City of Gold Coast Planning and Development Hub

The Heritage overlay provisions amendment commenced today as part of City Plan Version 10 and is the third major amendment to the City Plan. The amendment provides greater clarity on development requirements within and around Local heritage places, so that the Gold Coast’s places of cultural heritage significance are appropriately recognised and conserved into the future.

This amendment revises the Strategic Framework element – cultural heritage, the Tables of assessment and the Heritage overlay code. It also introduces new assessment provisions for development involving demolition, partial demolition or removal of a Local heritage place, a new Exemption Certificate process and a new City Plan Policy - Heritage management.

City Plan Version 10, as well as Superseded and Historic versions of City Plan, are available via ePlan - cityplan.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/eplan/

We have implemented changes to the way we handle payments for development application fees, effective from 4 July 2023.

Applications will only be considered received once the funds have cleared in accordance with section 51(1)(b) of the Planning Act 2016. Please note that certain payment types may take up to three (3) business days to clear.

Failure to pay the notice of payment within 10 business days will result in the cancellation of the application.

What does this mean for you?

This means that, as stated in part 1.2 of the Development Assessment Rules (under section 68 of the Planning Act 2016), the day after the payment is receipted will be considered as Day 1 of the development application process.

Why is the City making this change?

This change is being implemented to align the City’s processes with the timelines outlined in the Planning Act 2016. It aims to provide clarity and transparency, eliminating any confusion regarding Day 1 of the application process.

What happens once payment is received?

The day after the payment has cleared, the City will commence the necessary properly made checks as part of the pre-assessment process. Once all properly made requirements have been met under section 51 of the Planning Act 2016, the assessment process will commence. If the properly made requirements have not been met, the City will issue an Action Notice to the applicant. Failure to respond to the Action Notice within 20 business days will result in the cancellation of the application.

The City of Gold Coast (City) is committed to planning and delivering trunk infrastructure to facilitate growth on the Gold Coast.

In accordance with the Minister’s Guidelines and Rules Version 1.1, the City developed an amendment to the Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP). In February 2023 the LGIP amendment received Ministerial approval to proceed to adoption. The amendment was adopted by Council on 23 May 2023 and commences 4 July 2023 as part of the City Plan Version 10.

The LGIP amendment incorporates more recent development projections and planning assumptions, with updated trunk infrastructure network planning to service revised growth projections until 2041.

For more information on the Local Government Infrastructure Plan, visit cityofgoldcoast.com.au/LGIP or email strategicinfrastructure@goldcoast.qld.gov.au

Resilience through design and development is a critical part of the City’s response to natural hazards.

The City recently published two non-statutory guidelines to increase community awareness of flood and bushfire risks.

• Bushfire resilient design guidelines
• Flood resilient design guidelines

The guidelines can be downloaded from the City design principles & guidelines page on the City of Gold Coast website.

The guidelines provide resources and resilient design options that can be considered in the design of new dwellings, as well as renovation and improvement ideas for existing dwellings.

Effective resilient site planning and building design will better prepare communities and their properties to mitigate bushfire and flood risks and reduce potential property damage costs.

We have made changes to our PD Online platform to improve customer usability and accessibility to development application information through a single portal. The changes went live on 28 May and will provide additional cyber security through the decommissioning of the legacy portal.

What does this mean to me?

• The way you access applications previously held in the legacy portal has changed.
• Viewing and searching documents relating to a development application has improved.

Accessing development applications lodged before July 2017

• Previously you would access the information via a legacy PD Online portal – this is no longer available and instead you will be redirected to the current PD Online.
• You will now see two new enquiry lists in PD Online to access information and documentation on development applications lodged before July 2017.

• There are no changes to the existing PD Online portal search function – you can search by application number, address, date, Lot on Plan or decision date.
• Search tip: Only enter the “number component” of the application removing the “prefixed letters”. For example:
  COM/2018/80 searched as 2018/80 or 80
  MCU201701871 searched as 2017/1871 or 1871
• Search tip: There is no change to the Building approvals search - additional historical building applications from 1934-1998 will be displayed via the PD Online portal.

Viewing and searching

As part of the changes, we will also be implementing a new look and increased functionality when viewing documentation relating to an application.

