Back

An important step towards Community Asset Sustainability

Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) is progressing to the next stage of a long-term, responsible approach to managing community facilities, reinforcing the commitment to asset sustainability and affordability for ratepayers, and ensuring facilities meet the needs of the community now and into the future.

There are more than 700 community assets across the Tablelands region including land, buildings and other facilities. Many of these are underutilised, not fit-for-purpose, close to end of life and not sustainable. As the part of the first stage in the community asset divestment process, Council has reviewed 290 of those assets, and at the council meeting held on Thursday 22 January 2026, Councillors voted for 44 of the 290 assets to progress to the next stage of the ongoing asset divestment process.

“Councillors recognise divestment action for these aging facilities is long overdue”, said Mayor Rod Marti.  “These challenges have existed and grown since the 2008 amalgamation of three councils. While previous TRC administrations have attempted to commence a divestment process, none have stayed the difficult journey through to meaningful and decisive action”.

“This council is making the hard decisions which must be made. We only have a small rate-payer base of around 13,500 and our ratepayers simply can’t afford the cost of maintaining so many buildings”, said Mayor Marti. “We have to do the right thing for the benefit of our community and to achieve a level of service our ratepayers can sustain while ensuring the facilities we have meet community needs. It’s a rebalancing challenge that simply must be done.”

The next stages include the legal and internal reviews and due diligence processes and investigating the potential options for divestment of each of the 44 community assets. Officers will also commence engagement with existing users of the facilities and will work with all parties to ensure the best outcomes for both community and ratepayers.

Planning the divestment of these assets will now commence, however it will take some time for the final divestment process to be complete for each asset.

Council is committed to optimising the provision, management, and disposal of assets at optimal whole of life costs while meeting the required levels of service. Divestment of surplus and under-performing facilities enables Council to direct resources toward priority infrastructure and services that deliver greater community benefit, while reducing ongoing operational and maintenance costs for ratepayers.

Throughout the ongoing asset divestment process Council Officers are committed to making recommendations to Council that:

  • Bring benefits to whole community;
  • Reduce depreciation, insurance premiums and other operational costs to improve and strengthen Council’s financial sustainability;
  • Encourage assets to be shared among multiple users and groups to increase utilisation rates;
  • Keep community informed of the ongoing asset divestment process;
  • Support affected user groups during and after implementation of Council’s decisions;
  • Acknowledge that different scenarios will require different responses and options; and
  • Engage affected user groups in a timely and inclusive manner.

In addition to nominating the 44 assets for investigation, Council resolved to divest some community assets that have been under consideration for some years.

These assets are:

  • Social housing in Malanda, Yungaburra, Ravenshoe and Atherton – these assets (62 in total including units and houses) are already effectively managed for TRC by Tablelands Community Housing Association Inc (TCHA) and officers will work with the Department of Housing and Public Works to formalise a permanent transfer which will further improve the delivery and sustainability of this service for the Tablelands community.
  • Lions Park, Atherton (excluding the Lion’s Park storage shed which is on the list for the further review), at the request of the Atherton Lions Club. Existing community assets located at the park will be disposed of by deconstruction as part of the divestment.
  • Kirrama Range Forestry Hut, at the request of James Cook University who currently hold the permit to occupy and are seeking to surrender their permit. TRC will submit an application to relinquish its trusteeship over the camping reserve on which the Kirrama Range Forestry Hut is located as part of the divestment.
  • Atherton Community Centre which is at end of life and occupies land which can be better utilised for future developments. Existing assets that comprise the former Atherton State School buildings will be disposed of by deconstruction as part of the divestment.

The proposed next steps of TRC’s community asset divestment process outlined above align with the TRC Community Facility Strategy and the new TRC Asset Management Policy.

For more information, please see TRC Community Facilities Strategy and the new TRC Asset Management Policy.

[nn-login-form]