Economic Correspondence

‘Need’ includes a variety iterations including community need, economic need and planning need. The EIA
included numerous points demonstrating the need for the proposed development which broadly included:

       The net benefits of the proposal to the community including convenient access to facilities and services
        and employment opportunities (Community need).

       Demand for fuel retailing (Economic need). The EIA conservatively outlined that an estimated 70% of trade
        at the subject site would be derived from motorists utilising the M1/A1. In providing additional
        information to substantiate this assumption, Urban Economics provides the following:

             o   As identified in the EIA, 2015 Traffic Census counted 22,746 vehicles utilising the Highway south
                 of Myall St and 15,835 vehicles per day beyond the interchange.
             o   Assuming that just 2% (20/1,000 vehicles) of those travelling between Cooroy and Gympie
                 (approx. 320 vehicles per day) stopped at the proposed development and topped or filled up on
                 average just 30litres of fuel, the subject site would conservatively dispense approximately
                 3.5million litres per annum to motorists of the M1/A1 alone.
             o   The National Australia Bank (NAB) identified that in 2012, the average motorist visited a service
                 station 32 times per year and spent an average of $55.
             o   The projected growth in traffic passing the subject site as noted in the EIA, will create further
                 demand for fuel from approximately 3,000 additional vehicles per day by 2026 or almost
                 0.7million litres of fuel per annum.

       Achieving community and economic need imperatives by appropriately locating service stations and drive
        through fast-food facilities (Planning need). In addition, it is an important safety measure to plan for
        appropriately located stops such as the proposed development. The Australian Road Assessment Program
        (AusRAP) 2013 Report outlined that the northbound Cooroy to Gympie section of the M1/A1 was the
        second lowest rated for safety between Brisbane and Cairns.

“Issue – Economic Impacts
Table 7.1 of the submitted EIA outlines the impact on other service stations within the trade area. The impact is
indicated at 11% across a range of different stations, including for facilities at Cooroy, Pomona and facilities further
afield. It is unclear why the impact on facilities at Pomona in percentage terms would be the same as Cooroy,
particularly given the existing service stations in Cooroy are projected to achieve a sales level inline with the existing
market.

The EIA indicates 30% of petrol sales for the proposed development, or 1.5 million litres, will come from the trade
area (4.5 million litres in Table 5.3). This represents one third of the resident market as calculated by Urban
Economics, meaning impacts on existing service stations in the trade area could be in the very high range (30%) if
this was all to be redirected from these stores.”
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