Have Your Say Cairns
Cairns is a popular place to live and work, and our population will grow even more in the coming decades. Council’s Towards 2050 Shaping Cairns project is planning for this growth now, to make sure everyone can live here and enjoy what we love about Cairns today.
Over the past few years, we have been working to understand what we want the future of our region to look like — not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.
During this time we have listened to the community, tested outcomes and studied influences. All of our work has led to the development of the Draft Growth Strategy. We now want to hear what you think about it!
We encourage you to read the Explanatory guide and consultation paper (20MB PDF) which provides a summary and explains the key concepts that are covered in the draft Growth Strategy.
You can explore the outcomes and strategies in more detail by reading the Draft Growth Strategy document (107MB PDF).
The feedback form closed at 5pm on 24 June 2025. Thank you for providing feedback.
The Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns Growth Strategy will establish a clear and coordinated long term plan for the growth and development of the Cairns local government area. The project will run from September 2022 to July 2025.
We're talking to the community at each step in the project to explore the challenges and opportunities of growth, and to capture your views and priorities. To date, we've held in-person and online engagement activities including pop-up stalls at local events, online surveys, meetings with industry stakeholders, two Youth Summits and two Community Summits.
We have formed the Towards 2050 Community Panel with 350 independently-selected community members representing people from all walks of life, demographics, backgrounds, and interests. Panel members will provide feedback on key topics, issues, and priorities relating to the project.
Timeline item 1 - complete
Phase 1: Commit and get ready (Oct - Dec 2022)
This phase will seek to understand what makes Cairns special; explore the community's hopes for the future and formulate Vision and Growth Strategy Framework.
Timeline item 2 - complete
Phase 2: Identify and assess (Oct 2022 - Aug 2023)
refine the vision for the future of Cairns.
Capture input to inform the technical direction which will shape our growth options.
Timeline item 3 - active
Phase 3: Shape the strategy (Sept 2023 - August 2025)
Develop scenarios for growth and evaluate against community's feedback and guiding principles.
Develop Draft Growth Strategy
Timeline item 4 - incomplete
Phase 4: Finalise Towards 2050 Growth Strategy (June 2025 - July 2025)
Finalise Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns Growth Strategy
Redlynch Central Shopping Centre
Redlynch Intake Road, Redlynch
Tanks Markets
Collins Avenue, Edge Hill
Mount Sheridan Plaza
Barnard Drive, Mount Sheridan
This is a summary that explains the key concepts that are covered in the draft Growth Strategy.
This document provides brief details and summary of the possible growth directions for Cairns.
This document provide description and details of the possible growth directions for cairns.
This document explains how we are developing the Growth Strategy, and introduces a suite of technical studies and guiding principles that will underpin the next phase of the project.
Towards 2050 Roadmap
This summary report explains the objectives, structures, activities and key findings of the Towards 2050 Youth Summit and Community Summit held in May 2023.
This document summarises the engagement we have done so far (Phase 1) and what we have learnt from it.
You can receive project updates and notification of community engagement activities.
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
| Name | The Towards 2050 Team |
|---|---|
| Phone | 1300 69 22 47 |
| towards2050@cairns.qld.gov.au | |
| Website | haveyoursay.cairns.qld.gov.au/towards2050 |
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
| Phone | 1300 69 22 47 |
|---|---|
| haveyoursay@cairns.qld.gov.au | |
| In writing | PO Box 359 Cairns QLD 4870, Australia |
