Ambitious master plan needs to become reality

IT is said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. But, as Townsville is witnessing, setting clear direction and strategy is an important step to achieving desired results.

In the lead up to the 2016 local government election, the Property Council’s Townsville Committee expressed the ‘ planning fatigue’ of the property industry and broader community over the future of the city’s CBD. Too much ‘ talking’ and not enough ‘ doing’ was impacting on investor confidence. The Property Council called for the new city council to consolidate the various visions, planning and policy settings for the CBD and waterfront into one unified document, with clarity and clear direction.

To its merit, Townsville City Council has set about doing this through the review that was carried out by Pure Projects, which led to the release of the Townsville 2020 master plan.

The actions contained in the Townsville 2020 master plan are ambitious, and the city’s business community is understandably wary of the city council’s ability to deliver.

Over the years, there have been numerous plans, strategies and policies that have identified actions for the CBD and waterfront, including the Queensland Government’s Townsville Futures Plan – A Second Capital for Queensland that was released back in 2011. Despite this plan having strong ‘ buy in’ from both government and the private sector, it failed to last the test of time.

So how does the Townsville 2020 master plan differ to the previous plans?

At the Property Council’s ‘ Delivering on the Deal’ lunch, held last month, the council’s CEO, Adele Young, and Deputy Mayor Les Walker spoke about the council’s resolve to now make this plan a reality. Encouragingly, a number of actions have already been undertaken to progress the plan, but it is important that the council also ensures that previously identified actions are integrated and monitored.

The Property Council will be working on behalf of the city’s property industry in 2018 to ensure that the city council continues to stick to this plan, and all levels of government live up to their commitments contained in the Townsville City Deal.

Townsville’s property industry contributes over $ 1.5 billion in economic activity annually. This contribution has the potential to grow significantly over coming years if the many plans, strategies and direction documents set for the city can be made a reality.