Have Your Say!

Urgent - Closes 19 September 2025

Please fill out the below form and click 'Submit'. Our system will bundle this all up into a formal PDF submission and send to Council on your behalf (we'll Cc you in this). We've pre-populated some of the content to make it easier for you, but this is YOUR submission, so if you do want to add or edit please do.

The Sunshine Coast Proposed Planning Scheme sets out the future of the Sunshine Coast for the next 20 years. Over the past 20 years we have seen unprecedented destruction of our natural environment, loss of the open spaces we love and ever-increasing congestion.

The idea of endless growth, high rises turning us into the Gold Coast and claiming 'economic growth' by jamming more people into the same area is not what we believe our people want.

While the proposed plan uses lots of fluffy words like 'sustainable' and 'green fence', the fact is, this proposal seeks to bulldoze vast tracts of public land, fill much the coastal strip with high rise and unit blocks at similar densities to the Gold Coast, and inflict enormous and irreversible damage to the place we call home. This is literally the exact opposite to sustainability!

We believe Council (and our broader Governments) need to represent the will of the people, rather than attempt to steam roll them with plans like this. Make your voice heard, this is urgent!

We know signing your signature using the track pad at the bottom is a bit funky....if we get time, we'll work on that..just do what you can, but it isn't critical :)

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Submission

My submission is We've pre-filled a submission for you to use. If you want to use it as a starting point, feel free to do so, but this is your submission, so if you want to alter or add to it, please go ahead.

Dear Sunshine Coast Council, and Councillors,

Mayor Rosanna Natoli, Councillor Jenny Broderick, Councillor Terry Landsberg, Councillor Tim Burns, Councillor Joe Natoli, Councillor Winston Johnson, Councillor Christian Dickson, Councillor Ted Hungerford, Councillor Taylor Bunnag, Councillor Maria Suarez, Councillor David Law and CEO John Baker.

I make my formal submission on the Sunshine Coast Proposed Planning Scheme, and I insist that my submission is counted and considered as my own personal submission and not disregarded if it is same or similar to other submissions from members of the community. In fact I suggest similarities in submissions would in fact point to a consistent message, alignment in views, and solidarity from the community and constituents you serve.

There are parts of the planning scheme I support and want to genuinely thank you and the team for. For example, the attempt to retain some of the rural character in the northern areas of the Sunshine Coast, north of the Maroochy River, and west into the hinterland. This is really important and I want to ensure that this really positive work is not lost or diminished as the plan moves forward. I would strongly object to that.

However as a whole, the Proposed Planning Scheme clearly fails to understand the nature of the Sunshine Coast, its history, people, culture and ‘community of communities’ ethos. I ask every representative to understand this, to listen to your constituents and act on the feedback through the submissions.

This plan also clearly fails to understand that what occurs in one part of our Coast or in the area of one Councillor, impacts every other area, for better or worse - while we are a community of communities, we are not disconnected, isolated communities.  We are interconnected and our way of life in each area of the Coast is interdependent. Dramatic changes in certain areas of the Coast, as proposed by this plan will have direct and irreversible consequences on all areas of the Coast.

The Proposed Scheme captures some great Themes and Visions for the future of the Coast that amplify our quality of life, promote a healthy and thriving high-value economy and ensures our natural environment is undiminished and, in fact, enhanced. Some examples of Our Vision include;

“the region’s outstanding biodiversity, natural assets and landscapes, including the Blackall Range and Glass House Mountains, beaches, headlands, coastal plains, waterways and wetlands are protected and enhanced and remain undiminished by development.”

“The sensitive balance and connection between the natural and built environment that the Sunshine Coast is renowned for remains a distinguishing feature that differentiates the region from the remainder of metropolitan South East Queensland.”

“In 2046, the Sunshine Coast has achieved or is significantly advanced in achieving its goal to be Australia’s most sustainable region.”

