12:00a.m. 23rd February 2008

| By Kathy Sundstrom

Noosa mayor Bob Abbot has secured a small victory in the fight to protect his shire’s iconic status.

Mr Abbot has been able to persuade deputy premier and infrastructure and planning minister Paul Lucas to at least consider minor changes to the process an external assessment panel will use to decide development applications.

But he could not persuade the state government to budge from its controversial decision to appoint a five-member panel to oversee some of the major developments in Noosa.

“We don’t agree with the assessment panel in the first place, but the minister has said it will be,” Mr Abbot said.

“What we have done is convinced him to consider that the panel will only look at those applications that don’t comply with the planning scheme or conflict with the iconic description.

“This will help in that it won’t hold up the development process.”

Mr Abbot was also optimistic he had been able to persuade Mr Lucas to consider allowing the future mayor of the Sunshine Coast regional council to have some input on who sits on the panel.

“He said he would be willing to work with me or whoever was mayor to consider all the members of the panel,” Mr Abbot said.

Mr Lucas told the Daily yesterday the “entire panel could be made up of locals if people with the proper expertise are available”.

His spokesman defined “proper expertise” as “people with expertise in the environment and town planning”.

“The independent assessment panels are about getting the balance right,” Mr Lucas said.

“They will include local representatives as well as environmental and planning experts. The Noosa panel, for example, will include at least two locals ... indeed the entire panel could be made up of locals if people with the proper expertise are available.

“As part of appointing a panel, I will ask council and other organisations such as the Planning Institute to make suggestions about individual members. We will ensure there is appropriate local representation and that there is top-quality representation – regardless of where people might live.”

Representatives from the Friends of Noosa also met with senior staff from the offices of Mr Lucas and premier Anna Bligh yesterday to discuss concerns about iconic legislation, including the composition of the panel and how it would function.