Nick Cooke

Question 1

I made a deputation to council at the Ordinary Meeting dated Thursday 21st September 2023 highlighting numerous issues with the council’s community consultation and processes regarding the Pomona Placemaking Study, calling for it to be suspended until the issues could be reviewed and remedied. Can council confirm or deny that they have since investigated the issues made known to them at this deputation?

Response from Kerri Contini, Director Community Services

Council acknowledges Mr Cooke's ongoing interest in the Pomona Place Project. Your interest is shared by the Pomona community as shown through the high level of engagement through the first phase of the Place project. The Pomona Place Project is a pilot project working in collaboration with our community to develop a holistic vision and plan for the future of Pomona. The location of Pomona was selected for the pilot given the strong community connection within Pomona residents, the high level of positive relationships between community organisations and importantly the interest expressed from Pomona residents in being selected as the pilot site.

As it is a pilot, Council's Place team are continually taking on board feedback regarding the pilot and adapting the program to meet community and Council needs. This is an important part of a pilot process and as such any feedback provided by yourself and other community members has been genuinely considered and modifications to the program have been made. The learnings from this pilot will help develop a model for any future place programs. In relation to your request to suspend the Pomona Place program, Council will not be suspending the program. The first phase of the community engagement which lasted seven weeks has been very successful with high levels of participation across the numerous activities. This has resulted in over 250 survey responses, over 240 people providing input through community pop-ups, detailed community submissions and other contributions. For Pomona's population of just under 3,000 this is a highly statistically significant response. The community are keen to see the outcomes of the engagement as well as the next phase of the project to develop a draft plan prior to the second phase of community engagement when the draft plan is released therefore the project will proceed as planned

Question 2

Will Noosa Council categorically confirm that they will not ban, suspend or restrict powered vessel access (including vessels powered by internal combustion engine) to any part of Noosa River now or into the future?

Response from Larry Sengstock, Acting Chief Executive Officer

Council does not have the authority to ban powered vessel access to the river and does not seek to gain this authority. There is no proposal to prevent powered vessels from accessing the river, in fact Council is working with Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) to identify suitable upgrades to boating facilities.

For two years Council and the former Noosa River Stakeholder Advisory Committee, comprised of 14 members representing the commercial and recreational fishing and boating sectors, conservation and Natural Resource Management, commercial operators on the river and the tourism sector, worked with MSQ to introduce a 28-day anchoring limit in any financial year to reduce congestion and improve the river’s amenity, which is anticipated to be considered by the Minister for Transport and Main Roads next year. This was a major achievement and outcome of the Committee.