Developing a new plan – Redlands Coast City Plan
With your help, we are preparing a new City Plan
Council is preparing a new City Plan to replace the Redland City Plan 2018. This new plan will guide growth and change across Redlands Coast over the next 25 years. We want to ensure we grow in a way that protects the places, character and natural features we love, while delivering improved access to services, housing choices, local jobs and community facilities.
Drafting a City Plan is a collaborative effort between Council, the Queensland government, the Redland community, development industry and a range of interested stakeholders. Without this shared approach, the City Plan will fall short. That's why Council is committed to engaging at an early stage. Before drafting a new City Plan, we will be seeking your views on how we best manage future growth and development over the next 25 years. Feedback received at that stage will be critical in helping shape the draft City Plan.
Preparation of a new City Plan is a significant undertaking that will take several years. The indicative project timeline below provides an overview of the intended process. The plan-making process requires endorsement by the Queensland Government and further information will be made available once this is received.
How do I get involved?
Add this page to your Favourites and check back as regularly as you need - information will be updated throughout the project. The Project Timeline will help give you an idea of when you may want to re-connect.
Also keep an eye out for notification from Council on this website and social media channels about upcoming community engagement activities associated with the Redlands Coast City Plan project.
Council will be seeking feedback and ideas from the community at key stages of the project:
- To help establish the strategic plan for development within Redlands Coast, influencing our future settlement pattern, how we accommodate growth and how we protect and cherish the things we love and value about Redlands Coast.
- For input and feedback on the draft Redlands Coast City Plan, which is the key document in the assessment of new development within the City.
To help everyone understand the importance of town planning and the role of the City Plan in shaping our City, and to help you to provide meaningful feedback at key stages, Council is delivering a suite of educational resources called the Understanding the city planning puzzle initiative. As well as online material, this will also include the opportunity to meet and discuss directly with Council's town planners.
Next steps
With Council's decision to prepare a new City Plan still fresh, we are currently preparing the project plan and communications strategy that will guide the preparation of our next Redlands Coast City Plan. Once this is completed, this information is sent to the Queensland Government's Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning for their review. The chief executive of this Department will issue Council with a Notice under Section 18 of the Planning Act 2016 that outlines the plan-making process. A copy of this Notice will be available to view on this webpage after it's received by Council.
Project Timeline
*Note that dates are indicative only and subject to change throughout the project
Reviewing Redland City Plan 2018
Preparing project plan and communications strategy
- Mid 2025 to Mid-Late 2025
Preparing proposed strategic directions
- Late 2025 to Early-Mid 2026
Community engagement open - Proposed strategic directions
Reviewing feedback - Proposed strategic directions
Preparing draft City Plan
First State interest review - Draft City Plan
Community engagement open - Draft City Plan
Reviewing submissions - Draft City Plan
- Mid-late 2027 to Late 2027
Second State interest review - Draft City Plan
Adopt and commence Redlands Coast City Plan
Review of Redland City Plan 2018
The City Plan operates within a dynamic and changing environment and needs to change to stay relevant and current. This is why Council continually reviews its function and makes amendments to reflect changes to population projections, demographics, economic and market conditions and a range of other factors. Council recently undertook a thorough review of the City Plan's performance and effectiveness and decided to commence preparing a new City Plan.
The review found 10 key areas of focus.
- Housing to match different needs - Support greater housing diversity to match the demand for smaller and more affordable housing and provide choice for people at different stages of their lives.
- Deliver vibrant and viable centres of activity - Encourage density and growth around key commercial, recreation and community activity centres that support their vibrancy and make best use of infrastructure investments.
- Better manage risks from natural hazards - Conduct thorough natural hazard risk assessments using up-to-date data. Develop land use policy responses that minimise people's exposure to these hazards and lower recovery costs.
- Respond to change on the ground - New development areas (for example, Southern Redland Bay and the recently announced Southern Thornlands Priority Development Area) and new commercial centres (for example, Paradise Gardens at Thornlands) have been approved or developed. We need to review the implications of these developments on our settlement pattern, our network of commercial and open space centres and the capacities of our infrastructure.
- Improve accessibility for everyone - Provide greater encouragement for active travel in assessment provisions.
- Clearer environmental outcomes - Map and plan for our important ecological corridors across Redlands Coast and identify and respect different habitat values.
- Better guidance - Our planning scheme policies require more detail and guidance for users.
- Line-of-sight improvements - We need to ensure that strategic outcomes in City Plan are effectively carried through to the assessment codes, enabling their achievement.
- Some structural changes - Simplifying the structure of assessment codes will help create clearer policy statements and reduce potential conflicts - making for a more usable City Plan.
- Show, don't tell - Additional images, maps, diagrams and graphics throughout City Plan are needed to explain concepts and expected outcomes and make it easier for everyone to use.
You can access a full copy of the Review Report and its attachments from the Related Documents and Resources at the bottom of this page.
Related documents and resources