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If you would like to discuss any matter relating to Planning and Development, please call Council’s Planning & Development Department on (07) 5424 4000. Planning Scheme
Latest InformationA decision is expected from the State Government on certain final matters that were being reviewed as part of Whole-of-Government consideration shortly. Please check the latest Council Minutes for further updates.
Council’s Transitional Planning SchemeCouncil’s planning scheme is made up of strategic and statutory elements that provide guidance for the preferred development pattern within the Shire. Council of the Shire of Esk Transitional Planning Scheme
Controls over the use of landMuch as we would like to have the freedom to do with our land just whatever we would like, society has set up a system that prevents us from doing this. We are controlled in the ways we use our land, just as we are controlled in the ways we use highways, beaches, shopping centres, parks or footpaths. We are controlled in how we own or rent land, how we subdivide it, what we can grow on it, what we can take from it and, most of all, what we can use it for. The control of the use of land is accomplished in many ways, some of which many people are not aware of. However, some controls are well known, and are occasionally the cause of some annoyance to some people. Yet these controls are generally in society’s interest, even if that is sometimes contrary to the landowner’s desires. The basic control over land is the system of land tenure and ownership. The State, as the theoretical original owner of land, has created various forms of land tenure. There are more than twenty of these, but most people deal only with a very few of them. In Esk Shire we mostly deal with freehold land, although some people lease land from the State. There is a rigid system of registration of ownership of land, operated by the State government. Under that system, our land is something owned, and able to be included in our estate. Thus, it passes to our heirs at death. Legal systems are in place to record such changes. Or we can sell the land, and there are systems in place to record the change. We can encumber the land with easements or leases, and there are systems for recording those encumbrances. Various State laws govern various aspects of land usage, most of them restrictive rather than promotional. For example, laws relating to environmental protection restrict the extent to which we can clear vegetation from the land, or take water from streams, or allow pest plants to grow or undertake mining as well. Local governments are empowered by State legislation to create local laws to control certain aspects of the use of land, such as extractive industries, driveway access, keeping of pets, control of pest plants, and so on. However, local laws cannot control development. Any use of land that involves what is classed as development is controlled by a local government’s planning scheme. This is a document that the Integrated Planning Act requires local governments to prepare to guide and control development within the local government’s area. It has the force of law, and there are penalties for carrying out development other than in accordance with the planning scheme.
How the Integrated Planning Act control developmentThe key thing that the Integrated Planning Act seeks to achieve is ecological sustainability. This is a balance that integrates
Ecological sustainability is achieved by doing three things. The first is the coordination and integration of planning at local, regional and State levels. The second is by managing the process by which development occurs. The third is by managing the effects of development on the environment.
The Act recognises five forms of development:
Aspects of some of these forms of development have separate legislation relating to them, such as mining and extraction, ports, brothels, forestry and others have Acts of Parliament that relate specifically to them. These other Acts are gradually being linked to the Integrated Planning Act so that it is truly an integrating act, and the State Government intends that this integration process will continue, providing for common application forms, common processes of referral, and so on. The Integrated Planning Act provides for State planning policies to control certain matters on a State-wide basis, and regulations about certain procedures. It also provides for local authorities to develop planning schemes and other planning instruments (such as policies). Each one of these can specify requirements for development, but the most comprehensive of them is the local planning scheme. The core matters to be dealt with by a planning scheme are the use and development of land, provision of infrastructure (like roads, parks, water, sewerage etc), and valuable features (like wildlife habitats, scenic areas, heritage places, economic resources etc). In dealing with these matters, the scheme identifies the outcomes it aims to achieve, and provides for ways that those outcomes can be achieved and for ways of measuring that achievement. Often the ways of achieving the desired outcomes of planning schemes are in the form of codes. For each area, or sometimes for each type of development, a code will set out a set of specific outcomes to be achieved, and some acceptable or probable solutions for each one. Development that complies with the code is allowable. Any other development requires that the local government assess the development on its merits and, if necessary, impose conditions on the development. Some that are subject to local government assessment will also require that the community be notified and consulted. The Act lays down strict rules about assessments that involve public consultation. First, copies of the application and related documents must be available for inspection (and for sale if wanted) at the Council’s offices. Second, members of the public are entitled to lodge submissions expressing their views about the application, and Council must consider these submissions when considering the application. Finally, submitters as well as applicants have the right to appeal to the Planning and Environment Court if they don’t agree with the Council’s decision on the application. Development matters referred to the Planning and Environment Court are heard before a District Court judge who has gained special experience and expertise in planning matters and the operation of the Integrated Planning Act. The parties involved in the hearing, usually including the original applicant for development and the local government, are generally represented by a barrister. The Court is assisted by expert witnesses, such as planners or traffic experts, who give evidence about the development proposal. Finally the Court gives an impartial decision based on law and the evidence, and that is the end of the matter (unless one of the parties appeals to a higher court, in which case the matter is decided on purely legal grounds). Finally, the Act gives the Minister for Local Government the power to call in a development application and determine it, provided the application involves a matter of State interest. The Minister may do this at any time from when the application is made until 10 business days after any appeal periods end. The Minister decides the application, irrespective of what stage the decision process had reached before the application was called in, and there is no appeal against the Minister’s decision.
What the New Planning Scheme Aims to AchieveThe draft IPA planning scheme identifies how development is to be assessed, and identifies the outcomes of the planning process sought to be achieved in the shire. This forms the context for assessing development. The outcomes to be achieved are identified at a number of levels. These are the levels of importance to be considered in the first instance. They can relate to the whole of the shire, or to parts of the shire, or to individual sectors or blocks of land. At the highest level are the desired environmental outcomes for the whole of the shire (or for a particular part of it). These generally relate to overall issues such as use of the shire’s resources, coordination between infrastructure services and land use, natural and scenic attributes of areas, water quality, cultural heritage, efficient settlement and so on. At the next level are particular groups of outcomes relating to matters covered by codes. So far there are codes relating to economic resources, biodiversity, catchment management, natural hazard management and transport and energy corridors. The third level of outcomes involves a group of codes that relate to specific land uses. There are seventeen of these currently proposed, including aquaculture, home-based business, kennels and catteries, stables and signage. At the lowest level of outcomes are the acceptable solutions for meeting the specific requirements of a code. These are set out in development tables for the various zones. Download the above information:
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