New and improved functions:

• Key word searching across all displayed document fields
• Sorting capability (ascending and descending for each header column)
• Ability to export a full (or filtered via keyword search) documentation list to a CSV file
• Displayed “A” numbers provides a common reference for external users and internal staff
• Additional document information including document type and size

For help on how to use PD Online please contact Planning Enquiries Centre (07) 5582 8708.

From 1 November 2021, only accredited contractors appointed by the City are able to perform standard connections.

Registrations are now open – for the first intake of 2022.

To ensure all interested contractors have sufficient time to register and undergo the required pre-assessment prior to standard connection training, please register your interest via Vendor Panel by Monday 16 May 2022.

For those contractors who submitted their registration after 1 November 2021 – please review and amend any outstanding information in Vendor Panel.

Once the City has reviewed your application, you will be notified via email that your registration has progressed and an invite will follow to attend standard connection training.

For more information on the accreditation process please see the Standard connections accredited contractors webpage.

Click here to register to become a WW Standard Connection Accredited Contractor.*

*Please view the guide to navigating Vendor Panel.

Our team is committed to sustainably managing the growth and development of the Gold Coast.

Across our City Development, City Planning and Office of Architecture and Heritage Branches, our experienced and dedicated officers are here to work with you.

Check out our latest organisational chart to see a list of key personnel from these branches.

For more on planning and building, visit our website or contact the Planning Enquiries Centre on 07 5582 8708.

We have updated the Express DA guidelines following feedback from applicants and members of the public.

For further information please refer to Express development – application guidelines.

Applicant Guidelines changes

Key changes to the Applicant Guidelines include:

• clarity when a Flood conveyance check request can be made
• table informing applicants of the letter types issued as part of the pre-submission review
• confirming the 10-15 business day range commences once the application is properly made, not lodged.

Changes to the Applicant Guidelines exclusions

Key changes to the exclusions within the Applicant Guidelines include:

• clarity when exclusions related to each overlay are actually applicable
• updates to the Koala mapping habitat exclusion
• several amendments to the Environmental significance overlay code exclusions
• removal of the Industry, community, infrastructure and agriculture land interface area overlay exclusion
• alteration to the Extractive resources overlay exclusions so industrial applications are not implicated unnecessarily
• changes to the existing lawful point of discharge exclusion
• notes informing when certain exclusions within the Transport code and Coastal erosion hazard overlay code are applicable.

Where to find the updates

The update can be found in the Express development – applicant guidelines, which have now commenced.

David Burdon and Jane Alexander from the National Trust of Australia (NSW) present, “Use it, don’t lose it – the case for adaptation” on Thursday 30 September at 12:30pm.

With the need to move away from a ‘throw-away society’ now finally gaining general acceptance, it is time to take the same approach with our built environment.

Buildings change over time – their original use may no longer be required, or current standards may make change necessary. How can we approach the work of adapting old buildings for new uses, rather than starting over again with a new building, and balance retaining authenticity while creating vibrant new places?

This presentation will illustrate how the adaptive re-use of buildings in NSW has recently led to some award-winning architectural designs. These designs have been praised for the way they provide a creative response to the existing buildings on site, celebrate their unique heritage character and also deliver great placemaking outcomes.

This seminar will demonstrate the ways in which an understanding of heritage significance can lead to an authentic outcome for a place, proving that everything old can become new again.

RSVP to citybuildingseminars@goldcoast.qld.gov.au and the link to attend the virtual event will be provided once you have registered.

About David Burdon

David Burdon is a registered architect and the current Conservation Director at the National Trust (NSW). In his career with the NSW Government Architect’s Office and in private architectural offices, he has worked on a number of successful adaptive re-use projects on numerous building types.

About Jane Alexander

Jane is an archaeologist and heritage specialist who is the current Advocacy Manager at the National Trust (NSW). In her previous roles as a heritage consultant she has worked on adaptive reuse projects from tramsheds and aerodromes to churches and police stations, proving that with the right approach, heritage places can continue to thrive.

The City of Gold Coast has launched a new and improved website with a simpler layout and fresh new look.

While the new website has been designed to be easier for you to use, in this transition period, pages from the former website may be in a new location or format.

If you had pages you regularly visit bookmarked, the links may now be broken, and you will need to search for the new location of the page and update your bookmarks/favourites.

The quickest way to find what you’re looking for is to enter your key words (search terms) into the search bar on the new website.

If you need help locating content on the new website or have any other questions, please email CustomerExperienceProgram@goldcoast.qld.gov.au