It may not be a popular idea, in fact I hate it myself but.....

The Sunny Coast will basically be reduced to rubbish like the Gold Coast and Brisbane if this allowed to continue.
Meanwhile in Gympie the fact that the place grew from a collection of miners tents and has never seen a planner's pen since means that it can't cope with any population growth of any size, while the local council seems intent on growth at any cost.

The state government is hell bent on population growth as it really is the only growth industry on the horizon, and they (she, the one woman show) talk of 'decentralisation' while owning huge tracts of land in the Mary Valley.
Let us not kid ourselves that the opposition will be any different, probably minus the sense of even talking of decentralisation.

Maybe the time has come to sacrifice the Valley to a satellite city? Perhaps a planned city is the better option rather than trying to fit more people in to the current areas?

Many seem to think they 'love the coast lifestyle' but the majority don't actually use the beaches that much, they could really live anywhere, in their consumer lives.

A couple of decent roads, the main power grid just over the mountains at Nanango, raise Borumba dam for water and what's stopping them from 'growing' a new city in the Mary Valley?

Heaps of work would come out of it and the amenity of the Sunny Coast and of Gympie could be preserved with at least some character remaining in both places.

The 'state' could redeem some of their loses from their stupid land grab by selling the land to their developer mates as residential land and with a bit of thinking the new city could use some of the lower land to actually feed itself, unlike the existing centres which are pretty well nothing but a food/water drain.

Like many I came to these parts to escape the horrors of unplanned sprawling city life.
That life is fast coming at us.
As much as I'd like to keep it all to ourselves it seems that isn't going to happen so maybe we need to be pro-active in suggesting solutions that suit us rather than just bitching about the stupid ideas that the powers that be come up with??

Ah! Forget it! This is the 'smart state', we don't do thinking!

Yep. It's true waht they say - build it and they will come.

Does it follow then, that if you don't build it they wont come.

Will Anna Bligh attend this meeting?? I guess not but surely a detailed report should be sent to her.The massive influx of tourists at certain times of the year show just how bad it could get if we had a population that high on a full time basis. The tourists are welcome but when they go home it is a relief to be able to walk around a shopping centre and not be tripping over munchkins running riot,not to be steering your trolley full of grocerys as if you are jockeying for pole position at the dodgem cars at the circus, ducking and weaving to get out of the way of the ones who are too busy chatting to notice they have run up your heels one to many times and if they do it once more you are going to deck them.Oh yes it will get worse, road rage will be nothing once true trolley and queue rage hit our paradise.Anyone who has lived in the Big Smoke will tell you these things are already established forms of behaviour.Yes growth is good but it really must be a controlled growth with infrastructure in place first and foremost.

Well said thegymp from Gympie.I often wonder why the Government do not off incentives for people to move over the great divide to live. Orange in NSW was sleepy country town and the NSW Government offered quite a few lurks and perks to get people out there and now it is a thriving hub of industry almost double the size it was.

Thegymp. We all know that we are not the Smart State. Even the government has finally acknowledged that.

Now we are Towards Q2

Great. Don't ask me what it means. I have no idea. I doubt that anyone in the Government has any idea either.

It seems though that the Government's population projections (targets) are still spot on. Straight line population growth...year in year out. Great work Dept of PIFU!

Grumpy said " build it and they will come. Does it follow then, that if you don't build it they wont come."

Close mate, but it's "don't build it and they can't come"

Coastlover and Grumpy make me laugh,

Its more like

'We havent built it and they are still coming'

Ooh-ah CoastLover, now I'm excited!

You rash, impetuous No Growth Brigader, you.

So what you are saying is, that if we don't spend lots of ratepayers money and heartache by putting in all these new houses, which only seem to serve to increase the price of our local housing anyway, there would be no pressure to build them in the first place.

We could probably stop all the interminable Growth debates at the same time.

Everyone could live happily ever after. Except for all those foreign migrants who desperately want to live by the beach. They might not be too happy. Oh, and our builders might not be too happy either.

So...where are they all going Fatty? I am assuming that Pelican Waters, Peregian Springsand all those other housing estates must be full already.

Lord Atapro,

More likely Living Choice or Aveo.

If I could just find some concrete and bitument I could build them something!

