Annual Report 2016-17

Corporate Plan Theme 3: The Noosa Economy                                                                           Corporate Plan Theme 4: Long term planning for Noosa Shire
“Our economy is diverse and resilient”                                                                              “Noosa Shire is well managed and sustainable”


•   The design of the Peregian Beach Digital             •   Council continued to work closely with Regional    •    Council undertook significant work on the            •   Council adopted its new Corporate Plan which
    Hub was completed and town planning                      Development Australia (Sunshine Coast) on               development of the new Planning Scheme                  will guide key corporate decision making for
    approval obtained. Council was successful in             a range of projects including a successful              during 2016/17. Council adopted the New Noosa           the next 20 years. The Corporate Plan was
    obtaining $1 million of funding from the State           entrepreneurship program.                               Plan Discussion Paper for the purposes of               developed following a series of Councillor
    Government. Associated road works and                                                                            public consultation and undertook an extensive          workshops analysing future trends and
    parking in Rufous Street have substantially          •   Council undertook an audit of footpath trading          community engagement process to seek                    developed a new vision – “Noosa Shire -
    been completed and preparatory works have                across the shire and also provided information          feedback. Council also finalised a range of              different by nature”.
    commenced on the Digital Hub building.                   to the operators while the audit was being              studies to support the development of the new
    Tenders have been called for the management              undertaken.                                             Planning Scheme including: Resources and            •   Council adopted a Transport Policy and
    of the Digital Hub component of the building.                                                                    Minerals Planning Study, Study into Agriculture         Transport Strategy following extensive
                                                         •   Council worked with the private sector to assist                                                                community consultation. This was one of the
                                                                                                                     and Agricultural Land in Noosa Shire, On-Site
•   Council appointed an Economic Development                with the establishment of Innovate Noosa. This                                                                  signature long-term pieces of planning for our
                                                                                                                     Effluent Disposal Noosa Shire Study, Housing
    Manager who has brought significant                       is part of a regional program that attracted                                                                    community undertaken in 2016/17. There were
                                                                                                                     Needs Assessment
    experience and focus to our economic                     significant funding from Advance Queensland                                                                      two rounds of community consultation including
    development programs.                                    to develop innovation on the Sunshine Coast.       •    Council was able to provide significant input into       targeted consultation with key stakeholders.
                                                                                                                     the ongoing development of the draft South-East         One of the challenges for 2017/18 is the
•   Council undertook a detailed review of the           •   Council continues to manage our Holiday Parks
                                                                                                                     Queensland Regional Plan which will achieve a           implementation of that Strategy. Also during
    proposal from CCIQ Noosa for a Noosa                     including awarding a new three-year contract
                                                                                                                     good outcome for the Noosa community.                   2016/17, Council successfully delivered its
    Convention and Cultural Centre. Council                  for the management of the Noosa River Holiday
                                                                                                                                                                             Christmas and Easter free holiday bus program.
    recognised that such a proposal could have               Park. During 2016/17, Council also commenced       •    Council undertook a significant review of our
    potential economic benefit but identified that             a process to redevelop the Noosa North                  infrastructure plans to enable us to meet new       •   Council adopted an Asset Management
    the cost of construction and operation should            Shore Beachfront Campground including the               legislative requirements for the imposition of          Roadmap in 2016/17. The roadmap sets out
    not be borne by Noosa ratepayers but rather,             development of concept designs and sorting              contributions from developers towards the cost          the priorities for developing more robust long-
    Council expressed a willingness to consider              out tenure issues.                                      of infrastructure.                                      term asset management plans and ensuring
    financial options driven by the market.                                                                                                                                   that asset management becomes more central
                                                         •   Council undertook its three yearly review of       •    Council has adopted the Noosa Local Disaster            to our decision making processes. Converting
•   Council undertook its first Economic                      commercial high use permits and following a             Management Plan which guides our responses              this roadmap into action is also one of the
    Development Grants Program providing                     tender process, awarded new permits for the             to natural disasters. Council has also undertaken       challenges for 2017/18.
    financial support for programs that will support          operation of commercial activities on Council           considerable work in developing our response to
    the outcomes of the Local Economic Plan.                 controlled land in the Hastings Street precinct.        natural disasters including undertaking disaster
                                                                                                                     management exercises to train our staff.
•   Council entered into a Memorandum of                                                                             This was put to the test with the arrival of the
    Understanding with the Small Business                                                                            remnants of Cyclone Debbie in February 2017.
    Solutions section of TAFE Queensland to                                                                          Our management of that response was good
    provide support for training and development of                                                                  and our Local Disaster Management Plan was
    local small businesses.                                                                                          able to deal with that scenario. Council was also
                                                                                                                     successful in obtaining State funding to install
•   Council continued to work closely with Tourism
                                                                                                                     new flood alert stations at a cost of $206,000.
    Noosa to develop the Noosa Tourism market.
    In particular, Council provided significant input
    into the development of the Noosa Tourism
    Strategy 2017 - 2022 adopted by the Tourism
    Noosa Board. This strategy included a focus
    on “value over volume” in relation to tourism so
    that the focus is on yield per visitor rather than
    simply more visitor numbers.




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