Prepare a master plan for the area of the constituent municipalities with regard to their present and probable future needs. In particular, to have regard to communications, recreation reserves, the location of public facilities and amenities, and the separation of residential and industrial areas. The Local Government Act 1962 had made provision for Master Planning Authorities to deal with planning issues affecting adjacent municipalities. In 1965 an Urban Planning Group was formed in Launceston to lobby for an Authority for the Tamar Valley. The group gathered community support and a group of councils petitioned the State Government in 1969. The Tamar Regional Master Planning Authority was proclaimed on 16 September 1969 (SR 1969/151) and comprised the City of Launceston and the Municipalities of Beaconsfield, George Twon, Lilydale, Longford and St. Leonards. The Authority was made up of 3 representatives from the City of Launceston and 2 from each of the other municipalities. On 2 April 1974 the municipalities of Evandale and Westbury were added to the Authority (SR 1974/69). The Local Government (Planning) Act 1977 amended the Local Government Act to allow Marine Boards to become members of Master Planning Authorities. The Port of Launceston Authority availed themselves of this provision on 21 February 1978 and became members of TRMPA (SR 1978/44). The composition of the Authority changed again on 15 October 1984 when the Local Government Amendment (Master Planning Authorities) Act 1984 was bought into force (by SR 1984/229). This provided that there would be 2 members for each city and 1 for each municipality and marine board and that they must be members of the council or board they represented. In addition the Governor could appoint 2 members nominated by industrial, commercial or agriculture groups in the region and 1 nominated by the Minister for Local Government. The Act provided for the Authority to be funded by the participating municipalities although the State Government provided some funds in the early years. The gradual reduction of the government contribution fueled the argument over costs which set the scene for the ultimate collapse of the TRMPA. In May 1970 the Authority appointed a Melbourne firm, Urban Design and Planning Associates, to develop an Outline Plan for the region. This was released for public comment at a meeting on 24 September 1971. The basic thrust of the Outline, accepted in laters stages of the planning process, was that the Tamar River formed the "core" of a region with 4 distinct divisions. The Outline recommended that detailed planning should concentrate on the predominant functional characters of the divisions. These were as follows: North Tamar, industrial and shipping; Central Tamar, recreation and tourism; South Tamar, urban and administratice; Esk Valley, intensive agriculture. The Authority issued a number of interim orders, commissioned several major studies and pursued the development of a master plan for the region. A number of draft documents were released for discussion and the Authority also dealt with a number of specific issues such as the siting of a fuel depot and waste disposal facility. It also commissioned special resports on matters such as sewage treatment and disposal. In 1989 and 1990, as the supporting documents were released in preparation for the release of a draft Master Plan, the arguments about the cost and value of the TRMPA came to a head. On 17 December 1990, after failing to have the Act amended, the City of Launceston withdrew from the Authority (SR 1990/244). This seriously undermined the effectiveness of an Master Plan and on 6 August 1991 the Marine Board of Launceston and the municipalities of George Town, Longford, and Westbury followed suit (SR 1991/146-149). The TRMPA was formally abolished on 23 September (SR 1991/178). The records of the TRMPA cover all its activities except one. The Town and Country Planning Commissioner delegated his power to approve sub-divisions in the region to the Authority. With its abolition pending, the delegation was withdrawn and the relevant files were transferred to the Commissioner.