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Bass Coast Addressing Sea Change IssuesThe National Sea Change Taskforce, of which Bass Coast Shire Council is a foundation member, has launched a report examining how local governments respond to the challenges of the ‘sea change phenomenon’. By Bass Coast Shire Council - 16th February 2006 - Back to News Representing over 60 Councils from around Australia, the Taskforce recently met in Torquay to discuss the results of the report, which also examines best practice models from around the world.
Bass Coast Chief Executive Officer Allan Bawden said the report provided some invaluable insights into the problems facing communities affected by sea change.
"With more than 140 examples of best practice, this is a great tool to assist councils manage the impact of coastal growth," said Mr Bawden.
"All indications are that population growth in areas like Bass Coast will continue for the foreseeable future.
"This means we need to continually seek ways to deal with the impact of this on our community, economy, infrastructure and environment," said Mr Bawden.
"Cr Goodwin has also been elected to the National Sea Change Taskforce Executive, as one of two Councillors representing Victoria," continued Mr Bawden.
The report, entitled "Meeting the Sea Change Challenge: Best Practice Models of Local & Regional Planning for Sea Change Communities", was compiled by Dr Nicole Gurran, Caroline Squires and Professor Edward J Blakely.
The research was divided into five key topics: governance, environment, community well being, economy and tourism, infrastructure. The report focused on the issues surrounding each topic as well as providing examples of best practice.
Nearly 20 percent of the Australian population is represented by the local councils who make up the Taskforce. The report stated that a number of factors suggested that this figure would continue to rise and these include:
- The imminent retirement of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, which will produce a sizeable new market for high amenity retirement destinations
- The global shift away from manufacturing based economies towards information, service and consumption based industries which are less dependent on a metropolitan location; and
- The growing flexibility of work practices associated with new telecommunications technology, which enables some worked to relocate to small coastal centres or the rural hinterland.
The report also identified ‘amenity migration’ - relocating for lifestyle considerations rather than economic factors - as fuelling the coastal population growth.
The report concluded that a collaborative approach from the three levels of government (Federal, State and Local) is essential in order to manage these issues.
As well as lobbying for increased Government collaboration, the Taskforce is seeking to generate new sources of funding to finance some of the recommendations and ideas from the report.
In addition to the meeting presentations, Taskforce members were given a tour of Surf Coast to look at how development is being managed in the Surf Coast Shire and along the Great Ocean Road. The National Sea Change Taskforce conference is planned for April 2006.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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