Major Planning Scheme Amendment 7 - Business Improvement and Innovation

On 29 May 2024, the final amendment package was presented at the General Council Meeting and Central Highlands Regional Council resolved to:

1. Endorse the revised zone mapping which reflects the retention of the existing zone designation under the Central Highlands Regional Council Planning Scheme 2016 (Amendment No. 6) of the lots prescribed in the Ministerial Condition received by council dated 20 May 2024.
2. Adopt the proposed Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation) subject to the Ministerial Condition dated 20 May 2024 that applies to the proposed amendment.
3. Delegate power to the Chief Executive Officer to do all other things necessary pursuant to the Minister's Guidelines and Rules made under the Planning Act 2016, to enable the adoption and commencement of the Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation).

A copy of the meeting minutes (once completed) will be made available from this location(External link) or you can view the livestream recording via Utube.

Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation) will come into effect on 7 June 2024.

This Public Consultation Report (Part 1) has been prepared by Central Highlands Regional Council (council) to:

1. Summarise the activities and outcomes of the public consultation of the Draft Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation) that took place from 10 February 2023 to 28 April 2023.
2. Outline the matters raised in all submissions for the Draft Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation).

This report will inform the deliberations within and between Central Highlands Regional Council (council) and the Department of State Development, Infrastructure Local Government and Planning (DSDILGP) regarding the appropriate consideration of and response to the key matters raised in all submissions. Once these deliberations are completed, council will draft and display the Public Consultation Report (Part 2). Part 2 will include a summary of all revisions to the amendment that have been proposed in response to the submissions received.

In addition to this, any person that has lodged a submission will also receive a more personalised response which responds to the key issues raised by that submitter.

Download a copy now! - Public Consultation Report (Part 1)

Council has made a number of enquiries to carbon farming companies and state and federal governments to determine whether the proposed Tourism and Ecotourism precincts should prevent carbon projects (i.e. what is the reasoning, what evidentiary support is there, what are current policies and guidelines saying).

As these are private entities, it is not appropriate for council to respond on their behalf. Additionally, there are a variety of types of carbon farming projects available and organisations can apply different levels of restrictions or limitations around contracts so what may be correct for one organisation may not apply to another. If you are concerned and wish to involve council in your discussion with the carbon farming entities, council would happily avail themselves.

The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) is an Australian Government body responsible for accelerating carbon abatement for Australia through the administration of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme, Renewable Energy Target and the Emissions Reduction Fund. The Australian Government purchases lowest cost abatement (in the form of Australian carbon credit units) via the Emissions Reduction Fund, from a wide range of sources such as carbon farming projects.

CER has provided the following information and has confirmed that council may make it publicly available.

"There is nothing specifically that prevents projects from being undertaken in an ecotourism precinct. All proposed projects must meet the requirements of the method, such as land eligibility (section 9 of the method) in order to be declared. For sequestration projects such as soil carbon projects, there are also considerations to be made in terms of permanence obligations. When deciding whether to undertake a project, the proponent can choose a permanence period of either 25 or 100 years. Once the permanence period is nominated, it cannot be varied. If the project proponent then cannot meet these obligations for whatever reasons, the project may be revoked and they may be subject to ACCU surrender or Carbon Maintenance Obligation as a result.

That being said, it is a private business decision to register a carbon project or to purchase a property with an existing carbon project and the Clean Energy Regulator does not oversee the standards of Carbon Service Providers.

The Carbon Market Institute may be of more assistance to help understand how and why carbon service providers choose their risk profile."

Additional information is available from https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/. To find out more information about Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) eligibility criteria they may like to complete the eligibility questionnaire, email enquiries@cleanenergyregulator.gov.au, or call the CER contact centre on 1300 553 542

The formal public consultation period for the Draft Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation) closed on 28 April 2023.

Over the next couple months council:

• will consider every submission to the proposed amendment;
• may make changes to the proposed amendment in response to the properly made submissions;
• will advise each submitter, in writing, how their submission was considered and, if appropriate, incorporated into the amendment;
• will publish the results of the public consultation process on this page.

Council officers have compiled a list of matters raised by landowners during the consultation sessions, conversations and correspondence. Each of these matters are addressed in the document below. Please note that is an evolving document which will be updated as new enquiries and/or information arise. This version was last updated on 6 April 2023.

Summary of matters raised during the public consultation period of the draft Major Planning Scheme Amendment No. 7 (Business Improvement and Innovation) - Last updated 6 April 2023

Council has received reports that some rural landholders have experienced delays of up to two weeks in receiving mail through Australia Post. Additionally, council has received several requests to extend the timeframe to allow rural landholders additional time to consider the proposed amendment and prepare a submission (if they wish to).

In response, the Public Notification period has been extended by 4 weeks to 28 April 2023. There will be no further extensions to this public notification period.

As we receive questions about these precincts, we are updating the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page with the more common enquiries. Keep an eye out for updates.

If you have received a letter in the mail regarding the precincts, a further letter will be sent out to you in the next few days with some of this additional information.

Alternatively, we have also prepared an information sheet with some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about the proposed precincts.

As always, if you have any questions or want a private appointment, contact the Strategic Land Use team on 1300 242 686 or via planningscheme@chrc.qld.gov.au

Make a submission through Central Highlands Regional Council's eplan here.