Rockhampton City Plan

View City Plan

The Rockhampton City Plan commenced on 30 August 2005 and replaced the existing town planning scheme and related policies. Each council in Queensland was required to prepare a new planning scheme under the Integrated Planning Act (IPA) of 1997 and Rockhampton is the first regional city in Central Queensland to have an IPA compliant Planning Scheme.

As the most important and influential planning tool in shaping the growth and development of the city over the next decade, a detailed community consultation program from the beginning of the City Plan process has helped to ensure that the Council is planning with the community and not just for it and the result is as balanced a document as possible that could be delivered for the community.

To view a copy of the City Plan click on the link provided.

How was the City Plan arrived at?

The development of the City Plan occurred over a five year period and built on community expectations drawn out in a series of public meetings in March 2000 which led to the preparation of an Issues Report in April 2000. The findings from the Issues Report then were used to develop a Statement of Proposals in September 2000 that was the final step in the first stage of the preparation of the new City Plan.

The next stage was the development of the City Plan itself and a number of supporting studies and investigations were conducted from late 2000 to 2003 and included:

•  Centres Planning Strategy

•  Car Parking Strategy

•  Urban Heritage and Character Study

•  Citywide Industrial Land Use Strategy

Public display of the draft City Plan occurred between April and June 2004 as part of the public consultation process required under the IPA. In addition to the public display of the draft City Plan at set locations throughout the city, letters were sent to all owners of land within Rockhampton with details on what the draft City Plan would mean for their property. A number of public meetings were also held during this time and were well attended. In total 343 public submissions were received by the end of the public display period. These submissions were assessed and, where appropriate, changes to the draft City Plan were made, although the revised draft City Plan did not significantly differ from the one publicly advertised.

The Draft City Plan with amendments was resubmitted to the state government in March this year and final sign-off from the Minister of the Department of Local Government was given in June 2005. The Council then committed to an adoption date for the City Plan of 16 August 2005 and a commencement date of 30 August 2005.

A basic overview of the City Plan

The Rockhampton City Plan contains a number of features to specifically reflect and help retain the unique character of the city.

Some of the features of the City Plan are replacement of existing zones with the creation of 38 local Areas across the City with separate intents mentioned to guide and direct future development, the introduction of character house controls in areas such as The Range, the introduction of a City Heritage Register to recognise and protect those places of local value, the strengthening of local shopping precincts and changes to development assessment levels and improvements to development controls.

A number of fact sheets have been developed on matters such as Bed and Breakfast Establishments and Building or Extending a House . A full list of fact sheets can be found here .

I'd like more information

If you cannot find the answer to your question on the Frequently Asked Questions page, please email Council at planning@rcc.qld.gov.au

If you missed the Presentation on the City Plan for Development Professionals held last month, a copy of the presentation will be available to view.