordable housing in the region, calling it “almost a state of emergency”.

The motion was carried, after Cr Clifford described a situation in which “no one can find anywhere to live”.

“That has a flow-on effect – it’s almost a perfect storm,” Cr Clifford said.

“People looking for staff can’t get staff because there’s nowhere for staff to live.”

Tenders awarded

The council awarded the $5m contract for the design and construction of a new Cannon Valley Reservoir Complex to South Australia-based Leed Engineering and Construction.

The $850,000 contract to conduct a Closed-Circuit Television survey data collection and condition rating assessments for the council’s stormwater assets within the Proserpine, Airlie Beach, Bowen, Hydeaway Bay, Dingo Beach and Collinsville residential areas went to Total Drain Cleaning Services.

Originally published as Whitsunday Regional Council votes on Shute Harbour leases, Bowen masterplan, Proserpine road upgrades and more