The Planning Process

When payment is received, your application will be allocated to a Statutory Planner to start the formal assessment. At this stage, Council has 42 days (6 weeks) to determine the application if it is discretionary and 28 days if it is permitted. If the application is discretionary, the 14-day advertising is processed within the 42 days.

Council may request additional information within 21 days of a valid application being received (or 14 days for a permitted application). If additional information is requested, the 28 day or 42 day assessment period is paused until the request for additional information has been answered to the satisfaction of Council.

Some applications are required to be referred to and assessed by further statutory bodies and regulatory agencies. Such examples include:

• Development involving impacts upon threatened native vegetation communities or on the coast will be referred to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.
• Development adjacent to a State Road (such as a Highway) must be referred to the Department of State Growth whom may impose conditions. A separate permit will also be required to be obtained from the Department to carry out any works within the state road reservation.
• Any development requiring new sewer or water connections (such as multi-unit developments, commercial developments and subdivisions) must be referred to TasWater who may impose conditions of approval relating to servicing infrastructure and headworks charges.

Under the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993, a fine may apply for undertaking work without development approval.

• Additional plans and details may be required depending on the nature of the development proposed.
• It is not possible to provide ‘in principle’ approval prior to lodging a planning application.
• If you intend to construct other buildings on your land in the future you may wish to include those in a current application to avoid the cost and time of making a different application in the future. Provided that a large component of the total approval is substantially commenced within two years of approval, you will not require a new approval to continue with the remainder at any time.
• All planning approvals for development applications must be substantially commenced within 2 years of the permit approval date otherwise the permit will lapse. If those approved works have been substantially commenced during the initial 2 year period but are not completed within that timeframe, it is possible to seek an extension of time from Council for the works to be completed by. However, there needs to be sufficient evidence of those works having been substantially commenced, for example, infrastructure and other works carried out on the property. Applicants seeking an extension of time must ensure they make their application well before the expiry of the initial 2 year permit period so this leaves sufficient time for the Council to then consider their application and make a decision either granting or refusing the application before the permit expiry date.
• It is often helpful to keep your neighbours informed of your proposal as this may allow potential issues to be addressed without incurring unnecessary cost or delay.
• It is an offence to undertake use or development (including land clearing and site excavation) without a planning application. Council’s compliance officers investigate unlawful buildings and use and failure to comply can result in financial penalties.

A Planning Scheme will specify that a particular proposal has either a No Permit Required (NPR), permitted, discretionary or prohibited status. This status is set by the table of uses or in other provisions (for instance, an application that is permitted in the table of use will become discretionary or prohibited if the design does not comply with development standards such as boundary setbacks). The Table of Use, which type of use and development are classified to be ‘NPR’, ‘Permitted’, ‘Discretionary’ or ‘Prohibited’ uses. A table is provided within each zone which details the status of a particular development type. If the use or development type is not listed with the table then it is automatically a prohibited use.

A comprehensive list of general exemptions is provided under Part 5 and Part 6 of the Planning Scheme.

The five classification types (Exempt, NPR, Permitted, Discretionary and Prohibited) are discussed as follows:

Exempt:

The Planning Scheme lists the types of use and development that are exempt from requirement planning approval under Part 5 and Part 6 of the Planning Scheme. It is however noted that despite an exempt status, building and plumbing approvals may still be required from Council.

Any use not listed as exempt will require assessment against the Planning Scheme to determine if the development is classified as NPR, Permitted, Discretionary or Prohibited.

NPR:

An NPR use or development means that the proposed use or development complies with the relevant provisions of the Planning Scheme (including development standards and schedules) and therefore does not require a Planning Permit. Generally, the types of applications that are considered NPR use or developments are dwellings in the residential zones and agricultural activities in rural areas.

Permitted (no public notification):

A Permitted use or development means that an application must be lodged with Council (as a Planning Authority) for a Planning Permit and Council may then consider approving application providing that all the relevant provisions of the Planning Scheme are complied with. A permitted proposal means that Council may approve or refuse the application. It may also apply conditions if an application is approved.

Discretionary (public notification required):

A discretionary use or development requires a planning application to be lodged with Council (as a Planning Authority). The application can either be approved with or without conditions or alternatively refused by Council. A discretionary proposal requires a 14 day public notification period during which a person may make a representation to Council in support or opposition of your proposal. The advertising period also requires Council to place an advertisement in the Mercury Newspaper, a sign erected on the property boundary and letters sent to the adjoining property owners. A discretionary proposal may be approved or refused based on the merits of the application and any decision may be appealed to the Appeal Tribunal.

