I thought a recent case in the Land and Environment Court was significant enough in its findings to warrant revisiting this subject. We’ve discussed the council controls associated with earthworks on several occasions (Feb 2019, Jun 2012, Sep 2011), but I’ve never quite gone as far as discussing the point at which earthworks might be classified as illegal dumping, a much more serious issue than simply unapproved works. (more…)
The QPR Blog
…local government stuff you never even thought to ask about…
Resulting Lots
This one is a little bit technical. It follows from one of my pieces last year on minimum lot sizes and lot size averaging, and draws on a recent Land and Environment Court (LEC) ruling on an appeal against QPRC’s refusal to allow the subdivision of what is known as a ‘resulting lot’. (more…)
Land Use Zoning
This is a subject that comes up from time to time, often in the context of new subdivisions and development. Land use zoning is one of the tools available to council planners within a Local Environmental Plan (LEP), the legislation that provides the basis for land use planning within a Local Government Area (LGA), to help manage orderly development and promote the style of land use considered appropriate throughout an LGA. (more…)
Weeds
What better subject for discussion this month. I don’t know about you, but not having had to take the lawn mower out of the shed (I have one of the manually motivated variety—I don’t have a scythe though, I’m not that manual) for the last two years, I’ve now had to mow three times in almost as many weeks! And that’s just the stuff I’d like to have growing—the stuff I don’t want seems to be growing even faster! (more…)
Minimum Lot Sizes
There have been a couple of situations recently that revolve around subdivision lot sizes, a key element of the subdivision potential of a parcel of land—a dwelling cannot be constructed on just any parcel of land. In some cases, however, size is not all that counts. (more…)
Community Title
This is not something that comes up very often in rural residential areas, but community title rural residential developments do exist in our LGA. The structure of Community or Strata Schemes is such that they are often described as ‘the fourth level of government’ and anyone who has ever been involved with the management of such a scheme will understand why. (more…)
Planning Proposals
There’s been some discussion over the years about land use planning, in our rural residential areas in particular. With the public exhibition of our new ‘consolidated’ LEP imminent, I thought I’d follow up on some of my previous articles on the NSW planning system with a brief discussion on the process involved in changing a planning instrument such as a Local Environmental Plan (LEP). (more…)
Local Government Referenda
As I have previously noted, there are several matters that cannot be acted upon by Council unless approval to do so has been given at a constitutional referendum. Having discussed the process by which the Mayor is elected as one of these matters, and given that the subject arises from time to time, I thought it might also be worthwhile looking at the issue of electoral wards, formerly known as ridings (an area within which a representative could reach any constituent on horseback in a day’s ride). (more…)
The Act on Wards
The following are the primary Sections of the Local Government Act that apply to the establishment and operation of wards within a Local Government Area. (more…)
Flood Planning
This may seem a somewhat irrelevant subject for those of us living in the hills around the ACT, where there’s a far greater risk of bushfire than flood, but it’s been a relatively quiet month on the Council front and little else worthy of discussion has surfaced, if you’ll pardon the pun. Flood planning also involves a raft (there we go again) of acronyms that might benefit from some explanation. (more…)