Only three months left to make a request to apply Brisbane City Plan 2000

Brisbane City Plan 2014 commenced on 30 June 2014, replacing Brisbane City Plan 2000. Brisbane City Plan 2014 contains a number of notable changes from its predecessor. In this alert, Partner James Ireland and Associate Olivia Williamson explain the importance for Brisbane land owners to consider at this time whether the development potential of the land has been affected by the Brisbane City Plan 2014.

Key Points:

• If the development potential of land is less advantageous under Brisbane City Plan 2014 (when compared to Brisbane City Plan 2000), consideration should be given to making a request to the Brisbane City Council to apply the superseded planning scheme, Brisbane City Plan 2000.
• Any request to the Brisbane City Council to apply the superseded planning scheme must be made on or before 30 June 2015.
• The making of a request to apply the superseded planning scheme is an essential pre-requisite to the ability to claim any compensation in circumstances where the Brisbane City Plan 2014 reduces the value of the interest in land.

Owners of land in Brisbane should give consideration as to whether the development potential of the land pursuant to Brisbane City Plan 2014 has changed from that under the Brisbane City Plan 2000.

If the development potential of the land is now less advantageous under Brisbane City Plan 2014, there is a form of protection found in section 95 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (SPA) which allows a request to be made to the Council to apply the superseded planning scheme to the carrying out of assessable development.

There are however limits around requesting the application of a superseded planning scheme, including:

• The notice must be given to the local government within one year after the day the planning scheme creating the superseded planning scheme takes effect. In respect of Brisbane City Plan 2014, any request must be made on or before 30 June 2015; and
• Various procedural requirements are detailed in section 95, including the need for the request to be in the approved form, be accompanied by the relevant fee and contain a description of the proposed development.

The relevant timeframes for processing a request for application of a superseded planning scheme are set out in section 96 of the SPA. Specifically:

1. the local government must decide to agree to the request, or refuse the request, within 30 business days after receiving the request;
2. the decision period can be extended by a further 10 business days (as long as notice of the extension is given within the original decision period); and
3. the local government and the applicant can agree to further extend the decision period.

If the local government does not decide the request within the relevant timeframe specified, the local government is taken to have decided to agree to the request.

If the Council refuses a request to apply the superseded planning scheme, then the relevant provisions in the SPA relating to the claiming of compensation become relevant. Importantly however, the making of a request to apply the superseded planning scheme is the first, and essential, pre-requisite to the ability to claim any compensation in circumstances where the Brisbane City Plan 2014 reduces the value of the interest in land.

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