Division 4 Councillor Peter Dowling has dismissed the initiative as a "love fest", but Mayor Melva Hobson says the event will give councillors and senior managers the chance to work on stategic goals away from the distractions of the administration building.

The meetings, to be held next Thursday and Friday, come eight months after the new council was elected and two months after chief executive officer Gary Stevenson was appointed.

"We've got a new council, we've got a new CEO, and we've got a council that's got a largely different agenda from the previous council," Cr Hobson told The Redland Times.

"With a strategic workshop we can look at what direction this council as a whole wants to head over the next four years."

But Cr Dowling said he was not sure the community wanted councillors to go on a "love fest" as residents had just been hit with significant increases in rates and charges.

He said early in Don Seccombe's mayoralty the council had also organised a planning retreat.

"We went to Twin Waters and it was seen as extravagant," Cr Dowling said.

Cr Hobson brushed off the criticism, saying the Coochiemudlo Island event was being held in the Redlands rather than a faraway destination.

Mr Stevenson said the event would cost about $2300 in total.

"The attendees are conscious of costs, and arrangements have been made to ensure they are kept as low as possible," he said in a statement.

A council spokeswoman said all councillors were understood to be attending.

However, Division 9 Councillor Karen Williams said she would pay her own way and only attend the first day because she had prior commitments such as school graduations on the Friday.