The State Government has introduced the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Bill 2023, with the aim of streamlining housing development. The proposed changes are intended to facilitate delivery of Queensland’s proportion of the 1.2 million well-located homes agreed to at National Cabinet.
State Facilitated Development
The Bill includes a new, alternative Development Assessment pathway to be known as ‘State Facilitated Development’ for projects that are a State priority, including infill development and affordable housing.Â
It is anticipated this pathway will be utilised for projects where an application has already been decided, is underway, or for new proposals. Importantly, there will be no third-party appeal rights and assessment will not be bound by the State Development Assessment Provisions or local planning schemes.
Applications are expected to be for predominantly residential purposes but may contain a proportion of ancillary use.
Once decided by the State Government, applications will return to local governments, who will then be responsible for any subsequent variations or change requests. Unlike Ministerial Infrastructure Designations, local government infrastructure charges will likely still apply.
The Property Council welcomes the State Facilitated Development initiative as a positive move towards expediting the assessment process for much-needed new homes.
It is unlikely the legislation will be finalised until early 2024, however if members have existing projects they believe would benefit from the new State Facilitated Development pathway, please let us know.
Urban Investigation Zone
The Bill also proposes to introduce a new Urban Investigation Zone that will allow local governments to ‘pause’ development in order to finalise land use and infrastructure planning in growth areas.
The zone will prohibit variation applications from being lodged with local governments.
Use of the zone will require an amendment to local planning schemes that must be signed off by the State Government. It also includes a 5-year review timeframe.
While applications are not able to be lodged with councils, where deemed appropriate, the proposed new State Facilitated Development pathway is expected to be available to proponents seeking to bring forward development in these new zones.
The Property Council understands challenges exist in planning for the scale of growth underway in Queensland, however it is important that in a performance-based planning system, the private sector is still able to bring forward new and innovative ways to deliver housing.
In our feedback on the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan, the Property Council flagged concern with potential regulatory amendments that would prohibit variation requests for Major Development Areas until State or local government had undertaken structure planning for these areas. Putting growth areas into a ‘holding pattern’ may be counter-productive to delivering new homes at the pace currently needed.
Easements and State acquisition powers
As highlighted through the review of the South East Queensland Regional Plan, land fragmentation and enabling infrastructure remain barriers to delivery for many infill sites within the urban footprint.
The Bill seeks to address these issues through creating new powers for the State Government to acquire land and create easements to build critical infrastructure to unlock development.
A range of other amendments are included in the Bill, such as strengthening of urban encroachment provisions to protect existing uses.
Before being finalised, the Bill will be subject to a Parliamentary Committee process. The associated draft DA rules, Minister’s Guidelines and Rules, and Regulation will also be made publicly available during this time, to ensure stakeholders are afforded a complete view of how the proposed changes are intended to operate.
For further information on the Housing Availability and Affordability Bill, please click here.
If you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Queensland Advocacy Team.