Council has several conflicts of interest. Consent Authority, landowner, co-proponent, and environmental regulator !!!
Environmental damage and community safety issues plague construction
Environmental Damage
Inadequate stormwater retention capacity has caused polluted stormwater breakouts in each of FIVE significant storm events in October/November/December 2025. Construction site pollutants and debris flowed into the local creek system on each occasion, and temporarily blocked local roads. After the first December storm breach contractors appeared to wash mud off the roads into the creek! Is this site just too steep and small to be developed without harming the environment? The onsite retention basin has a design capacity of 40mm of rain in 24 hours. We've routinely seen storms of between 60mm of rain in half an hour to 90mm in 5 hours. In Queensland, stormwater pollution is prohibited under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, Section 440ZG and Section 319 of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 yet it has kept on happening, even during cleanup!
Under the law penalties increase for repeat offences and wilful acts. Noosa Council has a heavy conflict of interest as client, site owner, co-developer and environmental regulator. After countless enquiries we were eventually told by Council it had referred the site environmental breaches to DESI. Yet DESI has told us repeatedly compliance is a Noosa Council responsibility. Despite the actions of many residents so far it seems impossible to get any clarity around the enforcement of environmental compliance here in the Noosa Biosphere.
See the video links for the five storm events.
On 27 November 2025 contractors were filmed pumping sediment laden stormwater into adjoining bushland to make room in a dam before a predicted storm. Is this also stormwater pollution? Contractors appeared to attempt the same act on the morning of Friday 28 November 2025 but when observed by a resident of Dianella Court they were observed to stop.
Our other videos and photos of stormwater management fails are can be seen using the red buttons underneath the videos on this page.
Unsafe pollution cleanups
Footpaths have often been left impassable and unsafe after environmental incidents.
And on November 17, 2025 four school children were engulfed by dust (of unknown composition, potentially contaminated) generated by a street sweeping bobcat during site runoff cleanup activities.
6 Jan '26 - Carruthers enlarge the detention basin
Locals were pleased to see Carruthers significantly enlarging the stormwater retention basin on Tuesday 6 Jan 2026 and hope this prevents uncontrolled site discharges in coming weather events. This Carruthers action appears to be consistent with its company environmental policy, seen here.
https://www.carrutherscontracting.com.au/compliance/environmental-policy/
Outside the site entrance during Storm 1 on 30 October 2025. Approx 64mm in under half an hour. This is not an everyday event but it is not an unusual storm for us.
Outside the site entrance during Storm 2 on 15 November 2025. Approx 64mm in under an hour. Again, not an everyday event but not an unusual storm for us. Another 30mm fell overnight after this.
Outside the site entrance during Storm 3 on 24 November 2025. Approx 49mm in an hour. Again, not an everyday event but not an unusual storm for us. And the third in 25 days. It took a work crew all day to clean the mud beach off the road.
Strange Act 1: Outside the south end of the site on 27 November 2025, ahead of predicted rain. It appears contractors were pumping out a dam to the top of the site, as polluted water ran offsite into the stormwater system east of Dianella Ct.
Quote from Noosa Council project manager, Mon 1 December 2025:
"Council and Carruthers Contracting continue to actively monitor site conditions, particularly during periods of heavy rain, to ensure controls are functioning as intended and are rectified after each extreme rain event. Where required, adjustments are made to strengthen dust and runoff mitigation.
We acknowledge the inconvenience these works can cause and remain committed to managing the site responsibly and safely."
Outside the site entrance after the overnight Storm 4 on 16 December 2025. Approx 92mm fell during the early hours of the morning. The 4th storm in 44 days.
Storm 5, outside the site entrance after the afternoon storm on 25 December 2025. Approx 56mm in under an hour. The fifth in 53 days.
After Storm 4 -to keep the roadway open in future storms, a project management decision was made to open the stormwater drains to allow polluted water to flow into the creek, highlighting Council's highly conflicted role as co-developer and environmental regulator.
'Cleanup' after this storm saw additional discharge of pollutants into the creek feeder drains. An overflow trench was then dug to feed retention basin water to the stormwater sump 5m away.