I wholeheartedly support these Themes and Visions, and expect that the plan genuinely delivers these. As it stands however, it absolutely does not.

The Proposed Scheme is incredibly shortsighted. It attempts to enforce population growth and sell-offs of ever diminishing land area as a proxy for genuine economic growth per capita, as opposed to genuinely delivering innovation, quality of life, care for our environment and increased economic prosperity per capita through a truly high-value economy as the Scheme claims. It seemingly fails to contemplate, understand or measure what is lost in the proposal (quality of life, unique nature of place etc) and is disingenuous in the way it attempts to ‘greenwash’ a plan that fundamentally and irreversibly fails to deliver the Vision it claims.

This Scheme proposes an additional 219,000 residents on the Coast over this planning period. That is a proposed increase in the order of 60%, and appears to be the most rapid increase in population the Sunshine Coast has ever seen, at a point where the Coast is already losing some of its charm and residents are vocal about this. This seems to be a case of setting a 'population target', bulldozing our natural environment and small suburban communities to subdivide into blocks or knock up apartment buildings and then finding people to sell them to. 'Build it and we will sell' seems to be the theme.

While I understand State Government is involved in trying to force population growth on the Coast, I urge Council to push back on this on behalf of our community and dramatically reduce population targets State Government may be pushing.

Should some population growth ultimately be forced upon us, then this should absolutely be limited and the preference is certainly to manage this through well designed, appropriately scaled and located density in-fill in centres such as Maroochydore CBD , Kawana CBD and Caloundra CBD, with substantial green space elements, especially when these centres may already have historic zoning to enable this. This should absolutely not be achieved through urban sprawl, development of current green-field sites, high rise development and densification spreading through sections of the coastal strip or rezoning of existing areas.

Further, I want to add that many residences seem to be sitting empty and unoccupied. This can be readily seen by viewing lights off in apartment buildings of an evening. This skews what the reality is on the ground and demonstrates the perverse incentives at play. I ask that a realistic and objective assessment is made to incorporate all empty residences in Council calculations which can support any enforced population growth. I ask that any issue with this approach is taken up with higher levels of Governement should that be needed, as the approach here must be to accommodate any enforced population growth by maximising the usage of our existing dwellings, not to create perverse outcomes for the community.

Ultimately I believe our elected members have a very clear mandate which, can be summarised in simple terms as below:
- Stop allowing vast tracts of open land to be bulldozed for development.
- Stop the vast urban sprawl consuming the Coast from Caloundra towards Brisbane.
- Protect, reforest and expand what is left of our natural spaces for habitat and nature-based community recreation.
- Stop coastal high rise development and preserve the community based low-rise feeling along the whole coastal strip. Don’t create further congestion.
- Create the environment to nurture a smart, high-value economy, per capita that places value on our way of life.

Something that must be pointed out is that once these areas are bulldozed, sub-divided, developed, sold off, turned into multi story apartments, or sprawling sub-divisiions, they are never coming back. There is a responsibility for all of us, our representatives and for this plan, to address that. Areas which may have stood undeveloped for all of human history are being earmarked for development in this one Planning Scheme. A decision of one Councillor can take these amazing natural areas away, for every generation of the future. I don't feel the significance of decisions or the proposal to continue with further development is being appreciated to the extent it must be.

The below is my feedback on the plan and my formal request to address these concerns.

Regarding the ongoing loss of open green space, habitat and bushland areas

I strongly support the protection of the below forests in perpetuity, to protect these areas from development or being lost to the community, and ensure they are preserved for outdoor, nature based recreation for all of our community into the future. I adamantly oppose any development of these areas, which would further erode the loss of our natural spaces and ability for all groups to enjoy their nature based recreation into the future. Further concentration of population into diminishing areas of nature is absolutely unacceptable and I call on the Sunshine Coast Council to support our community in delivering this cause through every available avenue, including in this planning scheme and in interaction with other levels of Government if required. It must ensure that all user groups are catered for and represented.

