2018-03-06 S&O Agenda - Attachment 1 to Item 2 - Public Interest Test Report

Noosa Council - Public Interest Test Report: Proposed Local Law No. 7 (Waste
Management) 2017
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respect of a nuisance caused by unsatisfactory storage and collection of waste practices. In
this way, Council would only be acting in genuine situations of nuisance rather than having to
respond to what are, for example, vexatious complaints.
While the alternative may provide some benefit to Council, it was considered to be only
nominally less anti-competitive than the proposed regime. There was also concern that some
genuine complaints would not be acted upon under this regime thereby limiting the rights of
individuals and the community in respect of public health and safety and amenity. It may also
be conceived by the community as an abrogation of local government responsibility and duty
of care.
Public information and education program
Consideration was given to this alternative however Council does not have the necessary
resources available to undertake an appropriate education program. It was also considered
that some form of regulatory control was necessary in order for Council to act immediately in
situations posing an unacceptable risk to public health and safety or causing a nuisance.
Planning scheme
This alternative would require the local law to be amended to specify that its application relates
to non-commercial activities only. Regulation of storage and collection of waste and nuisance
issues with respect to commercial activities would be by way of planning instruments.
There are several impacts which would arise from this alternative. The main difficulty with
moving to use of the planning scheme relates to the question of whether Council would have
adequate control over existing businesses. Under the planning scheme, where new
developments require some kind of approval, Council could place conditions on the approval
dealing with issues such as storage and collection of waste. However, in relation to existing
businesses, unless an approval under the planning scheme was required and unless that
original approval made provision for the activities covered by the proposed local law, Council
would have no power under the planning scheme to control the activities covered by the
proposed local law. Council may have recourse to a variety of powers under State legislation,
for example, the Environment Protection Act 1994 but it would depend on the individual
situation as to whether these or other Acts could be invoked and the degree of their
effectiveness is uncertain.
Also, the planning scheme cannot provide for a once-off occasion of significant intensity where
the undertaking of a business activity may result in increased, or exceptional, storage and
collection of waste issues, which could be the subject of Council regulation under the proposed
local law.

 10.     Structure and operation of the market
A brief description of the structure and operation of the market and who is affected is detailed
below.
Under Chapter 5A and section 7, Council may designate areas within its local government
area in which Council may conduct general waste and green waste collection and decide the
frequency of general waste and green waste collection in the designated areas.
Under the proposed local law, Council may designate areas within its local government area
in which Council may conduct general waste and green waste collection and decide the
frequency of general waste and green waste collection in the designated areas.
In Chapter 5A and the proposed local law, the expression ‘general waste’ is defined to include
commercial waste, domestic waste and recyclable waste and in each of Chapter 5A and the
proposed local law, those expressions have an identical meaning.