2023-03-07 Planning & Environment Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     7 MARCH 2023


Review of process and Procedures
As previously stated in section 2 to this report, there has been ongoing review and fine tuning of
administrative processes and procedures and implementation of the local law throughout the 12
month period.
Some compliance matters have arisen around approval notice signage and in response changes
will be made to procedures requiring photographic evidence from the approval holder of the sign
being in place which will be check through proactive compliance.
Other changes to procedures and processes resulting from internal review and feedback from the
stakeholder group are outlined in section 3.1 of this report.
3.3   Review of Subordinate Local Law No. 1. - Schedule 21A Operation of Short Stay
      Letting or Home Hosted Accommodation
The requirements of Subordinate Local Law No. 1 - Schedule 21A Operation of Short Stay Letting
or Home Hosted Accommodation, approval requirements and process and the conditions of
approval are considered to be working well and the provisions under Council’s Administration Local
Law No. 1 for compliance action are also adequate.
No changes are proposed to these local laws resulting from the 12 month review.
3.4   24 /7 Complaints Hotline and compliance action
Peak Services Pty Ltd, owned by the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), were
engaged to provide the 24/7 complaints hotline call centre services under Local Buy arrangements
for 12 months with extensions for up to 5 additional periods of 12 months. A second 12 month
extension has been approved and now commenced.
The cost of providing the 24/7 complaints hotline service in the first 12 month was $20,245. Going
forward, $50,000 has been allocated in the 2023/2024 budget for the hotline with an increase in
the number of calls anticipated to the hotline as awareness in the community grows of the hotline
and the number of properties with local law approval are added to the register.
The purpose of the complaints hotline is to provide a centralised complaints management and
record keeping framework for properties undertaking short stay letting. Complaints are made to
the 24/7 complaints hotline where the operator receives and records the property address and
complaint details; notifies the contact person responsible for the property; and the contact person
deals with the complaint within 30 minutes.
Where the property has not gained an approval under the local law, and therefore not on the
register, the complaint is elevated for Council officer action the following business day. Complaints
are also elevated for Council officer action when the contact person does not respond to a
complaint.
The stakeholder group indicated the complaints hotline was generally working well from both the
complainant perspective and receipt of and dealing with complaint perspective.
In its 12 months of operation, the complaints hotline received 612 calls, with 182 of these calls
received during the December 2022/January 2023 peak holiday period.
105 calls were a complaint against a property with an approval and the contact person was notified
to deal with a complaint. 199 calls related to properties without an approval or contact person to
deal with the complaint, all of which were elevated to Council for further action.
The other calls were calls to the hotline that complaints had been dealt with or other non-related
matters. A large number of other enquiries were also received by Council officers as well as
complaints direct to Council.
In response, Council officer actions resulted in:
     78 properties receiving a compliance letter to make an application under the local law;
     33 properties receiving a compliance letter regarding approval notice signs;
     3 properties receiving formal Compliance Notices; and
     1 property receiving a Show Cause Notice.
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