Lanyon lacks sparkle

Abstract

Concept 3 The establishment of an area independent from Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest Village on the boundary of the proposed National Park. The report concludes with several detailed appendices covering such matters as vegetation surveys, hydrographic criteria, population projections and profile, tables of recreational, accommodation and archeological resources. Stage 111 of the Study has yet to be published and will include a traffic plan, a landscape plan, a waterways plan and a zoning plan. An exhibition of the work produced so far was held in Hawks Nest between 30 June and 21 July, 1976, and aroused considerable interest. A public meeting was held a t the Hawks Nest Community Centre on July 15 to explain the exhibition material and answer questions on the proposals. The suggested concepts have since been examined by the Great Lakes Shire Council and the Steering Committee and Concept 2 was subsequently modified to include a resort complex which formed a part of Concept 3. The amended second concept was adapted by the Council and forms the basis of the detailed development control plan. Some ideas emanating from the public meeting were also incorporated in this plan. The determination of all concerned with the preparation of the plan to try and come to terms with, and to rationalise a difficult and complex situation is laudable, although the significance of public-participation in this context would assuredly place it a t the bottom of Sherry Arnstein's ladder. In view of the pioneering leap forward this study makes in attempting to look at planning as a positive rather than a negative process it may appear churlish to criticise the technical approach adopted. If, however, these criticisms can be seen to be directed at the professionals (the consultants) rather than the laymen (the community and the shire officials) perhaps they can be made more easily acceptable, given as they are in good faith. There is a vast difference between concepts rather arbitrarily selected and a genuine generation of viable alternatives. Some broader indication of the options available could have been usefully drawn. Perhaps they were, for in fairness they need not have been listed in a document of this nature. There is a vacuum, too, between the concepts offered and the final selection. Evaluation techniques are with us, I'm afraid, even rudimentary cost-benefit or land capability methods being preferable to the old fashioned 'take a card'. Emphasis upon goals is fine provided it is clear whose goals they represent and the priorities each receives. However, the Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest-Dark Point Study is a genuine encouragement for all concerned with comprehensive, positive planning in this country.