2020-06-09 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        9 JUNE 2020


All promotion was concurrent with the Community Grants Program and the Regional Arts
Development Fund.
Four grant applications were received as part of this round of Environment Project Grants, and
were assessed by a member of the Environment Services Team with experience assessing
grants, and environmental subject-matter expertise. These recommendations were moderated by
the Environment Services Manager and Director, Environment & Sustainable Development.
COVID-19 impacts
During the advertising process for these grants, community changes as a response to COVID-19
were starting to be implemented. Initially to support applications, extensions were provided to two
applicants, so long as they sought permission for the extension prior to the original closing date
of 25 March 2020. Statements were also sought and received from all applicants as to the
potential impact of COVID-19 restrictions on their proposed projects.
Given that the projects won’t start until at least August and all have 12 months to run, none of the
applications were withdrawn, or were deemed unable to be considered based on current COVID
restrictions.
If COVID-related restrictions were to extend to the end of 2020, or be tightened, then two of the
projects recommended for funding would need to work with Council with regard to possible
extension for their projects. Neither are time sensitive or seasonal, so could still be delivered with
some delay.
Previous Council Consideration
This is the third round of Environmental Project Grants since they were separated from the
Community Grants program into their own grant stream. Previous reports have been prepared
and endorsed by Council in June 2019 and November 2019.
Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 19 September 2019, Item 6, Page 9
That Council note the report by the Environmental Services Manager to the Planning &
Environment Committee Meeting dated 10 September 2019 and:
A.    Repeal the Environment Grants Policy adopted on 21 February 2019 and adopt the revised
      Environment Grants Policy provided at Attachment 1 to the Report with the additional
      words included under the heading of Council Policy: “All initiatives funded by the
      Environment Grants Program will have tangible and measureable outcomes.”;
B.    Note the Draft Multi-year Collaborative Environmental Grants - Operating Guideline
      provided at Attachment 2 to the Report, developed by the Environment Levy Working
      Group, as per the Environment Grants Policy; and
C.    Approve the Environment Grants being directed towards outcomes of the Biodiversity and
      Waterways, Wetlands & Coasts sections of the Noosa Environment Strategy, while the
      Environment Levy remains the sole funding source for the Grants.
Finance
The funding for this round of grants will not be allocated until July 2020 and will therefore come
from the 2020/21 financial year budget. It is anticipated that $75,000 will be available for
Environment Project Grants for the financial year, consistent with amount available in the
2019/20 financial year. This will be spread over two advertised grant rounds, concurrent with the
Community Grants Program usually advertised in February and August of each year. This report
proposes to allocate $35,761, which will leave $39,239 available for the next round of
Environmental Project Grants, expected to be advertised in August 2020.
Risks & Opportunities
There is some risk to the proposed projects based on uncertainty around COVID-19 restrictions
for the remainder of 2020. These have been addressed by the applicants and with the current


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