Toowoomba Regional Council’s (TRC) goal to reduce regulations to aid new housing supply has taken a further step.
After submitting plans for a Temporary Local Planning Instrument 01/2022 – Housing Assistance Measures (TLPI) to the State Government, TRC Planning and Development Committee Chair Cr Megan O’Hara Sullivan said Council had further refined the document to address matters raised by the State Government.
“Council has been in discussions with representatives of the development industry for a long time now about what measures Council can take to simplify and speed up the approval process for new housing across the Region,” Cr O’Hara Sullivan said.
“These discussions have centred around how we can reduce the level of regulation applying to the creation of additional housing in greenfield development areas on the fringe of Toowoomba City, as well as stormwater solutions for sites in existing urban areas making them more feasible for development, to assist in addressing housing stress currently being experienced within the Toowoomba Region.
“While the longer term plan will be to progress a new Planning Scheme for the Toowoomba Region, with this piece of work expected to be ready by 2025, we know we need to do something sooner than this which is why we’ve progressed with a TLPI.
“We’ve listened to the concerns of our community and have proposed the TLPI as we believe it could provide shorter-term assistance for the development industry to provide residential lots and housing products in a shorter time frame.
“This move will create a simpler, shorter and lower-risk process for the development of land with access to existing or planned infrastructure.
“The proposed TLPI was sent to the State Government with Council having since received feedback on adjustments needed to meet their requirements.
“The changes have now been made to address the matters raised by the State Government with the proposed TLPI now in the process of being sent through for Ministerial approval.
“Following the review we’re hoping to have a swift turnaround so these changes can be implemented for our community.”
