SPECIAL: Coastal Management & QLD Coastal Plan Update

PLACE Design Group (PDG) provides this planning legislation update to the Urban Developer readers to provide information about the key changes to Coastal Management and the Queensland Coastal Plan Update. 

The previous Queensland Government, as one of their parting gifts to the State’s development industry, adopted the Queensland Coastal Plan, which came into effect on the 3^rd

February 2012.

The State Planning Policy 3/11: Coastal Protection (SPP) of the Plan, was critically linked to the assessment of development under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009

, providing local governments and State Departments with policy direction and assessment criteria to direct land-use planning and development assessment decision making.

Upon adoption, the Plan had both its supporters and critics.  The Plan was seen by environmental organisations as being a long needed piece of policy targeted at controlling and regulating the conservation of the coastal zone, whilst development industry and local governments alike were heavily critical of the approach taken by the policy and the resultant uncertainty for development.

The Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Greg Hallam said “the Government’s unseemly rush to implement new planning guidelines for coastal communities had the potential to severely affect the direction of new development in the state at a time when the Queensland

economy could least afford it.”

All groups both environmental, development and local governments were supportive of the intent of the Plan, which sought to protect future coastal communities from threats such as storm tide surges, sea level rise and other threats caused by climate change, each just differed in their views of how to achieve those outcomes.

On Monday the 8^th

of October the Queensland Government gazetted the Draft Coastal Protection State Planning Regulatory Provision (SPRP) which suspended SPP 3/11 and introduced a revised framework for managing development in the coastal zone.

The new regulatory provision has adopted a new approach to the regulation of development in the coastal zone.  This approach attempts to redress the balance equally, between the environmental, social and economic aspects of coastal protection, particularly in areas designated for urban purposes. It also seeks to simplify and streamline planning, assessment and approval processes for development in Queensland's coastal zone.

It is currently only a draft regulatory provision, however the adoption and immediate effect of the regulatory provision means that it will provide certainty for coastal planning while the state government reviews and undertakes consultation on the Queensland Coastal Plan, including SPP 3/11. It is expected that the SPRP will stay in place until the State Government enacts their proposed single State Planning Policy in 2013.

Some of the significant changes include:

• removing the requirements for a proponent to undertake a detailed risk assessment for individual sites

• removing requirements relating to areas of High Ecological Significance (HES) in urban areas

• removing requirements on local governments to undertake adaptation strategies

The changes should remove much of the uncertainty and potential limitations to development within the coastal zone and should be a great relief to the development industry, particularly those groups with land, without approvals, in areas that would have potentially been constrained by the previous SPP.  From an industry perspective, this simplification will be seen by many as a good thing and a win after many months of lobbying for changes to the original plan and regulation.

We will continue to monitor future changes to the SPRP until such as time as it is formally adopted or incorporated into the single State Planning Policy.

As noted at the outset, all stakeholders in the coastal zone agree with the intent of the Coastal Plan. The coastal zone is a fragile environment under increasing pressure from development. Its scenic amenity and environmental attributes make it a destination for recreational purposes, and living on the coast is a lifestyle sought after by many (e.g. the sea-change lifestylers). Now climate change has added another level of complexity to the management of the coastal zone by increasing the risks of storm tide surges, sea level rise and the probability and severity of cyclones. Whilst the SPP aimed to protect future coastal communities from such threats, some of the methods which it put in place to achieve those outcomes were not perceived to be justified, practical or achievable in a reasonable time frame.

During the next 12 months whilst the regulation is in draft form, we expect further changes and revisions to the approach being taken for the ultimate form of the regulation.  We would encourage an approach that appropriately balances the protection of this key natural asset of Queensland, the protection of coastal amenity and also the protection of the ability for development to occur in this zone in an appropriately sympathetic and sustainable manner.

The amendments contained within this Draft Coastal Protection SPRP are likely to affect many properties differently, depending on the constraints relevant to the individual properties (e.g. erosion pone area).

PLACE Design Group is a leading international planning, design and environment consultancy with offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific. 

Established in 2001 by a small team of professionals, it has since grown to a team of 150 and have remained an employee-owned firm. 

As a multidisciplinary firm, they are able to offer their clients a choice of single or multiple services allowing them to achieve the highest level of project integration. Their diversity makes them sought after to collaborate with some of the world’s best known engineering and architectural firms.