Posted by: Megan Tilbrook
The State Government announced proposed amendments to the Sustainable Planning Act introducing the amendment bill into parliament today. According to the Government there will be some significant changes to the planning legislation in an attempt to "restore efficiency and consistency to Queensland's planning and development system". Some of the key changes to look out for are:
- the streamlining of the development application process, allowing developers to deal with one single officer, rather than multiple departments when seeking State Government assessment of development applications;
- the removal of master and structure planning arrangements;
- the discretion on the part of Councils to accept development applications that do not contain all of the required supporting information; and
- the expansion of the Planning and Environment Court's powers to impose cost orders, with the general rule being that costs of a proceedings are at the discretion of the court but follow the event, unless the court orders otherwise.
The proposed amendments will have an impact on the way applications are handled and on how the court process runs. I am sure there will be much more discussion in relation to these amendments, and in particular, I wonder what an "event" will be for the purpose of the costs provision. For more information, the Bill can be found by following this link.
