Planning rules streamlined to aid COVID-19 recovery
The Fraser Coast Regional Council adopted changes to planning requirements guidelines to reduce red tape and simplify the planning process as part of Queensland's economic recovery from COVID-19.
Cr David Lewis said the Queensland Government’s economic support initiative guidelines aim to cut down application costs and the time needed to process applications with Councils able to ‘opt in’ to the changes.
“The purpose of the changes are to streamline planning requirements for low risk development in particular planning zones,” he said.
“Our planning scheme already includes many (180) of the new guidelines, which shows that the region is already in a strong position for businesses to recover quickly from the impacts of COVID-19.”
The economic support initiatives:
- Remove unnecessary barriers for certain low risk uses;
- provide incentives and certainty to ensure businesses can restart or establish where appropriate, and;
- encourages investment in the Fraser Coast region.
“The faster we can get businesses operating, the faster we can get people into jobs and the economy firing again,” Cr Lewis said.
One of the changes is that a ‘low level’ type application is required, instead of a ‘high level’ type application for an agricultural supplies store in the rural zone.
“Another change is that a planning approval will not be needed for a change in tenancy within an existing building if the new business was expected to be operating in that zone and only minor building work will occur,” Cr Lewis said.
“That means, for example, if a shop wanted to set up in a former newsagency in one of the tourism nodes such as Scarness, Torquay or Urangan, there would be no need for a development application.”
“By making the planning process easier, Council are effectively reducing red tape and helping businesses to get up and running quicker.”