Council to consult on major amendments to town plan in the New Year

Longreach Regional Council will start a process to make major amendments to its planning scheme, following a resolution at last week’s Council meeting in Isisford.

The Council has prepared a list of areas that it would like to amend, and will be consulting the community extensively on the proposed amendments as well as seeking to identify other amendments the community would like to propose. It is hoped the process will bring the planning scheme up to date, encourage development that sets the community up for the future, and make the planning process better for everyone involved.

The proposed amendments consider broad strategic matters, specific uses, building works and operational matters, as well as some other small administrative amendments. The typical timeframe for making major amendments to a planning scheme takes anywhere from one-and-a-half to two years. In January Council will begin a comprehensive public consultation process, designed in several stages, to identify issues and seek feedback relating to the current scheme and how it can be improved. 

Mayor Tony Rayner said it was the right time to make improvements to the scheme.

“The planning scheme came into effect in 2015, so it’s timely to consider what’s changed in our region since then and how our community will develop in the future. We’ve noticed a surge in development applications over the past couple of years with that we’ve noticed a number of recurring issues that keep coming up. One of the aims of this process will be to address these common issues in a consistent way, where the scheme currently offers little guidance to Council or applicants.”

Some of the issues identified by Council for consideration as part of the amendments include emerging strategic trends in tiny homes, bush camping accommodation, rural lifestyle lots, as well as guidelines around kangaroo chiller boxes, car parking, and exemption certificates for sheds.

The Mayor said there would still be some restrictions on what the planning scheme can address. 

“We’ve been trying to improve the level of service we deliver relating to planning and development, and this project is aimed at building on those improvements. But certain aspects of the planning and development process are limited by state and federal legislation and remain out of our control.”

More information about the major amendments to the Longreach Regional Council planning scheme is available on Council’s website, at longreach.qld.gov.au/planning-scheme.