SEQ NRM Plan & Review

Love South East Queensland? Have your say! That is the pitch of Healthy Land and Water (HLW) as they try to identify challenges and priority actions to protect and restore the region’s natural assets (e.g. air, water, soil, and native vegetation). To maintain SEQ’s status as an icon for its natural wealth, beauty, liveability, and its people. 

It is important that HLW hear from as many South East Queenslanders as possible in the review of the current SEQ Natural Resource Management Plan (NRM Plan).  HLW claim they want to ensure they are acting on the most current information and responding to changing circumstances. Their claim is valid but there is a missing dimension, is of course, …will the Government listen?

When you get to the final section of survey, if you provide us with your name and contact details, and let us know if you’d like to be involved in any follow up NRM Plan review activities, you will go into the draw to win one of four $250 vouchers.

Let’s input to the SEQ NRM

Redlanders have traditionally been the most active community when responding to regional planning initiatives. We have made record submissions to the SEQ Regional Plan at every iteration. The feedback has acknowledged that effort although the Plan has not adequately responded to the community submissions and as a result abominations like lands at Shoreline, Toondah Harbour and Weinam Creek and Southern Thornlands are proceeding without a community mandate and often in-spite of community values.

Despite the growing disenchantment with consultation processes generally, the review of the South East Queensland Natural Resource Management Plan (NRM Plan) is an opportunity to try again. The region’s NRM planners do tend to respond to community views in a more meaningful way than the statutory land use planners responsible for local government planning schemes and the SEQ Regional Plan itself.

The NRM Plan review is yet another opportunity to spell out these community values, together with views opinions and concerns. The Redland City community Plan 2030 was a well credentialed attempt to assess community values. The value of the Community Plan was depreciated this year when the Council decided to adopt a new Corporate Plan and down play the standing of the Community Plan.

The survey for the NRM Plan review is fairly extensive, and the best option is to go as far as you can and where in doubt proceed with your own assessment/ idea.

To start the survey please click here to take the survey. Your survey response is due by 15 June 2019.

NRM Planning fails to inform land use planning in Redlands

The NRM plan is a data rich, yet in some of the biggest developments in the Redlands the available NRM data was overlooked. Was it because the weight of data would lead to actions contrary to the dominant mantra of urban development?

For example the Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area (PDA) is located outside the Urban Footprint of the SEQ Regional Plan. The development scheme of the Toondah Harbour PDA enables development in Moreton Bay without discussion of significant planning policy (including NRM provisions) related about the ramsar wetlands, migratory birds, Toondah koala precincts, coastal planning, climate change, liveability, or requirements of the Urban Footprint of the SEQ Regional Plan. it is clear that the “top down” approach to decision making has never canvassed or explained to the community rather it was planning by Ministerial edict. ..the result PDAs like that at Toondah Harbour, but there are many more.

At the risk of burn out by members and supporters, Redlands2030 is urging all Redlanders to participate in the SEQ NRM Plan Review survey consultation leading to the review of the regions NRM Plan. It is another chance to identify emerging threats to our future environment and liveability.

SEQ NRM Plan: related readings

The SEQ NRM Plan is data rich and data driven evaluation of the plan is not only possible but delivered. The following reading list puts to shame to evaluation process used to produce the SEQ Regional Plan, especially after the SEQ State of the Region Report was published for the 2009 review of the Regional Plan. Thereafter the State of Region Report was abandoned, without explanation. Many observers considered that decision as a means to hide failures in the implementation of the original 2005 SEQ Regional Plan Plan.

Outputs and reports relevant to the Redlands include:

• Healthy Land and Water: Report Card 2020

• Report Card 2030 – Redland

• 2020 Healthy Land and Water Annual Report

• South East Queensland Natural Resource Management Plan 2009-2031

• SEQ Natural Resource Management Plan Atlas

• Natural Assets Status Report 2021
• SEQ NRM Project: Moreton Bay Ramsar Project
• 2SEQ NRM Project: 20+ years of commitment and effort to save our migratory shorebirds

• 

The NRM Plan to be recognised in the SEQ Regional Plan and define “no-go areas”

The SEQ NRM Plan is part of the regional planning framework but the NRM aspects are not part of the statutory aspect of the SEQ Regional Plan. Wholistic planning calls for the NRM aspects to be fully recognised as desirable outcomes of the SEQ Regional Plan. While NRM Planning is considered a “nice to do” rather than a “must do” the SEQ NRM Plan will not be treated seriously.

The NRM Plan should embrace policy and planning constraints as prescribed by the Federal Government including recognition of provided by the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Matters of national significance are specified under the EPBC Act and these should be fully recognised by both the SEQ NRM Plan and the SEQ Regional Plan as serious constraints to planning and development. And these matters should be addressed before any changes in land use or new developments can be approved, any potential negative impacts on matters of national significance must be carefully considered. the earliest phases of land use planning and decisions and not (as was the case in the Toondah PDA) being left to the development application phase. The nine matters of national significance under the EPBC Act are:

• world heritage properties
• national heritage places
• wetlands of international importance (listed under the Ramsar Convention)
• listed threatened species and ecological communities
• migratory species ie protected under international agreements (CAMBA, JAMBA, and ROKAMBA)
• Commonwealth marine areas
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• nuclear actions (including uranium mines)
• a water resource, in relation to coal seam gas development and large coal mining development.

Align and incorporate NRM Targets into the SEQ Regional Plan

The NRM Plan is data rich and driven , yet the targets of the NRM Plan are not embedded into the statutory SEQ Regional Plan. Experience shows that the gap between the two plans is concerning and may be designed to allow some weasel room for local government planning schemes. It should be of more concern that SEQ NRM Plan and the SEQ Regional Plan are not better integrated.

Locally the gap between the two plans is demonstrated by the decision to place the Toondah Harbour PDA in the Moreton Bay Marine Park. The NRM Plan has provision for a (regional) greenspace target yet the PDA will remove over 60 hectares of community greenspace from the regions inventory. This will be the largest revocation of community greenspace since at least 1990. The planning narratives (such as they were about the PDA) never mentioned the scale of the assault it was on the SEQ region’s regional open space.

Redlands2030 – 4 June 2021