The Townsville City Plan was adopted on 13 October 2014, officially coming into effect on 27 October 2014. The Townsville City Plan represents the first single planning scheme for Townsville, which replaced the former Townsville City Plan 2005 and City of Thuringowa Planning Scheme 2003.
The Townsville City Plan was developed in accordance with the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, being the relevant legislation at the time. In 2016 the state government introduced new planning legislation, the Planning Act 2016, which came into effect on 3 July 2017. To ensure the Townsville City Plan was kept up-to-date, an Alignment amendment was undertaken. The aligned version of the Townsville City Plan came into effect on 3 July 2017.
The Townsville City Plan was developed through extensive discussion with industry, government agencies, business and the community. Extensive and varied community views were put forward through this process, which helped to amend and shape the final plan.
The Townsville City Plan is the guiding document to manage the city’s growth to ensure maintaining Townsville’s lifestyle is balanced against meeting the ongoing demands for residential, commercial and industrial growth. Over the next 25 years, Townsville’s population is expected to grow upwards of 300,000. Therefore, managing the use of land, energy, water, transport and infrastructure in an integrated and strategic way is critical for the future of the city.
The Townsville City Plan seeks to limit urban sprawl through sustainable growth strategies, reflecting the high value we place on the city’s unique character, lifestyle and environment.
Importantly, the smart growth strategy, manages housing needs by maintaining current urban growth boundaries and directing development to areas that already have the necessary infrastructure such as roads, water and sewage to help keep these costs manageable for the entire community.
The planning framework not only underpins the economic development of Townsville through clear, strategic and sensible planning processes but it also reflects the views of the community.
Townsville is a great place to live. With a mix of reef, rainforest, beautiful beaches and all the benefits of a big city, it’s easy to see why so many people love living in such a spectacular part of Australia. Secured by a diverse economy, our city is maturing and developing into a vibrant, regional city.
Our city is forecast to grow to a population of over 300,000 in the next 25 years. It is important that good planning strategies are put in place to guide our future growth to ensure Townsville continues to be a great place to live.
The Townsville City Plan sets out the vision and a consistent plan for how Townsville should grow over the next 25 years. It strikes a balance between encouraging Townsville’s continued growth and supporting the characteristics that make our city liveable and unique.
By planning well, we can shape our future to be a smart city, a liveable city and an economically and ecologically sustainable city.
The Townsville City Plan is the first single planning scheme for Townsville and replaces the former Townsville City Plan 2005 and City of Thuringowa Planning Scheme 2003. The Townsville City Plan brings together the aspirations of the Townsville community under one integrated planning scheme.
The Townsville City Plan will encourage housing choice and affordability for residents and seeks to control the cost of living for the community by managing our future infrastructure needs.
The Townsville City Plan will be in place for 10 years from 2014, allowing council to continue monitoring Townsville’s growth and development.
The Townsville City Plan looks at our city with a fresh perspective. It harnesses our urban footprint and focuses on creating urban lifestyle opportunities for inner city living. Townsville’s major centres (including Aitkenvale, Central Business District, Hyde Park, North Ward and Thuringowa Central) will evolve to be activity centres with vibrant, active and dynamic community, residential, retail and business facilities connected by a strong public transport network.
The Townsville City Plan’s smart growth strategy will stimulate new housing choices close to commercial and community services in key activity centres.
It’s a better way to balance the growth between our developed areas and the developing areas of the city. Under the plan, we will be better able to protect the future affordability of housing whilst also ensuring the city can provide for affordable lifestyles, including opportunities for inner city living where transport and other costs can be minimised.
The Townsville City Plan recognises and advocates for major public transport routes. Infill strategies creating urban activity centres will stimulate public transport demand and usage, which will manage motor vehicle congestion and improve access to destinations such as The Strand and Riverway.
Ross River Road is an initial focus for public transport, linking Aitkenvale, the Central Business District (CBD) and Thuringowa Central major centres with the James Cook University-Townsville Hospital precinct.
Townsville is in a fortunate position when it comes to land availability. With a population of over 300,000 by 2036, the city will continue to have enough land zoned for development for our growing needs.
Council estimates Townsville will need over 45,000 new houses within the next 25 years and we already have the capacity for around 65,000 new houses within the current urban-zoned areas.
We want to grow our community in a smarter way, encouraging development in areas that already have the necessary infrastructure in place to avoid unnecessary and excessive costs to the community and ratepayers.
The Townsville City Plan aspires to ensure that the ongoing and efficient provision of infrastructure and community facilities is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
It makes economic and social sense to develop in areas with the necessary infrastructure already in place. The Townsville City Plan will help to reduce the cost of living for the overall community into the future by promoting development in locations with good access to commercial and community services and existing infrastructure, rather than in areas outside our existing urban footprint.
In taking a balanced approach in guiding new development, council can ensure sufficient land is available for new residential, commercial, rural and industrial development whilst ensuring the needs of existing urban areas continue to be met.
A significant change in the Townsville City Plan is to prevent further development of the historical ‘six-pack’ unit developments in Townsville’s traditional suburbs. This will protect these areas by directing density and infill development in targeted activity centre
locations, including the CBD, Aitkenvale, Hyde Park, Thuringowa Central and the Bayswater Road and Hyde Park medical precincts
and surrounds.
