How to object to a development application in Queensland

1. Can you object?

Only to some applications. The law requires public notice, and lets anyone make a submission, only when part of the application needs impact assessment (or it includes a variation request). (Planning Act 2016, section 53)

Applications that need only code assessment are not publicly notified. Neighbours are not told and cannot make a submission, however large the project looks. This is the most common misunderstanding: a council that approves a code-assessable application has done what the planning scheme asks, and there is no objection stage.

To tell which kind you are looking at, read the notice sign or the council's register entry for the application: it states the level of assessment (“impact assessment” or “code assessment”). You can also check a property or find your council's recent applications, and watch your area with free alerts so you hear about new applications early.

2. The window

The notice must state a last day for submissions. The Planning Act says that day must be at least 15 business days after the notice is given, or at least 30 business days where the application includes a variation request. A regulation can prescribe a longer period for some types of application. (Planning Act 2016, section 53(4)) Where notice is given in more than one way, the period starts the day after the last notice is given. Business days exclude 20 December to 5 January.

The Development Assessment Rules say the applicant must give notice by putting a sign on the land that stays up until the last day, writing to the owners of every lot next to it, and publishing a public notice. (Development Assessment Rules, section 17)

The window matters. Only a properly made submission, received during the period, gives you appeal rights later. Miss the date and you generally lose them. (The notes to section 53 say the same.)

3. A properly made submission

The Planning Act's dictionary (Schedule 2) says a submission about a development application is properly made when it:

• is signed (in hard copy, or electronically in the way the notice says) by each person making it;
• is received during the period fixed for making submissions;
• states the name and residential or business address of everyone making it;
• states its grounds, and the facts and circumstances relied on to support them;
• states one postal or electronic address for service; and
• is made to the assessment manager (for most applications, the council).

The assessment manager may also accept a submission that is not properly made, but only a properly made one gives you appeal rights. (Development Assessment Rules, section 19) You can amend your submission before the last day, or withdraw it any time before the application is decided.

4. What to say

Submissions carry weight when they tie a concern to the rules the council must apply:

• where the proposal conflicts with the planning scheme: the zone code, the overlay codes (flood, bushfire, character and so on) and the scheme's strategic framework (its statement of intended direction);
• amenity: noise, privacy, overshadowing, bulk and height next to your home;
• traffic, parking and access: where cars will enter, queue and park;
• flooding and stormwater: whether the site floods and what the building does to water flowing off it.

Some things do not count as planning grounds: the effect on property values, who the applicant is, or that you simply prefer the area as it is. Say what the problem is, and which rule it breaches.

Before writing, read the application's planning report on the council's register and the zone code that applies to the site. What a zone is and which projects need approval explain the terms; the Queensland planning library lists the documents.

5. After you submit

When the council decides, it must give a decision notice to each principal submitter (the first-named person, if several of you made one submission). (Planning Act 2016, section 63)

Appeal rights. A submitter whose properly made submission was not withdrawn can appeal a decision to approve the application, to the extent it relates to the impact-assessable part, to the Planning and Environment Court. (Planning Act 2016, Schedule 1, table 2) The appeal period is generally 20 business days after the decision notice is given. (Planning Act 2016, section 229) The court can extend that period in some cases, but do not plan on it.

Appeals to the Planning and Environment Court are formal proceedings and can be costly; speak to a town planner or a lawyer before starting one. (The Development Tribunal, where the Act says it hears appeals, does not make costs orders — Planning Act 2016, section 256 — but submitter appeals against an approval go to the court.)

6. Submission skeleton and checklist

Headings only. Fill each one with your own facts.

To: The Chief Executive Officer, [council name]
Re: Submission on development application [application number]
Site: [address and lot on plan]

1. Who is making this submission (names, addresses, address for service)
2. Our connection to the site (for example: owners of the adjoining lot at …)
3. What we object to (one line)
4. Grounds
   4.1 [Planning scheme provision] – how the proposal conflicts, and the facts
   4.2 [Next ground] – ...
5. What we ask the council to do (refuse, or approve with changes: say which)
6. Signatures and date

• ☐ I know the application is impact assessable.
• ☐ I have the last day for submissions from the notice.
• ☐ I have read the planning report and the zone code.
• ☐ Every ground names a rule and a fact.
• ☐ Names, addresses and an address for service are included, and everyone has signed.
• ☐ It was delivered to the council before the last day, and I kept proof.

Common questions