Development Enquiries and Pre-lodgement Meetings

Enquiries can be administered by telephone or email. They are intended to give you an opportunity to briefly discuss broad development concepts in relation to a particular site with a Council town planner. They are limited in length and should assist in identifying zoning, mapped planning scheme constraints and broad planning intentions for the land as indicated in the planning scheme. The advice you receive over the phone or in an email from the duty officer should not be substituted for independent professional advice or a comprehensive due diligence process.

To supplement enquiries, pre-lodgement meetings are intended to discuss a particular development proposal for a specific site in more detail. The purpose of pre-lodgement meetings is to reduce development assessment timeframes by identifying likely 'information request' items, which can be addressed prior to application lodgement. Pre-lodgement meetings should be held once you have formulated a development proposal which you feel is compliant with the town plan and other relevant legislation. Development proponents are encouraged to discuss their intentions with Council prior to lodgement, especially for more complex applications.

It should be noted that a number of Council officers from different branches or departments may be required to provide information for the meeting. To enable Council officers to provide detailed, accurate advice, and to gain the most benefit from a pre-lodgement meeting, the following details are requested to be submitted to Council at least a week before the meeting:

Proposal details, including proposal plans drawn to scale
Proposed meeting discussion items/agenda.

Note: Pre-lodgement meetings are offered as a free service by the Development Planning Branch, and as such meeting minutes are not distributed following the pre-lodgement meeting. However, you are welcome (and encouraged) to take your own meeting minutes. Again, pre-lodgement meetings should not be substituted for independent professional advice or a comprehensive due diligence process.

We do not offer pre-lodgement meetings for the types of development listed below. These types of development are treated as general planning and development enquiries, please refer to the FAQs in the first instance or contact us for further information.

Dwelling houses (including structures like secondary dwellings, sheds, extensions and carports. Note: Heritage Adviser Service is available for heritage and character related queries)
Dual occupancies
Minor Reconfiguring a lot applications (such as boundary realignments, one lot into two lots, one into three lots etc)
Home-based businesses (for further information refer to this Fact Sheet ^{(PDF, 433.4KB)})
Advertising Devices ^{(PDF, 114.4KB)}(other than Major Entry Community Signage)

Engineering, Health and Environment Branch now offer pre-lodgement meetings and are intended to discuss a particular operational works proposal for a specific site in detail. The purpose is to reduce the assessment timeframes by identifying likely ‘information request’ items, which can be addressed prior to application lodgement or resolve complex or non-standard engineering design. Pre-lodgement meetings should be held once you have formulated an operational works proposal which you feel is compliant with the conditions of approval, Council policies and standards. Proposal details, including proposal plans, should be sent to the officer holding the pre-lodgement meeting a week before the meeting to give the officer a chance to adequately prepare for the meeting.If there are particular issues you wish to discuss in the meeting ensure you make these clear to the engineering officer prior to the meeting. It should be noted that a number of Council officers from different branches or departments may be required to provide information for the meeting, so the earlier the proposal details are provided, the more beneficial the meeting will be. Again, pre-lodgement meeting should not be substituted for independent professional advice or a comprehensive due diligence process.

To book a pre-lodgement meeting with Ipswich City Council, complete an online request.

Please be advised that the Planning and Regulatory Services Department have electronic facilities available in our meeting rooms with up-to-date aerial photography and information on services and constraints. These facilities can be useful in presenting and analysing information in respect to development sites and development proposals.