2015-10-13 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                          13 OCTOBER 2015


D.     The removal of the requirement to consider whether a person may make a properly
       made submission objecting to change from the minor change test is likely to
       undermine the communities input into development assessment matters, particularly
       where they may be impacted upon by a proposed change;
E.     The Planning Bill maintains and extends the time frame for applicants to be able
       revive a development application where it lapses. This ability is not consistent with
       the principles for the DA Rules of being an applicant driven process, and is likely to
       create administrative problems for councils and lead to significant confusion for the
       community, particularly submitters;
F.     In the absence of demonstrable net benefit, no change is sought to the existing levels
       of assessment or the terms used (i.e. code and impact) in the new legislation;
G.     The proposed extension of Infrastructure Designation to privately owned
       infrastructure is a significant policy shift and would remove due consideration by the
       community, third party appeal rights and the need to comply with the planning
       scheme. Infrastructure charges revenue would be forfeited and would result in a
       considerable cost shift onto councils and their local communities. Statutory
       requirements around community infrastructure should at a minimum enable council to
       have a statutory role similar to a referral agency and allow consideration of local
       planning instruments in the designation process;
H.     Key process matters (including the development assessment process) should not be
       moved from the principal legislation and into subordinate legislation, given the
       potential negative outcomes for Councils and the broader community. The framework
       should be located in one statutory instrument to ensure genuine review processes
       cannot be expedited without due consultation and engagement;
I.     Attachment 1 of this report which includes comment on Draft Planning Bills
       provisions relating to Infrastructure Charges; and
J.     Attachment 2 of this report which includes feedback to the Department of
       Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning on the specific issues the Department
       requested comment on.


REPORT
On 10 September 2015 the Queensland Government released the draft planning bills for
public consultation. The draft bills are available and open for public comment until Friday 23
October 2015 and include:
   The Planning Bill which establishes the planning and development assessment system
   The Planning & Environment Court Bill which defines the establishment and operation
     of the Planning and Environment Court
   The Consequential and other Legislation Amendment Bill which includes numerous
     technical flow-on amendments to other acts that work in with the planning legislation.
While the legislation sets the general framework for planning in Queensland, the day-to-day
operation of the planning system is proposed to be governed by regulation and a set of
mandatory and non-mandatory instruments. The Department of Infrastructure Local
Government and Planning (DILGP) advises that the Department will consult on these
instruments after the Bills have been introduced to Parliament, but in the interim have
provided illustrative drafts. These include:
   Planning Regulation
   Process of making and amending local planning instruments
   Infrastructure Designation Guidelines
   Development Assessment Rules


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