In the Southernmost pocket of Noosa Shire – South Peregian Beach – locals are about to become guinea pigs in an experiment that puts bikes in charge of their street and removes much of their parking.

The so-called ‘Active Street’ along Lorikeet Drive would be a first for the Sunshine Coast and not everyone is happy about it.  People like me are wondering if we’re about to get slammed by what’s become known as the Noosaville foreshore ‘overkill’.

Late last year Noosa Council was forced to go back to the drawing board after a huge community backlash to a planned re-shaping of the much-loved Noosaville Foreshore park that was widely seen as a textbook case of over-planning and under-consultation.  

Some Peregian Beach residents are wondering if Council has learnt its lesson, as they plough on with what some of us see as an equally confusing piece of over-design.

So what exactly is an Active Street? In its most basic form, it’s an on-road cycle street; however, council has chosen an extreme version of the design for its Lorikeet Drive pilot. One where cyclists have priority over cars via an on-road cycle priority zone, where speed limits are reduced to 30kph, and parking is limited to designated bays on one side of the street only. 

• The net result is around a 60% reduction in on-street parking. Residents and their visitors on the non-parking side of streets will no longer be able to park next to their properties and must cross cycle-prioritised streets. 
• Delivery and services personnel will not be able to park next to the residences they are servicing. Instead, they will have to transport their tools or deliveries across or along these streets depending on where they can park. 
• They may have to perform a U-turn across the cycle zone to access parking, or park in adjoining streets. Dedicated parking bays will also present major challenges for delivery trucks and vehicles with trailers.  
• Construction vehicles will no longer be able to park adjacent to building sites on the cycle zone side of streets without permits and traffic control personnel at any stage of construction. Removalists will face similar challenges. 

Some residents feel blindsided by the project and its impacts after Council delivered its “draft” design as a fait accompli through ‘pop up’ information sharing sessions.  Telling a handful of residents what has already been decided is not consultation. 

Peregian Beach may see the first of these, but perhaps not the last. Council has identified over 60 streets throughout Noosa for conversion to “new shared streets”, otherwise known as Active Streets…although of course most of these may never eventuate – or if they do – will probably be much cheaper and less radical changes.

Bikes given priority, but not necessarily more safety

This recreationally focused project does not address core community needs aimed at genuine cycling safety.  Community feedback to council’s walking and cycling strategy included a desire for safe recreational paths, improved crossing facilities on major roads, more off-road paths and bikeways, more separated bike riding paths and improved connectivity between residential areas and local facilities. Council said it would prioritise projects to activity centres, schools and sports and recreation facilities. Council’s transport strategy also spoke about safe road crossings and making walking and cycling a preferred everyday mode of transport.  

The proposed Peregian Beach Active Street projects will not address the majority of these because of inadequate safe ways to cross David Low Way, Emu Mountain Road, and a lack of interconnecting off-road shared pathways in the immediate area.

The use of on-road cycle zones that place cyclists in direct conflict with vehicles on the same road real estate, with no separation or room for inattention and error, is unlikely to improve cyclist safety.  

Is your 8-year old child safe in the middle of a road where motorists may think they still have the right of way?

And of course this design will not prevent reckless use of e-bikes and e-scooters by unlicensed riders that put themselves and drivers at risk.

Where’s the big planning picture?

The pilot design in Lorikeet Drive is being undertaken in isolation without consideration of the flow-on effects.  It stops abruptly after 800m – before reaching Peregian Beach village – leaving bikes and cars to resume doing what they usually do.  It’s a recipe for confusion.

Council has not developed a holistic approach for the Peregian Beach precinct, contrary to its own design principles. It’s unlikely that it will be feasible to implement a consistent Active Street design through to the village. The connecting streets are narrow, with intersections and bends with blind spots, utilities infrastructure and residences on both sides. Some have residences with extremely steep driveways and multi-unit dwellings sharing a single exit/entry point. 

Why are we not seeing how this traffic experiment fits into the bigger planning picture?

Well, the “Active Street” design will run out after just 800m, and so too will the money.

This particular bag of $1.6m has appeared from State and Federal cash designated for the “2024-27  SEQ Liveability Fund and the Active Transport Fund”.  

Council does not have funds to complete the additional 1.4km of streets to the village – with even more challenging design issues to overcome. Or for that matter the Caloundra to Noosa Heads Coastal Pathway that council admits has many incomplete sections and is poorly signed. 

Let’s re-think this isolated and over-designed planning hiccup before it gives us all indigestion.

The author, Randal Delaney, is a South Peregian Beach resident who has been investigating the Active Street proposal.

Here you can read Noosa Council’s list of Frequently Asked Questions on the Active Street plan.