2021-01-18 General Committee Meeting Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               18 JANUARY 2021


Community consultation was undertaken through Your Say Noosa, open from 20 July to 26 August
2018. The River Plan consultation was advertised widely on the Council website and Facebook
with 882 downloads of the draft plan and more than 10,000 views of the accompanying video. 78
individual submissions were received (mostly through YSN) and a further 10 from identified
organisations:
   Cooroy Area Residents Association
   Department of Environment & Science
   The Nature Conservancy
   Noosa & District Landcare Group
   Noosa Integrated Catchment Association
   Noosa North Shore Association
   Noosa River Fishing Safaris
   Noosa Waters Residents Association
   Ocean Crusaders
   Pelican Boat Hire & T Boat Hire

The details of the feedback is provided at Attachment 2 – Consultation Report – River Plan Version
1 (2018).

Most feedback received was on specific topics related to river management. This diversity of issue-
specific feedback was generally positive and constructive, suggesting a high level of engagement
with the detail of the plan. Some broad themes from the feedback include:
   Support for the plan in principle and Council showing the initiative.
   More comments received on human use than environmental issues.
   Prioritisation of actions, and links to threats, needs to be improved.

The first question in the survey asked ‘What do you think will be most important in maintaining and
improving water quality of the Noosa River system?’ with respondents invited to prioritise seven
options and provide further comments.




The Council report provided a cost estimate of $2,235,000 over 5 years for implementation of the
draft Noosa River Plan version 1. As a result, a second question was asked related to this: Are you
willing to pay extra (through General Rates, the Environment Levy and/or the Tourism and
Economic Levy) for Noosa Council to fully implement the Plan so that the Noosa River has a better
chance of remaining a pristine and vital community asset? If yes, how much per year ($5, $10,
$15, $20)?



                                                                                   Page 25 of 155