Queensland Numbered Acts

PLANNING ACT 2016 - SECT 53

53 Publicly notifying certain development applications

(1) An applicant must give notice of a development application if—

(a) any part of the application requires impact assessment; or

(b) the application includes a variation request.

(2) The notice must be given in the way or ways stated in the development assessment rules.

(3) However, the assessment manager may assess and decide a development application even if some of the requirements of the development assessment rules about the notice have not been complied with, if the assessment manager considers any noncompliance has not—

(a) adversely affected the public’s awareness of the existence and nature of the application; or

(b) restricted the public’s opportunity to make properly made submissions about the application.

(4) The notice must state that—

(a) a person may make a submission about the application to the assessment manager; and

(b) any submission must be made by a stated day that is at least—

(i) for an application that includes a variation request—30 business days after the notice is given; or

(ii) for an application of a type prescribed by regulation—the period, of more than 15 business days after the notice is given, prescribed for the application; or

(iii) for any other application—15 business days after the notice is given.

(4A) However, if the development assessment rules require the notice to be given in more than 1 way, the period mentioned in subsection (4)(b) starts on the day after the day when the last notice is given.

(5) Any person, other than the applicant or a referral agency, may make a submission about the application.

Notes—

1 In order for a submitter to have appeal rights under schedule 1, the submitter's submission must be a properly made submission.

2 An advice agency, in its referral agency’s response, may tell the assessment manager to treat the response as a properly made submission. See schedule 2, definition
"eligible advice agency" , paragraph (a).

(6) Submissions made about the application remain effective even if the notice is given again under the development assessment rules.

(6A) If, within 1 year after a development application (the
"original application" ) lapses or is withdrawn, another development application that is not substantially different from the original application (the
"later application" ) is made, any properly made submission for the original application is taken to be a properly made submission for the later application.

(7) This section applies even if a referral agency has directed refusal of all or part of the development application.

(8) The assessment manager may, at the applicant’s request, give the notice for the applicant, for a fee of no more than the reasonable costs of doing so.

(8A) However, subsection (1)(b) does not apply if—

(a) a variation approval has been given for the premises; and

(b) the variation request does not seek to change the category of development or category of assessment for the development stated in the earlier variation approval or, if the request does, the request seeks to change only 1 or more of the following—

(i) accepted development to assessable development;

(ii) assessable development requiring code assessment to accepted development, if the accepted development is substantially consistent with the assessment benchmarks for the development under the earlier variation approval;

(iii) assessable development requiring code assessment to assessable development requiring impact assessment; and

(c) for a variation request that proposes assessment benchmarks—the proposed assessment benchmarks are substantially consistent with assessment benchmarks in the earlier variation approval.

(9) In this section—

"business day" does not include a day between 20 December of a year and 5 January of the next year.