Bellthorpe State Forest
Benarkin State Forest
Beerburrum West State Forest
D’aguilar State Forest
Delaneys Creek State Forest
Deongwar State Forest
Diaper State Forest
East Nanango State Forest
Elgin Vale State Forest
Jimna State Forest
Peachester State Forest
Squirrel Creek State Forest
Yabba State Forest

Regarding the Coochin Creek and Halls Creek areas. These areas are extremely important to the ‘green frame’ referred to in the Proposed Scheme. They form part of the inter-urban break and are important wetland and low lying areas that form an important part of our ecosystem. I strongly oppose any densification in the northern inter-urban break, and the Pumicestone Passage catchment area. Everything possible should be done to support the natural health and environment of this area.

Regarding mass transit, light rail, heavy rail, public transport, etc

Regarding any mass transit, transport technology is changing rapidly as advancements are made in self-driving vehicles (which will presumably include bus-type transport), electrification of vehicles and the massive uptake of small personal electric transport such as scooters, bicycles, pedalecs etc. It seems we are doing very little to harness this opportunity to enable low impact personal transport, which could be a fantastic way to support a better transport system. Dedicated shared lanes for buses and ‘personal electric transport’ , or an electric personal vehicle path network, for example, may be one avenue to pursue. This would help to address the persistent problem of ‘first and last kilometre’ which a public transport system can struggle to address, and would presumably do so at a much reduced cost while giving personal freedom and choice to commuters in the interim, while broader technology matures.

I want our Local Government to innovate, be flexible, think outside the square and lead the way when it comes to how we might be able to embrace new transport solutions for our people. This doesn't necessarily mean mega infrastructure projects, in fact it may be quite the opposite.

Further, I want to ensure that Government does not perceive any public transport system as justification to increase heights and densities. It absolutely does not, and I strongly object to using this as a means to justify further densification. There are already traffic issues and the principal objective of any improvements to the public transport system should be to resolve our current issues, which have already become unacceptable, not to find reason to densify further.

Regarding recreation and sporting spaces

Our recreation areas and sporting clubs are being destroyed and not replaced. To cite just one example (and I am sure there are more), one of Australia’s most successful community based sporting clubs, the Suncoast Junior Motorcycle club had their use of public land revoked (and not replaced) after several decades, with the facilities then bulldozed for private development. This club fostered absolutely generational talents, and the Sunshine Coast now has 3 representatives leading at the absolute pinnacle of world sport (Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence and Charli Cannon). Our government should be fostering and supporting groups such as these, but instead I see the opposite. The destruction of this enormously successful community based sporting club, that also hosted significant national events demonstrates a complete failure to understand the people, history, culture and sub-groups that exist with the Sunshine Coast.

I insist that the Sunshine Coast Council and this Proposed Planning Scheme directly address repalcement and in fact further development of the sporting facilities such as the above which have been removed and not replaced. While I appreciate State Goverenment was involved in the above decision, it is time for our local Council to step in and support resolutions, and this Planning Scheme is one avenue which must address this.

Feedback Regarding Process & Planning in the Scheme

I understand the Scheme proposes to remove the ability to object to developments through changes to wording around ‘code assessable’ vs ‘impact assessable’. This is absolutely unacceptable and will result in a range of adverse outcomes for the community. As it stands, it is already far too easy for large corporations with multimillion or multibillion dollar budgets to steamroll community interests, with no effective means to challenge, and this further erodes one of the remaining avenues for objection. I absolutely do not accept this change. The Planning Scheme needs to preserve the right of the community to challenge based on impact throughout the course of the Scheme.