WooooHooooo, think of all the new shiney grates I can sell
Bring it.

how big is oyur backyard Fatbuilt? can't you start your own batching plant?

So SCEC is organising a sustainability forum and inviting the Big Guy from the Council and some acedemics to have a say about Regional Planning? The proposal is about as ludicrous as it gets. The speakers will only deliver their message to the party faithful whilst having no impact on anyone actually involved in the Process. It is a bit like the LNP forums on hospitals, if you want to make a difference you have to influence the decisions of those who hold the power. Ranting around with you mates just does not cut it.

Jeez nambour_res,

Do I have to do everything, Superhero, builder, town planner, now concrete batcher

Its not easy to mix concrete in tights, hey Atapro!

My daughter and her three kids want to come to live near us whilst she battles serious health issues. Can she come or will you anti everything people lock her out?
Maybe some of you will leave to create space for her being such good community types?
Then maybe you will want your own families to join you and just keep everone else out.
Get real. What gives us the right to stop people living here? We chose to stay here or come here (as the case may be) and everyone else has exactly the same right!

What a great line up of speakers. A bunch of academics who dream up theories based on their extensive real life experiences working in academic institutions. Most of them are only concerned with the title of there next book and situatuions like this are looked upon in a similar vein to a laboratory experiment.
Not a hard days work amongst the lot of them and that includes Big Bob.

thebear, the same rights this council has been using to:
- Stop jobs being created;
- Stop schools being built;
- Send viable businesses that has been operating for years to neighbouring shires;
- Declare that your land is useless because eventually (based on their science, it will be affected by the 1100mm rise in sea level, which btw, will not affect Maroochydore CBD because the science is some how different there);
- Make SCEC, OSCAR etc. your voice;

And unless you have not noticed, according to this council all human (except councillors and SCEC members) are a liability to society and the environment, so lets not have anymore on the sunny coast. So in response to your question about your family, I'd say tough cheese, your family is a liability, they can stay out.

They're trying to raise the drawbridge as we speak ..and they have been trying since I first came here in the mid 1970s... thebear from Maroochydore.

The usual commentators on here try to frighten people coming to live here on a daily basis with their negativity... "not being wanted" or "causing a problem" and then there's flooding...ooh don't let's forget the flooding... it just goes on and on and on.

Same old story... they came here or their ancestors before them but no one else should.

People will continue to live here and the population will continue to grow.

It doesn't take much to flush them all out of the woodwork, does it ? Battle axes and hand grenades in hand. Faces painted in war paint and hurling abuse all over the place...like a mad woman's proverbial.

I think that we can blame you for this one Grumpy. How could you. If I didn't know you better I'd say that you were just having a bit of fun...not Grumpy at all.

Don't try to drag me into your arguments Fatty. You started those tights rumours yourself.

run for Council Fatty, i might vote for you if you were your speedos...

Just listen to mike246 and stop grizzeling.

atapro

There a re a lot of people out there who are willing to pay the price (no matter how high it gets) to come to live here.

They will keep coming and buying out the existing residents and sooner or latter our families will not be able to afford to live here.

Yep they will have the coast they we always wanted but could not afford.

Have my escape plan worked out. I wont be retiring here! But where I am going to a is top secret. Although there is talk about a Berlin Wall going up along the Maroochy River to keep everyone south out. Congestion costs will be terrible. Anyone fancy a park at one of our beaches in the future? Maybe this will keep the tourists away too!

I cannot argue with one word which you have said BrianBarry. And that is the very reason that the prices on the Coast will never, ever be "affordable" by local standards again.

The Coast is a desirable location for people who can afford to live here. There are millions of people who can afford to live here more than the locals can.

It is an unfortunate fact of the real estate market that if an area has a high desirability, the prices will only go up, and keep on going up...no matter what you do to try to stop it.

I remember in Sydney and Melbourne's inner suburbs and waterside suburbs when the yuppies, empty nesters and investors were so keen to get the properties that they forced the prices way beyond the reach of the average family.

They decided to increase the supply by building more units and townhouses. Then, in Sydney at least, they approved Dual Occupancy (read duplex). These properties were quickly snapped up by the wealthy and the investors and their prices ended up the same as the houses used to be. The price of the remaining houses went through the roof.

The investors and upwardly mobile property buyers made a quick fortune.

Still nothing which the average family could afford to buy.