The Minister’s first industry presentation on the new Planning Bill will be at the Property Council’s Downtown Lunch on June 19. Click here for details.
The Property Council has today congratulated the State on its announcement that Queensland’s new planning Act is ready to be tabled in Parliament.
The Sustainable Planning Bill 2009, approved by Cabinet today, will replace the long-frustrated Integrated Planning Act (IPA) 1997, establishing a new legislative framework for development in Queensland.
Property Council Queensland Executive Director, Steve Greenwood, said the entire Queensland property industry had been waiting with baited breath for the Act’s release.
“I can’t stress enough just how important the reform of Queensland’s planning and development assessment system is to jobs, the property industry and to the Queensland economy,” Mr Greenwood said.
“The big win for Queensland jobs and industry is the introduction of deemed approvals for development applications that fall victim to unnecessary red tape and delays.
“For too long there has been a lack of accountability for Councils and State Government Departments that simply do not comply with the designated decision timeframes.
“The introduction of deemed approvals as a performance mechanism will encourage these ‘lag agencies’ to invest in better resourcing, decision-making procedures and planning, enabling applications to be decided quicker.
“Deemed approvals will go a long way to ensure that valuable jobs and dollars are not lost whilst applications are ‘lost in transition’ behind agencies’ back counters.
“The Planning Minister has come out today and said that creating and keeping jobs is one of the key reasons for fast-tracking the planning and approvals system to ensure development applications are approved in weeks, not months, or years – and we couldn’t agree more.
“The property industry employs 14% of the State’s workers, or over 312,000 people. Not only that, but it contributes nearly 43% of the State’s tax revenue.
“Development assessment delays and inefficiencies in Queensland’s planning process serve only to add unnecessary expense to housing, deter business and institutional investment and cost Queensland jobs.
“The new Planning Act must therefore play a key role in ensuring the long-term future of the sector – and the Queenslanders whose livelihoods rely on it.
“The Bill’s fast-tracking of low-risk development approvals through a new level of assessment – Compliance Assessment, is a long-awaited advancement, and much applauded by the Property Council.
“The industry – and Councils– have seen the tangible benefits fast-tracking can offer, through the current roll-out of RiskSMART. Compliance Assessment is the next step in bringing these benefits to the wider Queensland community.
“We encourage the State to make full benefit of this new process by encouraging Councils to maximise the types of developments that can undergo Compliance Assessment,” Mr Greenwood said.
Described by new Infrastructure and Planning Minister, Stirling Hinchliffe MP, as the ‘biggest reform to planning approvals in over a decade,’ the Sustainable Planning Bill will focus on adapting planning legislation to better manage major issues such as sustainability, housing affordability, climate change and population growth.
“We trust that the Bill will also include strong new provisions to enable delivery of the SEQ Regional Plan – including revoking the Master and Structure Planning processes and designating sites for special, fast-tracked development assessment processes,” Mr Greenwood said.
“Once the Act commences, the biggest challenge will be to ensure Council planning schemes are updated urgently to enable the full benefits of streamlined processing can be utilised.
“The industry looks forward to working with the State and Local Governments to make this happen.”