Prohibited (Council must refuse the application):

A prohibited proposal means that Council (as a Planning Authority) cannot grant approval as the particular use or development is stipulated as being a Prohibited development within the respective zone. Applications can also become prohibited if certain provisions of the Planning Scheme are not complied with.

Should a representation be received objecting to the development application during the public notification phase of the application (advertising period for an application), the application may be required to be considered at the next available monthly meeting of the Council unless a decision is made under delegation by the Council.

If the application is to be considered at a Council meeting a report and recommendations will be provided to the meeting so that Council as a Planning Authority can then make a decision regarding the application.

Where necessary the time in which a decision is to be made on an application can be extended by written agreement with Council.

Section 61 of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (LUPAA) provides for planning appeals following a Council decision. Any person who lodged a representation to Council may appeal the decision.

Appeals must be made to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Appeal Tribunal).

The Appeal Tribunal contact details are on its website.

An appeal of this decision or conditions of the permit to the Appeal Tribunal must be made within 14 days in accordance with section 61 of the LUPPA.

The appeal needs to be in accordance with relevant directions of the Appeal Tribunal that apply to the lodgement of an appeal – further information is available from the relevant page on its website.

Council has various application forms which are available on its website. Information about planning scheme requirements is available from the Council’s Planning Scheme on the Tasmanian Planning Commission Website.

Other planning information is also available from LISTmap – Land Information System Tasmania.

Each application form includes a checklist of information that may be required. At a minimum, each planning application must include:

• an application form
• the payment of all prescribed fees (which are available on Council’s website)
• a written explanation of the proposal including justification for the particular design response;
• a copy of a recent Certificate of Title
• a site plan (1:100 or 1:200 scale preferred) showing all existing and proposed buildings, dimensioned setbacks, cut and fill, vegetation to be retained or removed, car parking and vehicular access including sight distance, and all other information required to be assessed for the application
• floor plans and building elevations.

Note: When a building application is been prepared the plans for that application need to be prepared by a designer licensed in Tasmania. Therefore, for any plans to be prepared for a building application that is to be lodged following a planning approval the building plans need to be provided by a designer licensed in Tasmania.

Any commercial application must also include details of the nature of the business, the number of staff, operating hours, equipment used and expected noise levels, expected waste and proposed disposal, location and design of signage and expected delivery vehicle requirements and all other information required to be assessed for the application.

If the land is not connected to sewer, a Site and Soil Evaluation and System Design prepared by a suitably qualified person to show that wastewater can be disposed of on site is required.

Council may also require reports from suitably qualified persons to assess risks from land hazards, such as bushfire, or other impacts of the proposal, for example, a traffic impact assessment. The application form includes a checklist of potential reports that may be required.

Mandatory site plan and other details required to be provided with applications:

• North point and scale (minimum of 1:200)
• Boundaries and dimensions of the site and relevant easements
• Location of all existing buildings and structures, noting what is to be demolished and what is to be retained
• Location of all significant trees
• Details of site drainage and roof / stormwater disposal
• Existing (if applicable) and proposed vehicular access point from adjoining roads onto the land
• Location of car parking and access for occupants and visitors
• Type, height and construction of boundary fencing and retaining walls
• Location of existing infrastructure including service lines, side entry pits and bus stops
• Undisturbed contours of the land
• Location of any proposed signage
• Site and ground level elevations and dimensions
• Information regarding any applicable Codes that apply to the site (refer to the Planning Scheme and to codes that apply to the proposal).

If you do not own the land you may still make a planning application, but must first notify the owner of your intention to do so. If, however, your proposal is located on land owned or administered by the Crown or Council then the consent of the Crown or Council is first required. If you require Council’s CEO to sign the application, you must write to the CEO and include all detail of the planning application that you intend to lodge.

You may need a planning permit if you intend to:

• undertake building works
• make alterations to a building
• change the use of a building (such as from a house to a bed & breakfast)
• undertake land clearing
• excavate land or place fill
• erect signage
• make other modifications to a building or land.

You may also need a Building application permit. All planning and building permits can be found on the Council Forms page, linked below.

To provide accessibility and convenience for different stakeholders, Council accepts receipt of information through a variety of channels, including over-the-counter submissions, postal mail, emails (specifically through the council’s dedicated email address), and through website portal requests.

Where a data package is too large to send via email please zip the files and share via an online file transfer service such as iCloud or OneDrive. To maintain information system security, Council is unable to accept over the counter physical file transfer via USB memory stick or CD.

Should you have issues in lodging digital information please contact Patty Johnson, Director People and Corporate Services via email pjohnson@huonvalley.tas.gov.au or via phone (03) 6264 0320.