Regarding setbacks for property and new development, it is extremely important for the feel of the Coast as a place, for our connected habitats and for our future prosperity which hinges on the Coast retaining its unique character that extremely strong setbacks are solidified in the plan, have the ability to then be enforced, and are in fact enforced to ensure any future development supports our Vision. These strong setbacks will enable deep planting of large trees and a broader urban greening. Further consideration must be given for how to ensure the plan delivers these outcomes. Setbacks should not be diminished throughout the course of the plan, there must be a mechanism to ensure setbacks deliver the urban greening intended. More pop-up suburbs or developments , especially where they do not fit this urban-greening character are absolutely not acceptable. I also want to point out, that while strongly supporitng these setback and urban-greening requirements, this is not incouraging further sprawl across currently undeveloped land.

Further feedback on other specific aspects of the plan are covered below:

Beerwah East SEQ Development Area The proposed Beerwah East SEQ Development area is a 5200 hectare area (about 7,500 football fields) that stretches from Beerwah, through to Caloundra. The current proposal is that this area is zoned for development, creating enormous urban sprawl that demolishes a huge portion of our open accessible space on the foot of the Glasshouse Mountains, and will NEVER be undone - once this is done, it is lost FOREVER.

Revegetation and reforestation Across SEQ we have lost between 65-70 of our bushland. This level of deforestation is on the threshold of creating a non-functional ecosystem and the proposed plan does little to lead the way as it claims. We believe our community would love to see genuine and ambitious commitment to re-green the Coast. The proposed scheme includes some great elements of "Vision" however the reality is it does not deliver on that Vision to be the national leader in sustainability and conservation.

Sustainability The Proposed Scheme includes a great Vision that we believe reflects the will of the people; 'to make this the most sustainable region in Australia'. However, the Scheme absolutely fails to deliver on that and attempts to 'greenwash' the plan with fluffy words.

Traffic & Transport We've all felt the ever increasing traffic congestion, ever-widening roads and painful parking situation.

Mooloolah River Catchment Area The Mooloolah river is an incredible natural environment, home to incredible native flora and fauna, however the past 20 years has seen enormous destruction of the natural environment along the mid to upper reaches of the Mooloolah River with development consuming more and more of this incredible area. We believe it needs to be protected.

Maroochydore - unlimited height development Our people made it clear, we don't want to be the Gold Coast. The Qld State Government has already forced through zoning of central Maroochydore to ‘UNLIMITED HEIGHT DEVELOPMENT’. That’s right, we are talking skyscrapers turning us into the next Surfers Paradise. We believe this choice was fundamentally at odds with the will of the people. This entirely changes the nature of the Coast and we believe our people want this 'undone'.

Densification from Caloundra to Kawana The scheme proposes that much of the coast between Caloundra and Kawana is rezoned in order that this section is transformed to much higher density, replacing houses with up to 4-6 story apartment blocks. This rezoning has a host of impacts for residents in the area and for others on the Coast. Massively increased density, similar to Gold Coast means all the congestion that comes along with that; not only on this part of the coast, but all the spillover congestion Long term residents may be forced out of their family homes by increased rates and rebuilding a family home when it ages will literally not be allowed - the zone only allows the higher density development such as 4-6 story unit blocks.

Recreation areas and open spaces As the Coast has been consumed by land clearing and construction, Government has removed community amenities in favour of development and concreting of our natural open spaces. In some cases these are established clubs or facilities and conscious decisions have been made to get rid of them, while in other cases, they are just places the locals know and love being destroyed by a Government who may not understand the nuances of our local places. We believe we need to place a priority on retaining the open, outdoor, recreation spaces we love and from that, great economic outcomes and a healthy, thriving community will follow.

Maroochydore development While Maroochydore has evolved to be one of the main centres on the Coast, the proposal pushes for substantially increased heights and densities, which also spillover outside of the CBD.

Alexandra Headland Development Alexandra Headland has a unique character along this stretch of coast, with a balanced mix of limited highrise, residential areas, and open space. The Proposed Scheme intends to substantially increase density and heights and lose open green space from Alexandra Headland, further congesting this area.

Signature

11th September 2025

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