Project Brief

You are preparing a Planning Report for a project seeking planning approval under the Queensland Planning System.

The development project must deliver leading practice in a strategic planning priority not limited to: affordable housing, climate responsive design and liveability.  The site is located in South East Queensland.

The report is a maximum of 5,000 words (no minimum word limit).

Your Planning Report will be of a professional standard, providing all necessary details and supporting information.  It will meet requirements to be accepted by the local authority as an ‘impact assessable’ development application.

The report will include maps, designs, photos, tables and other supplementary material that support effective communication of your proposal and its alignment with the State Planning Policy and the local planning scheme.

Project Scenario

The client for this project is a young, emerging enterprise with strong business credentials in sustainability and social responsibility.  The planning report will be used by the organisation to inform site selection and other technical investigations, as they work to secure planning approvals for their first project in South East Queensland.

Planning Report Contents

The planning report should include a detailed description of your proposal including how your design is climate responsive (orientation, vegetation, screening, open space, materials, colours and other),   meets QDesign (Queensland Government) outcomes and the needs of your client.

Other inclusions are:

•    State and local policy alignment: Identify the State and Local policies that support your development proposal such as relevant parts of The Planning Act 2016, Shaping SEQ regional plan Missing Middle   strategy, relevant theme/s in the Single State Planning Policy 2017, the relevant Local Government     planning scheme (where your site is located) strategic themes or other Local Government policy e.g.  affordable housing/affordable living, climate responsive and medium density or housing diversity.

•     Locational analysis: identify the district and local characteristics, land uses and services (such as employment, retail, social services, transport and others) that support this site as an appropriate location for the proposed activity

•    Site description: describe the site features such as: existing land uses and the zone, the size of the site (lot/s) to be developed, surrounding land uses, existing vegetation, existing heritage building/s, neighbourhood and streetscape design.

•     Development proposal: Describe the design. For example: the orientation, height, number of units, number of bedrooms per unit (all the same number of bedroom or various and why), location and amount of private and common outdoor space on the site, all boundary setbacks, landscaping (proposed), screening, shading, roof treatment, car parking (how much, where is it located, disability/visitor parking?)  The design should demonstrate an understanding of particular living requirements of the development.

•    Planning Scheme Requirements: Assess the alignment of your development proposal to the detailed        planning scheme requirements (overlays and codes). At a minimum, check the overlays, zoning and applicable codes such as medium density dwelling code (or similar) and show how your design does (or does not) meet the requirements set out in those parts of the planning scheme . Where your proposal does not meet the specifics of the scheme such as on-site car parking, explain why. Try to use other areas of the scheme or State or Council policy to justify any deviations from the scheme requirements. Note: The planning scheme is performance based. Where relevant, your proposal may not meet the performance criteria, but you may be able to demonstrate how your proposal meets the performance outcome.