You may have heard about the landmark draft development plan for south-east Queensland which was released 27/10/04. The plan attempts to control the development in the South east for the next 20yrs. During this time the population will grow to at least 3.7 million and requiring 550,000 new homes and apartments. The plan intends to protect 80 per cent of the region from urban sprawl.
The SEQ Regional Plan has been drawn up in conjunction with 18 local councils and spans the area from Coolangatta near the NSW border in the south, to Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and west to Toowoomba.
Major proposals are:
The new plan will impact on significant development applications by requiring the local council to refer them to state government agencies for there approval. This will stretch out the approval timeframe and possibly complicate matters if the State Government instructs the local council to override its own town plan for the subject application.
Regards,
John
The SEQ Regional Plan has been drawn up in conjunction with 18 local councils and spans the area from Coolangatta near the NSW border in the south, to Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and west to Toowoomba.
Major proposals are:
- The complete ruling out of any future development of cane farms in the Northern Gold Coast and Sunshine coast areas. Note that many of the properties have already been purchased by large developers.
- Minimum lot size for productive rural areas increased to 100 hectares. Effectively any rural subdivision in these areas has been prevented unless it is for intensive farming.
- The encouragement of an increase in density of existing Rural Residential areas. Any further applications for Rural Residential will have to meet requirements of the new plan. Existing approvals must now be developed within 2yrs.
- The encouragement of increased height limits in city CBD areas such as Caboolture, Brisbane, Ipswich. The general rule being promoted that densities over 3 stories are now desirable around transport nodes such as suburban railway stations. This is in stark contrast to most local council town plans.
- A freeze on all development in northern Beaudesert until issues preventing higher density area resolved. This area has many water infrastructure problems, however is a desirable location for housing.
- Identification of where new communities after 2026 will be located. Note that all development in these areas has been prevented until this time. These areas are western Caboolture, Laidley and a small part of Redland Bay.
- Encouragement of another pedestrian bridge over the Brisbane River and completion of ring road system around Brisbane. Note that Brisbane has only a ¼ middle ring road and ¼ outer ring road at present. The north and west of Brisbane are still without any form of ring road despite many state and national investigation studies identifying 4 separate routes which are possible.
- Extension of the Brisbane to Gold Coast rail line to Coolangatta Airport. Other rail extensions such as Petrie to Mango Hill/ Redcliffe have been on the cards previously.
The new plan will impact on significant development applications by requiring the local council to refer them to state government agencies for there approval. This will stretch out the approval timeframe and possibly complicate matters if the State Government instructs the local council to override its own town plan for the subject application.
Regards,
John
