General
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Queensland's planning framework is established in the Planning Act 2016 and is administered collaboratively by the State and local governments. The State Government mandates the roles and responsibilities in plan making and identifies the key state interests in state planning policy and regional plans. Through planning schemes, local governments regulate how land may be used and which types of development require planning approval.
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A planning scheme is a document that the community, the development industry, and governments all look to in order to understand the local government's plan for managing growth and change, including the type of development they can expect in a local area (for example, apartments, shops and industry) and how land may be developed (for example, height of a new building and lot size).
In consultation with the local community, each local government in Queensland prepares and administers its own planning scheme to manage growth and change in its local government area in an orderly manner.
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The Redland City Plan (City Plan) is Council's planning scheme and contains the framework for the management of development within the City. It is effectively a blueprint for development within Redlands City over the next 25 years.
City Plan guides Council in its land-use decision-making and advances State and regional planning policies through more detailed local responses. It is a statutory document that regulates how land may be used, developed or protected by landowners.
Through the strategic framework and the local government infrastructure plan, City Plan sets the direction for new development and seeks to balance competing objectives. The aim of the City Plan is to:
- make sure there is enough land and spaces available in the right location to support housing, services and business need;
- maximise the livability of communities by ensuring there is sufficient green space, community facilities, places to work, shop and live;
- ensure infrastructure is planned for and used efficiently;
- protect natural and manmade features such as heritage buildings; and
- make communities more resilient to natural hazards such as floods and bushfires.
City Plan divides the local government area into 21 zones, and in some instances, each zone is divided into precincts. Each zone and precinct provides the development intent for that particular area by identifying the categories of development, known as levels of assessment, and relevant assessment criteria for different types of development.
City Plan also contains overlays that identify different features that need to be considered when developing land. Overlays generally represent areas that are subject to physical constraints or contain valuable features, for example, flooding and bushfire risk, or values such as matters of environmental significance. When a site is affected by an overlay, additional assessment provisions may apply to development on the site.
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Version 1 of the City Plan was prepared under and assessed against, the South East Queensland (SEQ) Regional Plan 2009-2031 and the State Planning Policy 2016. These documents have been superseded by the SEQ Regional Plan 2017 (the Regional Plan) and State Planning Policy July 2017 (SPP). Through a series of amendments to the City Plan, Council has incorporated provisions from these documents. However, due to ongoing studies and changes to policy, City Plan may not always align with the latest State government resources. In the event of an inconsistency, the:
- Regional Plan prevails over City Plan to the extent of any inconsistency;
- SPP prevails over City Plan to the extent of any inconsistency; and
- SPP prevails over both the Regional Plan and City Plan to the extent of any inconsistency.
Where necessary, Redland City Council will undertake amendments to City Plan to ensure alignment with the latest versions of the Regional Plan and SPP.
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Planning schemes are 'living' documents and are constantly being reviewed and updated to ensure they remain current. Amendments can be undertaken for a number of reasons, including reflecting new Council policies and priorities. Since City Plan commenced in October 2018, several amendments have been completed. The current version of the City Plan can be accessed here or on the City Plan amendments portal.
Under the Planning Act 2016 section 25, a local government is required to formally review a planning scheme every 10 years and review its Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP) every five (5) years.
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The mapping tool, Development.i provides basic property information such as the zone(s) and/or overlay(s) that apply to a particular property. Other key features that can be accessed through Development.i include whether a premises is affected by a building envelope or a Temporary Local Planning Instrument. Development.i also provides access to details of current and past application details.
Access City Plan to find out what the planning scheme means for you. The zone and overlay codes of the City Plan may be relevant if you are planning to undertake development on your property.
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Schedule 6 of City Plan includes six (6) planning scheme policies. These policies support the implementation of the planning scheme and may apply to all or only part of a planning scheme area. The policies identify the information that Council may require to support a development application, the standards called up in a code, or provide guidance or advice about satisfying assessment benchmarks or requirements in the planning scheme.
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The Tables of Assessment in Part 5 of City Plan identify the categories of development (that is, accepted development and assessable development). The Tables of Assessment also identify what assessment criteria are relevant for your proposed development.
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Under the Planning Act 2016, a person may request that a proposed development application be assessed and decided under the superseded planning scheme. This request can only be made within one (1) year of a new version of City Plan taking effect and may be agreed or refused by Council.
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Development.i provides access to details of current and past application details dating back to March 2007. Documents lodged before this date are not published and can instead be accessed through a property search. Alternatively, you can request an inspection of a file at one of Council's customer service centres. There are also some application types where documents will not appear on Development.i. These include plumbing and drainage (PD), private certifier building approvals (BX), and the majority of pre-Planning Act 2016 applications for building work assessable against the planning scheme.
You should be aware that Council is bound by the Information Privacy Act 2009 and Planning Act 2016 in terms of the information it makes available on Development.i. In accordance with this legislation, Council must publish certain documents, while it has the discretion to publish, or is unable to publish others. For example, submissions made on a development application are published on Development.i and will include the name, address, contact details and signatures of submitters, as permitted under the Planning Act 2016.
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Local laws play an important role in Council's day to day operations by helping set rules and regulations for a broad range of activities in Redland City. Local laws do not form part of the planning scheme and are a separate mechanism to regulate public activities, playing a supporting role in land use and development planning. Local laws control things like parking, alcohol in parks and fire regulations.