News and Insights

Introduction Amendments to Brisbane City Plan 2014 (City Plan), which altered the Biodiversity Areas Overlay Mapping (BAOM) and associated level of assessment tables and codes, came into effect on 29 November 2019. The amendments largely reflect the

Historical background The Queensland Planning Provisions (Version 4) (QPP) dated January 2016 were the template for many Local Government Planning Schemes that were introduced prior to the commencement of the Planning Act 2016 (PA).  They were in

The Brisbane City Council’s Natural Assets Local Law (NALL), if it were an Act passed by the Queensland Parliament, would not meet fundamental legislative standards.1 Legislation should have sufficient regard to the rights and liberties of individ

I recently returned from a development industry study tour in Singapore and found it interesting to take a look at their planning and development system. Let’s start with some basic statistics for Singapore – Dimensions: 23kms from north to so

On 21 April 2017, the Victorian Supreme Court awarded United Petroleum $890,238.00 in damages after finding Bonnie View Petroleum Pty Ltd had failed to clean up contamination at one of its 19 retail petrol businesses it sold to United.1   Key point

The Brisbane City Council released a Citywide Amendment Package - Biodiversity for public consultation earlier this year and the period for submissions ended on 6 June 2017. The submissions that were made are now under consideration by the Council. 

The Local Government Electoral (Transparency and Accountability in Local Government) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2016 was passed by the Queensland Parliament on 10 May 2017 and commenced on 19 May 2017. The building work and planning aspects

Owners of properties adjoining heritage places will be affected by a new State assessment trigger and State Development Assessment Provisions (SDAP). The Sustainable Planning Regulation (No. 4) 2016 (SPR4) and an amendment to SDAP are due to commen

A contemporary issue of increasing significance is the extent to which the views of a heritage place are relevant to the place’s cultural heritage significance.  This issue is particularly problematic because it lies at the interface between town

Walter Elliott Holdings Pty Ltd v Fraser Coast Regional Council [2015] QPEC 8 (Walter Elliott Holdings No 1) and Fraser Coast Regional Council v Walter Elliott Holdings Pty Ltd [2016] QCA 19 (Walter Elliott Holdings No 2) concerned an application for

In the Summer edition of Envisage, we provided commentary on the Planning and Environment Court’s decision in Gerhardt v Brisbane City Council (2015) QPEC 34. We noted that the judgment called into question planning scheme provisions which attempt

I am often asked whether the Planning Act 2016 will make any difference to Queensland’s planning and development landscape. To answer this question, one must look both backwards and forwards. The rear-view mirror allows honest and objective assessm