Meeting papers

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING                                                         14 AUGUST 2023


The Community's approach to their environment – being connected, engaged and inspired by our
unique environment - was brought to the fore during community consultation for the Noosa Coastal
Hazards Adaptation Plan (CHAP) 2021. “There is a strong preference for nature-based solutions
that fit with the look and feel of Noosa, and that minimise impacts to natural environments,” and,
“natural and scenic amenity assets are considered to have the highest intrinsic value to the
community” (CHAP, 2021:18).

Community consultation

The public consultation period for the draft Eastern Beaches Foreshore Management Plan was held
from 20 February 2023 to 20 March 2023 and was extended to 31 March 2023. The following
promotional activities were undertaken to notify the public of the consultation period:

   •   The draft plan was made available on the Your Say webpage.
   •   Notification of the public consultation period was emailed to stakeholders.
   •   The consultation was advertised on social and traditional media.
   •   A notice was included in the January rates notice to residents.
Council ran an online survey (204 respondents), 13 pop up events (485 people engaged), 3 public
roundtable workshops (28 participants), 2 dedicated roundtables with the Eastern Beaches
Protection Association (eight participants) and received 92 written submissions.

The January 2023 rates notice insert included information about the consultation process. This was
not delivered to people who receive rates notices electronically. Consequently, Council officers
emailed the insert to people who receive rates notices electronically in mid-March and extended the
consultation to end March to allow more time for people to provide feedback.

Independent engagement consultants analysed data from the community roundtables, online
survey, and popup events. The data was broken down into plan themes and considered as part of
the plan’s review. This engagement analysis is attached to this Council Report as Attachment 3.

Community input and proposed Council responses

The input comments were varied, demonstrating the broad range of community groups and individual
respondents. Areas of interest included:

   •   A desire to change the scope, focus and objectives of the plan - some community members
       felt all programs, activities, and planning for the Eastern Beaches should be in one document.
   •   A desire for consultation earlier in the process of drafting the plan.
   •   Misdirected priorities, over-emphasis/exaggeration of the issue of encroachments.
   •   A desire for action on encroachments versus others who felt there should be less focus on
       encroachments.
   •   Actions tied to objectives, better measures of outcomes, and increased monitoring.
   •   The need for more on ground works and greater efforts to control weeds.
There were also several comments regarding other locations such as Main Beach, Noosa River and
Noosa North Shore, open space parks, national parks and private land and other matters relating to
Noosa’s CHAP, Noosa's Planning Scheme and the Open Space Strategy. Community input and
officer observations about these other issues will be forwarded to the relevant sections of Council
for consideration.




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