Premier talks growth management with the world's best

Premier and Minister for the Arts

The Honourable Anna Bligh

30/04/2010

Premier talks growth management with the world's best

Premier Anna Bligh has kicked off the first leg of a trade mission to North America with a strong focus on growth management and gaining expertise from world leaders in urban planning and mass transit in Vancouver, Canada.

Ms Bligh today met with the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, and agreed to work towards an exchange of senior planning staff to grow expertise in this area.

"Vancouver has been consistently ranked as the world's most liveable city over the past decade," Ms Bligh said.

"The planning challenges here are similar to those we face in Queensland, particularly in the South East corner.

"With more than 2,100 extra people calling Queensland home each and every week we have to stay ahead of the game on this issue.

"This is about learning from the best planning minds in the world and using that to our advantage locally."

Tomorrow, the Premier will sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell, which also focuses on exchanging ideas between the two states on growth management.

Ms Bligh said the talks at the highest levels of state and local government in British Columbia would build on last month's Growth Management Summit held in Brisbane.

Greater Vancouver and SEQ face similar challenges as a result of strong population growth.

"SEQ is expected to grow from 2.8 million to 4.4 million by 2031 - an increase of 57 per cent," Ms Bligh said.

"Over the same period, the greater Vancouver region is expected to grow from 2.2 million to 3.1 million - an increase of 41 per cent.

"This is a massive issue for both of our Government's and we have everything to gain from sharing knowledge and expertise with Vancouver's best planning minds."

The Memorandum of Cooperation being signed by the Premiers includes a specific clause on

"Planning, Development Assessment and Growth Management".