Development Manual Planning Scheme Policy

A planning scheme (referred to as Townsville City Plan) is a legal document that guides and regulates how land can be developed. All new planning schemes in Queensland will now have a similar structure and contain consistent provisions – making it easier for users in multiple local government areas. The Townsville City Plan also contains planning scheme policies. Planning scheme policies are planning instruments containing locally relevant development standards and guidelines about matters dealt with by a planning scheme. Policies have been specifically designed to support the codes of the Townsville City Plan.

What is a Planning Scheme Policy?

A planning scheme policy is a planning instrument that provides supporting advice, guidelines and standards for the applicant to follow in order to achieve the outcomes stated in the Townsville City Plan. A policy may apply to all or part of the local government area. The Development manual planning scheme policy is one of several planning scheme policies.

A planning scheme policy may:

• state information that a local government may request for a development application
• state actions that a local government may take to support the process for making or amending its planning scheme
• contain standards identified in a code
• include guidelines or advice about satisfying assessment criteria in the planning scheme.

Structure of the Development Manual Planning Scheme Policy

Development codes relate to specific types of development such as ‘reconfiguration of a lot’ applications. There are also some Development codes that are more general and relate to a range of uses and development types, including telecommunication facilities and advertising devices.

The following Development codes are found in the Townsville City Plan:

• advertising devices code
• healthy waters code
• landscape code
• reconfiguring a lot code
• transport impact, access and parking code
• works code.

Also note that development may be subject to certain regulated requirements found in the Planning Act 2016.

Key Objectives and Content

The Development manual planning scheme policy includes acceptable standards for development and provides guidance to a number of the codes within the Townsville City Plan. The policy also furthers the aims of the Planning Act 2016 and the vision for the City to achieve ecological sustainability. The policy will:

• provide a robust, responsive and transparent environment for simplified development assessment reflecting the aspirations of the local community
• support consistent development outcomes specified in the Townsville City Plan
• achieve consistency and alignment between the Townsville City Plan and the policy.

The seven key sections of the policy are described below:

• Introduction – an introduction to the policy, including the purpose of the policy and relationship to the Townsville City Plan.
• Development application guidelines – contains information for the preparation of reports that may be requested by Council in support of development applications.
• Design standards – guidelines that detail specific design objectives and criteria for development to achieve.
• Design specifications and standard drawings – technical standard guidelines for design of infrastructure/development.
• Construction management – the broad auditing responsibilities of Townsville City Council and sets out procedural matters of development.
• Construction standards – the technical construction specifications of Council.
• Acceptance of completed works – specifications, guidance and information to manage the donation of completed assets and works.

Relationship to the Townsville City Plan

The Development manual planning scheme policy is to be read in conjunction with the assessment provisions specified in the Townsville City Plan. This planning scheme policy applies to the whole of the Townsville City Council planning scheme area and specifically relates to the assessment of any development application for a material change of use, reconfiguring a lot and operational works within any zone of the Townsville City Plan.

Key Benefits of the Development Manual Planning Scheme Policy

The Townsville City Plan and the planning scheme policies have been developed in accordance with the Queensland Planning Provisions (QPP) framework, the statewide planning scheme template for new planning schemes. The application of the QPP to the policy will ensure that a consistent approach and format is applied to all Townsville City Plan planning scheme policies.

The Development manual planning scheme policy is designed to be a single document that contains all council standards for design and construction and the delivery and management of infrastructure. The policy ‘heads of power’ remain within the Townsville City Plan and it is noted that many aspects of the policy document are interrelated and it is considered appropriate for a single document to manage these relationships. The successful delivery of this policy is expected to provide greater operational efficiency to development assessment, by consolidating most existing standards into a single place and will be available as an electronic document through ePlanning (Council’s online planning and development system).

The single document approach enables internal and external users to access a single document containing all relevant material. The use of the online resource ePlanning allows a more user-friendly interface, creating internal document linkages directly from provisions in the Townsville City Plan to the policy document.

A single document will be more easily maintained by Council.

Fast Facts about the Policy

• The policy will be monitored, adapted and refined over time.
• Designed to assist applicants in understanding particular outcomes for development.
• Provides guidelines and advice about satisfying assessment criteria, including establishing requirements for specialist reports.
• Provides information on standards for infrastructure and asset donation.
• Provides additional and/or background information for applicants to consider.
• The Planning Act 2016 states a planning scheme policy is a statutory instrument under the Statutory Instruments Act 1992 and has the force of law.
• The policy includes the Cairns Townsville Mackay Water Alliance Design and Construction Code (CTM Code) which provides a consolidated set of technical standards for water supply and sewerage infrastructure intended for use across all of North Queensland.