There is nothing wrong with making a mistake.

The biggest mistake is if you don’t learn from it.

The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are seen to be “miles apart’’ in the way they do things and the image they project. While the Gold Coast is seen as being big and brash, the Sunshine Coast is regarded as being cleaner and greener.

It was always hoped we would learn from the mistakes of the Gold Coast rather than simply follow down the same track of over-development, especially high-rise buildings on the primary sand dunes.

There needs to be points of difference, according to Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) Sunshine Coast immediate past zone chair Lloyd Edwards who grew up on the Gold Coast. That is why people come to the Sunshine Coast.

Yet the reality is there are a lot of parallels in the geography and the way the two regions have developed. Both have world-famous coastal strips with rural hinterlands and mountain backdrops.

Amalgamation of the three councils will have a major impact on the Sunshine Coast, just as it did on the Gold Coast.

The Gold Coast was formed out of two shires – the Gold Coast Shire serving the coastal strip from Coolangatta to Beenleigh and including Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise and Southport. The Albert Shire was a rural area taking in parts of Mermaid Waters, Mudgereeba, Nerang and Beenleigh.

While the Gold Coast and Albert shires ran east to west, the three Sunshine Coast local government areas stretch north to south – from Caloundra to Maroochy in the centre and north to Noosa. All have both coastal and rural areas.

REIQ chairman Peter McGrath, who has run real estate offices on the Gold Coast for more than 20 years, has seen the best and worst of the amalgamation process.

At the end of the day a super council will be far better than smaller ones, he says. It certainly helps development of the whole area in a more orderly fashion.

Developers in particular will only be dealing with one council. While you have two councils you will have two sets of rules, two groups of town planners to deal with.

It does not create good harmony and it tends to lead to developers staying in one shire.

The vision of a Gold Coast city materialised in 1994 with the amalgamation of the two shires but it was immediately beset with internal wrangling and an administrator was appointed.

Yet those initial problems seem to have been overcome and it is now Australia’s fifth largest city.

The Sunshine Coast can expect the infill of the Sippy Downs-Kawana-Caloundra triangle, just like Robina, Ashmore and Mudgereeba did on the Gold Coast.

Mr McGrath said the other major plus of a super council has been that infrastructure can be planned better and spread evenly throughout the region.

To get to there is a lot of pain, Mr McGrath warned. Yet the pain is worth the outcome.

Issues to work through include which by-laws are to become standard and having council staff working in the same direction.

The bitterness created by councillors jockeying for themselves rather than the residents.

The biggest argument during the Gold Coast merge was where the council headquarters would be – at Nerang or Bundall.

Petty things overshadowed what was further down the track, Mr McGrath said. The state government should nominate where it is to be, not leave it to councils.

From the Gold Coast experience the main benefit of amalgamation is the creation of a sustainable region which has more clout for state and federal funding.

While it may not speed up development and building applications it has made the process much clearer.

The biggest challenge is ensuring areas retain their own character while trying to keep the overall character of the region going forward.