Construction of roads and unformed roads

This page outlines Redland City Council’s position on the maintenance and construction of unformed roads across Redlands Coast.

What is an unformed road?

An unformed road is a road reserve that does not have a constructed road or road assets maintained by Council. This can include property access tracks or other road infrastructure approved by Council through its local laws or by the State Government through a ‘Permit to Occupy’ application.

Council obligations

Council has no statutory obligations under the Local Government Act 2009 or any other authority to upgrade or construct roads for property access.

If a landowner requires access to a property via anunformed road, the construction and maintenance of that property access track is the  landowner’s responsibility.

Construction of a property access track

A property access track is an informal track built by a landowner primarily to provide access to their property. A landowner can apply to Council in writing for approval to privately construct a property access track from an unformed road. The management and ongoing maintenance of this track remains the applicant’s responsibility.

Maintenance or repair of formal gravel roads

Council is responsible for maintaining formal gravel roads across Redlands Coast.

Heavy rain events can cause a deterioration in the condition of formal gravel roads. As part of Council’s road maintenance program, regular inspections are carried out on gravel roads.

If there is any damage requiring repair, Council makes every effort to carry out maintenance work as soon as possible.

Requests to construct a road

Requests for a road to be constructed either by Council or a landowner will be considered based on a number of factors.

This includes:

• the number of approved dwellings serviced
• the wider community benefit
• legal and practical access
• topography, drainage and other constraints
• ongoing maintenance costs and resourcing
• costs/benefits, resourcing and other community priorities.

Where a road built by a landowner is of a standard accepted by Council and is of a higher standard than a property access track, there may be consideration around adopting it as a Council asset, with Council taking responsibility for ongoing maintenance.

Related links

• Construction of roads and unformed roads fact sheet [PDF 477KB]
• Queensland Government - Leases, licences and permits to occupy