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DEVELOPMENT in Cairns could stall unless the state government acts on revamping the Far North Queensland Regional Plan, according to developer and planner Evan Yelavich.
Mr Yelavich, who is a director and planner with Planning Plus and has an interest in substantial residential developments, said the time for action was now.
“Cairns is experiencing growth at rates not seen since pre-GFC and actions need to start being taken now to ensure we have a reliable pipeline of land into the future,” Mr Yelavich said.
“It takes a significant amount of time to bring new growth areas to fruition and this needs to start with a new regional plan.
“It is quite possible that with the Cairns northern beaches area approaching ca pacity, that the Mount Peter growth corridor will only provide around 10 years worth of land supply,” he said.
Mr Yelavich said this was a concern because there were no further growth areas under planning review.
“The current plan itself states that we would need to be making significant decisions about how and where the city will grow beyond Mount Peter within about 15 years – that plan was prepared in 2009, so we have now essentially reached that point,” Mr Yelavich said.
Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said development could be stifled.
The council is operating under the 2009 plan and asked Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Steven Miles in October to prioritise the review – but there has been no response.
The regional plan guides the council’s own planning scheme and sets the strategic goals for the region, including future growth options.
“The need for an immediate review of the FNQ Regional Plan was initially highlighted by council last year,” Cr Manning said.
“The existing plan is old, stifling growth and has no state accountability, monitoring or evaluation. Cairns and the Far North need a new regional plan to be the document that sets the collective vision for our region.
“It needs to identify future economic opportunities, capitalise on strategic improvements and is used to inform other major planning and funding documents so we see actions on the ground, not just words in a document.”
He said a review would provide the opportunity to align future planning and support long-term economic growth, drive job creation and support key industries through an integrated land use approach.
“As council has started working on a new planning scheme for the Cairns region, it is critical that the Queensland government concurrently review the FNQ Regional Plan,” Cr Manning said.
“Failure to undertake a review would force council, under legislation, to reflect and integrate out-of-date regional policies into future planning and strategies, potentially impacting on council’s ability to effectively plan for the community’s future.”
The October report said it was critical the government prioritised the region given it had been one of the most impacted by Covid. It said the policy in the plan was more than 12 years old.