Application Stages

Once the application is received it is entered into Council's record systems and then allocated to a Development Assessment Planner or Engineer for assessment.

The planner or engineer will review the application to confirm it is properly made. Considerations include whether the owner’s consent is correct and the associated fee has been paid.

The assessing officer will contact the applicant to discuss;

• The proposal
• Identify any items required to make the application properly made
• Introduce themselves and provide their contact details
• Arrange a suitable time to visit the site.

Once the application is properly made, the application is referred internally to Council’s engineers, strategic planners, and other relevant officers.

The application is also uploaded to Council's PD Online service. All documents contained in your application will be publicly available through this service.

Code assessable applications

If the application is code assessable a confirmation notice may be issued.

A confirmation notice will be issued if:

• The application was not properly made and becomes properly made; and
• If there are external referral agencies.

Impact assessable applications

If the application is impact assessable, a confirmation notice will be issued once the application is considered properly made.

Contact us

Contact Council's Development and Planning Department on 1300 79 49 29 for further assistance.

Under the Planning Act 2016 referrals may be required to the Queensland Government State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA).

There are a number of other entities that exist outside of SARA, that hold jurisdiction for their own referral agency triggers.

Schedule 10 of the Planning Regulation 2017 sets out all referral agencies and their jurisdiction.

Referral agency requirements or conditions must be received by Council before a decision can be made on an application.

Ultimately it is the applicant’s responsibility to correctly refer applications under Schedule 10 of the Planning Regulation 2017.

In some instances, Council may require additional information to process your development application. Under the Planning Act 2016, Council as the Assessment Manager will issue an information request for further information within the following timeframes.

• Impact assessable and code assessable applications (with referral agencies) within 10 days of a confirmation notice being issued.
• Code assessable applications (with no referral agencies) within 10 days of giving a confirmation notice.

The Act allows for the extension of the above timeframes.

External referral agencies can also submit information requests. A copy of the request is sent to the applicant and the assessment manager.

Information requests are commonly required to address the following items:

• investigations into potential flooding and/or overland flow;
• stormwater disposal;
• unclear plans or lack of plans required to assess the development;
• adequately assessing the Planning Scheme Codes; or
• site access, parking and manoeuvring.

If your development application does not have the information needed for assessment, it may take longer to process than a well-made application.

Under the Act, you have three (3) months from the date of the information request to send the Information to the assessment manager. The information you provide is then assessed. The proposal may need to be amended as a result of the information request.

The application may be refused if the information provided in response to the information request is insufficient to allow for proposal assessment of the application.

Contact us

Contact Council's Development and Planning Department on 1300 79 49 29 for further assistance.

The Planning Act 2016 requires certain development applications to be publicly notified. This is to be undertaken in accordance with the Development assessment rules enacted under Section 68(1) of the Act.

This notification gives interested community members an opportunity to review and provide comments on a development application.

Details of the proposed development must be included as part of public notification to ensure that the public is aware of the existence and nature of the application. This enables interested parties to make a properly made submission.

Public notification of an application is required if any part of the application requires impact assessment or the development application includes a variation request.

The applicant must in accordance to the Development assessment rules give notice to the assessment manager of the intended start date of public notification. This is to occur within twenty (20) business days from the day after the applicant has received a Confirmation notice (properly made application) from Council and after the day the last referral assessment period for any referral agency has started, if applicable.

When the notification period has ended, the applicant must, within ten (10) business days, give the assessment manager written notice that the notification requirements under the Act have been met. This notice is called the 'Notice of compliance'.

The following public notification requirements apply:

• publish a notice (at least once) in a newspaper circulating generally in the locality of the site;
• place a notice on the site (in the approved form as detailed in the Act) for the full notification period. The notice must be maintained from the day it is placed on the land until the end of the notification period; and
• give notice to the owners of all land adjoining the site. This includes an owner of an adjoining lot that has a common boundary with the subject site, whether such boundary is measurable or not.

The notification period is a minimum of 15 business days. For applications that are a variation request, the notification period is extended to 30 business days. It may be longer for some applications or over the Christmas Period. It is recommended that you seek advice as to the notification period prior to commencing public notification.

Notification can start as soon as either the:

• confirmation notice is given, provided there are no referral agencies and that the assessment manager states in the confirmation notice that it does not intend to make an information request;
• information request period (as described in the Act) ends and if no information request has been made during this period; or
• applicant responds to all information requests and gives copies of any responses to the assessment manager.

Contact us

Contact Council's Development and Planning Department on 1300 79 49 29 for further assistance.

Assessment and Decision

The assessment manager follows specific legislation when assessing development applications. Once submitted, Council will assess, make a decision and advise an applicant whether their development application has been successful. For each development application, the Assessment Manager must:

• assess the application against all relevant stages, regional and local planning legislation; and
• consider all properly made submissions (where applicable).

Development applications are assessed against The Fraser Coast Planning Scheme 2014.

Decision makers

Development applications are determined by either:

• the full Council at an Ordinary Council Meeting; or
• by Council Officers under the delegation of Council.

How applicants are notified

Applicants receive a decision notice within five (5) business days of the decision being made.

Anyone who made a properly made submission also received notification of the decision.

If approved, the decision notice sets out the terms of the decision, appeal rights and conditions.

In the case of a refusal, the reasons for the refusal are provided.

After the appeal period is finalised, a "Statement of Reasons" will be posted on Council's PD Online website, which will provide the reasons for the decision made.

Change Representations/ Negotiated Decision Notice

The applicant has a 20 business day appeal period. The change representation must be lodged within 20 business days of suspending the appeal period. However, if the applicant needs more time to make the change representations, the applicant may, during the applicant’s appeal period for the approval, suspend the appeal period by a notice given to the assessment manager.

The written representations in the notice must state what parts of the decision notice the applicant wishes to change and why (for example, a condition of development). Although it cannot be regarding a matter about a concurrence agency’s response or a condition imposed under a direction made by the minister.

Council has 20 business days to amend the decision or refuse to amend the decision. The new legislation provides for this to be extended by agreement between the applicant and the assessment manager.

The negotiated decision notice replaces the decision notice for the development application.

Only one (1) negotiated decision notice may be given.

If a negotiated decision notice is given to an applicant, a local government may give a replacement infrastructure charges notice to the applicant.

Contact us

Contact Council's Development and Planning Department on 1300 79 49 29 for further assistance.