12:00a.m. 29th August 2008

| By Kerryn Manifold

Fewer people are moving to the Sunshine Coast – and mayor Bob Abbot is over the moon.

New population figures, released yesterday by Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Paul Lucas, indicated the Coast’s growth had slowed to 2.1% a year.

Mr Lucas said that rate was expected to continue until 2031.

For the 10 years to June 2006, the Coast’s population increased by 3.4% a year.

Mr Abbot, speaking on his way back from Canberra after infrastructure funding talks, said he was happy about the figures.

“That’s fabulous,” he said.

“It will give us a little more time to get the infrastructure the Coast needs in place.”

Growth in the rest of the state is expected to be much slower, at 1.7%, which is about half the average rate of growth during the five years to June 2006.

Sunshine Coast Environment Council spokeswoman Narelle McCarthy warned, however, that the growth rate could be higher because the government was using “medium” growth predictions. The rate of growth could be as high as 2.6%, she said.