The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
banana production, with some growing tourism interests.
Under the Australian Constitution, the principal responsibility for land use planning and environmental management rests with
individual state, governments. The Queensland state government’s Planning and Environment Act of 1990 requires that all local
authorities in the state prepare a statutory Town Plan to guide future development in their respective areas. There is no mandatory
requirement under this legislation to incorporate public participation into the planning process, except for placing the draft town plan
on public exhibition for a period of at least 60 days and calling for written public submissions. Consequently, individual local
authorities can determine the degree of public participation and consultation that they wish to undertake beyond the statutory
requirements.
The Johnstone Shire Council decided to prepare a new and revised Town Plan immediately after its election in April 1991. The
motives for this initiative can be attributed to a number of factors, including:
• the aspiration of the mayor of that Council to improve environmental management in the Shire;
• the desires of the general manager (chief executive officer) to improve the Council’s corporate services and
establish a more responsive corporate structure capable of responding to community needs;
• inadequacies in the former Town Plan, which did not meet the aspirations of the current Council and community;
• Council’s desire to improve public involvement in decision making; and
• increasing community awareness and concerns for planning and environmental issues expressed in forums,
including the Council’s innovative town meetings.
The Council adopted objectives in the Johnstone Plan Review process (later to be incorporated into its 1993 Corporate Plan) that
sanctioned the establishment of a participatory planning approach, namely:
• to involve the community in the decision-making process and be aware of community aspirations; and
• to develop both a vision of the Shire that reflects community aspirations and the corporate plans and structures
necessary to achieve that vision.
Program Description
The specific terms of reference for the Johnstone Plan Review were:
• to review the Land Use Planning Scheme to determine if it adequately reflects the community’s aspirations for the
social, environmental, and economic well being of the Shire;
• to involve residents and special interest groups in the process;
• to address the conflict between urban growth and preservation of agricultural land, incorporate the outcomes of
integrated catchment management (ICM) study, enhance the character of townships, and establish a vision and
strategy for tourism development;
• to produce a Land Use Plan; and
• to produce a Council Action Plan.
In the initial phases of the Plan Review process (1991), the Council engaged in community consultation by first announcing its
planning intentions through a number of media and subsequently hosting a series of 21 town meetings throughout the Shire with the
objective of directly ascertaining what the people wanted from their Council. These meetings produced a list of some 1,585 items for
the Council to address.
Priority issues identified included: retention of good agricultural land; strengthening the local economy; improving management for
the Shire’s natural and cultural resources; managing the character and lifestyle of the Shire; providing improved community
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