2015-09-15 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                              15 SEPTEMBER 2015


3.4. Need
Since the proposal raises fundamental conflicts with the planning intent for the site, need is crucial
to this assessment. Need may present community benefit grounds sufficient to support the
application. Need in the development sense is commonly recognised as relating to community
wellbeing. A development may be said to be needed if, on balance, it improves community
wellbeing - such as by access to new services or facilities, or a range of other ways.
The application included extensive economic reports undertaken by its economic consultant, Urbis,
assessing the level of need and impacts associated with the retail expansion and the future need
for commercial office uses in the NBC more broadly. Council engaged economic consultants,
Location IQ, to undertake a peer review of the Urbis reports. Details of the assessment are
provided below.
3.4.1. Retail Needs Assessment
Urbis adopts a typical retail need assessment approach, which includes:
    Trade area definition
    Population and spending estimates
    Competitive review
    Projected sales for the development
    Assessment of likely economic impacts
Urbis’ key findings of the retail assessment are summarised as:
    High existing escape spending of 37% of total retail spending and 57% in apparel specialty
      retail spending from the main trade area, with the development providing the potential to
      retain a proportion of the escape.
    Low per capita provision of discount department stores for the trade area (~50% below
      national average).
    Low supply of retail floor space in the trade area of 1.2m2 per capita compared to a National
      average of 2.2m2.
    Strong supermarket trade indicating capacity for additional supermarket floor space in the
      trade area.
    Limited/acceptable impacts on existing retailers with them considered to be enjoying strong
      trading levels and to benefit from market growth.
The trade area defined by Urbis for the development is shown in Figure 23 below. Urbis states:
The trade area has been divided into 5 sectors, including a primary sector and four secondary
sectors. These trade areas are described below and illustrated in [Figure 23], as follows:
    The primary trade area encompasses the suburbs of Noosaville, Tewantin and Doonan to
      the south.
    The secondary north east sector is geographically the smallest of the trade area sectors. It
      incorporates the coastal suburbs of Noosa Heads, Sunshine Beach, Sunrise Beach,
      Castaways Beach and the northern portion of Peregian Beach. This area is also the primary
      location for tourists visiting Noosa and includes the Noosa Junction and Hastings Street
      shopping precincts.
    The secondary south east sector is a narrow strip between the coastline and Sunshine
      Motorway extending from Peregian Beach in the north to Mount Coolum in the south.
      Geographical barriers such as Lake Weyba and Noosa National Park restrict access to
      Noosa Civic for these residents.
    The secondary south sector extends east to the Sunshine Motorway and west to the
      Sunshine Coast hinterland, incorporating parts of the suburbs of Peregian Beach, Coolum
      Beach, Eumundi and Ridgewood.


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