Key planning facts about a property

Details: Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 April 2024 16:56

The Toowoomba Regional Planning Scheme was developed by Toowoomba Regional Council and commenced in 2012. This plan guides how development in the Toowoomba Region can occur. For more information on the Toowoomba Regional Planning Scheme please see our Planning Scheme article.

Understanding zoning, local plans and overlays

Zones guide the type of development that may occur on your site. Council will indicate what type of development is preferred in a certain area by allocating a certain zone to your property.

Overlays map unique characteristics that reflect different interests in a property, including where there is particular sensitivity to effects of development or where there is a constraint on land use or development outcomes.

A local plan may be put in place to address matters at a local or district level and may provide more detailed planning for the zones. Toowoomba Regional Council has three local plans – the Highfields, Meringandan and Meringandan West Local Plan, the Glenvale Local Plan and the Charlton Wellcamp Enterprise Area Local Plan.

You can check the zones and overlays on your property by using Council’s interactive mapping system associated with the planning scheme.

Understanding the regional plan

There are instances where the State Government has created a statutory regional plan which can provide a framework for managing growth within that region. Toowoomba Regional Council is affected by two regional plans – the South East Queensland Regional Plan, and the Darling Downs Regional Plan.

A regional plan overrides provisions put in place through Council’s planning instruments. Please see Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning for further information.

How to use Toowoomba Regional Planning Scheme mapping

Open the link to the Toowoomba Regional Planning Scheme and open Schedule 2.
Once the map is open, you can search for any relevant property by typing the address into the Search bar and clicking ‘Search’.
Once the property has appeared, choose the ‘i’ button to display the zoning and overlay information. The zones and overlays can visually appear on the screen by turning the different zones and overlays on and off in the ‘Operational Layers’.

How to use Development.i

With Council’s Development.i tool, you can do a ‘location search’ to find out basic details about your property. This includes the real property description, area and any development applications that have been lodged on the property.

How to decide if planning approval is required

Once you have determined what zone your property is in, you can open up the Toowoomba Regional Planning Scheme and determine whether a planning approval is required for your proposal.

Part 5 of the Planning Scheme has a ‘table of assessment’ for each zone, for each type of development. By going into the Table of Assessment for a Material Change of Use for the relevant zone, it will tell you whether an approval is required for a new proposal to change the use of a property. If an approval is required, it will indicate whether it is code assessable or impact assessable. There is also a Table of Assessment for Reconfiguring a Lot (subdivision), Operational Work and Building Work.