In just 31 days Queensland’s new Planning legislation comes into force. With the rather unimaginative title of “Planning Act 2016” it starts on 3 July 2017 and replaces the Sustainable Planning Act (SPA) 2009.
Whilst touted by the State Government as providing the framework for Australia’s “best planning system” the new Act does little more than re-hash the existing legislation, rather than providing any significant or meaningful changes. Having said that, there has been a genuine slimming down of the length of the Act which is reflected in about half the number of pages (just 313) compared to the previous Sustainable Planning Act.
The new Act has three main elements: Plan Making; Development Assessment; and Dispute Resolution. In this article, we have focussed on the changes to Development Assessment, as this is most likely to affect our clients.
You’ll be pleased to know that most of the acronyms we’ve grown to know and love (tongue firmly in cheek) remain including SARA, MCU, ROL and IDAS.
The new Act has “Development Assessment Rules” (DA Rules) which is basically the removal of the Integrated Development Assessment System (IDAS) from the main part of the legislation into a statutory instrument. There’s been a few changes around the edges, but the DA Rules cover much of the same information as IDAS. This includes how and when to do public notification, the process to follow for new applications or changes, for referral and the timeframes for assessment (and everything in between).
A change we’re particularly excited about is the reduction in the number of IDAS forms.
Currently, there is an eye-watering array of IDAS forms – 30 at last count plus 5 different checklists. This will change to just two forms under the new Act. Hopefully this will remove much of the mind-numbing duplication that currently exists.
We’re also excited about the tightening up of the development application timeframes.
Extensions of time (by the Council) will no-longer be automatic, although timeframes can be extended by agreement. In most cases, this will see an end to the 10 plus 10 business days for information requests. There will be a single timeframe (generally 35 business days) for the Council to decide an application. Any time taken to make an information request will be deducted from the decision period.
Another significant change relates to response times. An applicant must now respond to an information request within three months (currently 6 months).
The Planning Act now has three categories of development: “Prohibited” and “Assessable” (carried over from SPA) and a new category “Accepted Development” (which replaces the previous categories of exempt, self-assessable and compliance assessment).
The existing levels of assessment, being Code Assessable and Impact Assessable, remain. State government agencies are no longer categorised into Concurrence or Advice, they are now simply “Referral Agencies” some of which are limited to providing advice only.
In a case of deja vu, the term ‘Relevant Period’, has been changed back to ‘Currency Period’, which is precisely exactly what it was called years ago.
Another change to note is the removal of the “Rollover Provisions” that allows the extension of an approval by obtaining a related approval within two years of the original permit.
If you have had an approval granted within the last two years and you have not yet implemented it, we invite you to contact us to discuss your options for extending the life of the approval, prior to the new Act commencing.
If you have any questions regarding the new Act, the changes to the rollover provisions and how this change may affect your existing approvals, please contact Mick Sheppard or Scott Sobey on 5443 2844.