We want to preserve our suburban lifestyle, so we will take density out of local streets and encourage it in activity centres that offer an urban lifestyle, better transport alternatives, and work and recreation options that are closer to home.
The Townsville City Plan encourages new growth and diverse development to better cater for the lifestyle aspirations of our changing population. Townsville’s population is changing with the emergence of a range of family structures and sizes and the
general aging of the population.
Demographic changes will be addressed by encouraging a range of housing types, diversity in lot sizes, housing choice and affordability integrated with open space, convenience centres and public transport links.
One of the most appealing aspects of our city is its history and North Queensland character.
Our unique heritage places will be protected under the Townsville City Plan, and character precincts in residential areas will be
preserved to ensure new development is sensitive to existing streetscapes and architecture.
The Townsville City Plan recognises, protects and conserves areas that our community values as places of cultural heritage significance. These elements of Townsville’s built environment will be preserved and areas of character housing will be recognised and protected from the detrimental impacts of incremental change.
In our suburbs, character precincts have been identified. A character precinct is an area where a combination of traditional houses, streetscape and landscape displays a unique residential character. In character precincts, codes and policies will inform what type of development is allowed.
Most importantly, the use rights of property owners in a residential area are unchanged. Home owners in character precincts will
still be able to improve their property, such as extend, renovate, re-roof, add a granny flat, reconfigure a lot, or create a dual
occupancy, as can any other property owner in a ‘traditional’ residential area.
Our unique topography, rainfall regimes, soils and geological features underpin our diversity in ecosystems, habitats and flora and fauna. The Townsville City Plan is focused on protecting Townsville’s diverse environment, protecting areas of environmental significance and ensuring coastal development balances environmental values and the desire of people to live near the ocean.
Environmental values that underpin state and federal legislation have been integrated with locally mapped values to provide a holistic approach to protecting and maintaining the areas of environmental significance.
Better mapping and planning for environmental spaces will avoid increasing pressure on Townsville’s biodiversity, natural resources, rural production areas and coastal zone.
We will protect our natural environment, both in and out of the urban area, ensuring our waterways, wetlands, critical habitat and ecological corridors are retained and enhanced.
Magnetic Island and the beach communities are not anticipated to experience major growth over the coming 25 years, allowing the unique character and environmental values to continue being protected.
Townsville’s tropical lifestyle makes it a great place to live, but we also face weather and climate challenges. The Townsville City Plan incorporates mapping and zoning to help build our resilience to natural hazards.
The Townsville City Plan protects residents from natural hazards by limiting development that can occur in landslide prone, flood prone or bushfire prone areas, and areas subject to storm tide inundation and coastal erosion.
The safety of people and property is better protected by the suite of natural hazard overlays, which are based on the most up-to date information available.
Townsville is the largest city and community in northern Australia.
The Townsville City Plan will build Townsville’s economic strength by supporting growth, new industry, services and job creation. This will strengthen Townsville’s positioning as one of the most diverse economies in regional Australia and our city’s emerging status as Queensland’s second capital.
The CBD and its immediate surrounds will evolve into a more vibrant and cosmopolitan place for business, visitors and the community. The CBD Master Plan has informed the Townsville City Plan to make it easier to do business in the CBD.
The Townsville City Plan eases regulation and streamlines approval processes, initiatives that will welcome investors and developers.
Over the long term, the major centres at Aitkenvale, Hyde Park and Thuringowa Central will also evolve to be more than just shopping centres.
These activity centres will include opportunities for higher density living where people can be close to entertainment, jobs and a wide range of community services. There is a reduction in levels of assessment in centres and removal of floor space caps.
Growth and development opportunities are summarised below.
The Townsville City Plan is about making it easier to live, work and invest in our city.
Development assessment will be easier under the Townsville City Plan, while also encouraging development that is in accordance with the community’s aspirations. Council has implemented a risk-tolerant approach aimed at triggering fewer applications and making it easier to do the right development in the right locations.
With economical sustainability underpinning the Townsville City Plan, the plan minimises the need for development applications for uses and activities that are encouraged in particular communities and eliminates unnecessary legislative duplication.
The Townsville City Plan now contains all technical standards in one easy-to-access, consolidated development manual.
Development assessment is supported by Council’s streamlined ‘Plan Right’ system for low-risk development applications.
The Townsville City Plan is flexible and forward thinking enough to cater for changes in society and technological advancements such as the increasing need to access digital technologies. The Townsville City Plan looks different in a new electronic (ePlanning) format, which makes it easier for residents to determine the planning rules which relate directly to their property in a user friendly format.
The Townsville City Plan was developed over a number of years, between 2010 and 2014. Community feedback was collected and documented in the Townsville Community Plan (2011) and the Townsville Land Use Proposal projects (2011).
The Townsville community have said that they want a ‘strong, connected community’. The strategic aim of the Townsville City Plan supports the vision of the Townsville Community Plan.
This research was additionally informed by background studies and extensive consultation with the development industry and State and Federal Governments.
Community and stakeholder input have guided Council in creating a balanced plan for the city’s future.
Council has worked closely with the Queensland Government to integrate regional and state interests into our planning scheme.
The Townsville City Plan fulfils Council’s obligations under the Planning Act 2016.
The Townsville City Plan format is explained below.
