The guiding vision for the future of the region has been detailed in a soon-to-be released draft of the Community Plan.
 
Cairns Regional Council staff and Councillors have been engaging with business and community leaders, stakeholder groups and residents since last July in order to compile the draft document to be released in March.
 
Mayor Val Schier said it was important to reach as many people across the region as possible to ensure the Community Plan emerged as an accurate reflection of the broadest community member spectrum.
 
“Everyone is a stakeholder in this plan.  Once the plan is formulated, it will shape our future by guiding Council’s strategic forward planning for the environment, infrastructure, finances and community and economic development,” Cr Schier said.
 
“We have titled the plan ‘Imagine Tomorrow’ because that is exactly what we are asking everyone to do – to think about our region as the best possible place to live twenty years from now and how we will achieve that.”
 
The Local Government Act 2009 requires councils across Queensland to develop a long term Community Plan.  The Act outlines the process to be followed in achieving a plan that is a flexible document able to change and grow to fit the needs of the community it serves.
 
“In November and December Councillors and staff were in shopping centres  and community halls across the region from Port Douglas to Babinda, talking to people and asking them to write down what they thought the future should be like,” Cr Schier said.
 
“Council launched a Community Online Forum for people to engage with the questions on their computers as well.
 
“The forums posed questions that investigated what people like about this region, what they would like to see improved and preserved and what could be added or adjusted.
 
“All the disparate visioning that we have gathered so far will be compiled into a Community Draft Plan that will be made available in late March for everyone to read and give feedback by the end of May.”
 
A consultancy group gathered fundamental background information as part of the Community Plan process that included local current and emerging trends, recognised issues and opportunities and social contextual information. The consultancy report has been noted by Council today and is a public document.
 
“Council required basic information about the community as it stands currently, to provide the Community Plan with a framework from which we can understand where people’s visions are coming from,” Cr Schier said.
 
“From this point we can move into the really exciting part of developing our vision for the future. The Community Plan will remain a flexible living document that will change and shift as required.”