Draft Planning and Development Bill 2014 and Planning and Environment Court Bill 2014 released for public consultation

In this Alert, Partner David Nicholls discusses key aspects of the draft Planning and Development Bill 2014 (PD Bill), and Planning and Environment Court Bill 2014 (PEC Bill) which have been released for public consultation by the State government. The Bills are the final plank in an extensive raft of planning and development reforms made by the Newman government since coming to office. Submissions on the Bills may be made by the public until 26 September 2014. Subject to any changes made in response to public submissions the Bills are expected to be introduced into the November sittings of the Queensland Parliament.

Key points

• The process for making and amending planning schemes will be streamlined to assist local governments to respond to the needs of their communities;