JUNGLE DRUM: Fail to plan, plan to fail
LAWRENCE MASON COLUMN
Firstly I am not alleging that Douglas has failed to plan. We clearly have a comprehensive Local Planning Instrument. What I will allege though, is that it is out of date. Thus it is failing us.
Planning Schemes are reviewed every ten years.The last review of ours was completed in 2018. when the issue of too much short term airbnb style accommodation was just emerging. When housing was not as tight as now. The mill was still running. The ferry was a two ferry solution.
There had been no major disasters for a while. Noah Bridge was on track for 2019 completion. Southern Charities weren't proposing buybacks with reveg of hundreds of hectares of agricultural land. Return to Country, while no doubt an aspiration then had not yet been openly promoted.
Douglas just seems to roll along like a tumbleweed in the wind sometimes. I think we let things happen to us, rather than make any attempt to reverse that process. The last Mayor to actually get proactive, love him or hate him, was Mike Berwick. He used the TLPI function (Temporary Local Planning Instrument) to place a hold on development until a newer plan could take effect. Whether you agreed with him or not, Berwick was always at the wheel driving the bus, or trying to. That's what is needed now.
A TLPI should now be placed on any further buyback for conservation, any revegetation of agricultural land, and any new short term accommodation. These kinds of measures do have measurable impacts. The Daintree we see now is a result of that old TLPI, and while some aspects like power were handled badly, the reduction in development in my opinion was a positive. It is the lack of follow through that is the problem.
I am astounded, given the multiple threats facing Douglas, that Council is not moving fast to a TLPI. And don't forget the purpose of a TLPI is to give time, so that we can plan. So for those of you who want mass plantings, planning and consultation may well result in that being the way forward. Even the old TLPI did not result in the sort of mass protection some were advocating for. Sober analysis saw the need for a community north of the river.
A new plan would also allow us to incorporate the results of a review into disaster response. Council land at Cape Trib, Council Officers onsite living in cut off communities until access is restored. Identified sites for sea access. The list is endless but would be set in our Town Plan, not just in our hopes and dreams.
The loss of the mill and the clear and present danger to agriculture, which is our only backup to tourism makes a TLPI and subsequent rejig of the town plan imperative. If we don't go this way, Green and Teal voters in urban areas will dictate our future. And if even one nuke is tossed either in the Middle East or Ukraine, our international tourists, currently the backbone of visitors with spending power, will dry faster than a sprinter out of the blocks.
Then with our agricultural land growing pretty trees, and a few broke Aussie tourists, we will really be in trouble. Can we at least try to drive the bus a bit instead of letting it crash?
*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.
- The opinions and views in this column are those of the author and author only and do not reflect the Newsport editor or staff.