The Property Council has finalised its comments on the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009, and has sent a submission to the Queensland Government.
The Sustainable Planning Bill 2009, debated in Parliament this week, will replace the Integrated Planning Act (IPA) 1997, establishing a new legislative framework for development in Queensland.
Described by 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.
A key determinate of the success of the new Act will be the rate and extend to which the standard planning provisions – now entitled the Queensland Planning Provisions – are incorporated by local governments within their planning schemes. However, the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009 does little to require or even encourage Councils to adopt these provisions. The Property Council therefore urges the Queensland Government to introduce a combination of financial incentives and penalties to ensure that local governments – and especially those in key growth and regional centres – incorporate the Queensland Planning Provisions within their planning scheme within three years of the Act commencing.
The full Property Council of Australia submission on the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009 is available here.
The Property Council looks forward to working through these issues with the State Government in the immediate future.
For more information contact the Property Council Queensland Policy Team on (07) 3225 3000.
