Planning scheme submission

The Gold Coast Planning Scheme Amendment, Our City Our Plan, has wide ranging impact for the region. We supported council identifying growth areas as part of the amendment, inclusion of the Courtney Drive Precinct, and inclusion of a low-medium residential zone for infill development.

However, the Institute urged council to seek greater opportunities to facilitate infill development, particularly in the existing and planned light rail corridors, within well-serviced locations, and to provide investigation areas to address the lack of supply of greenfield opportunities.


The Institute also encouraged council to increase the utility of the low medium density zone and other residential zones to provide additional housing in established residential areas and to meet population growth needs.

Specific recommendations included:

  • Reducing the setback requirements for buildings over 55m in building height in the high density residential zoned areas
  • Maintaining the position of allowing the building height to guide the building setback requirements
  • Exploring greater opportunities to allow smaller lot housing within the low-medium density residential zone
  • Seeking greater opportunities to reduce minimum lot size requirements within the low density residential zones, particularly within well serviced locations
  • Providing frontage requirements within the medium density residential zone that account for density and lot size
  • Providing Overall Outcome provision relating density and built form, in the low-medium density residential zone and medium density residential zone codes, to support density outcomes in the built form
  • Stronger Overall Outcomes within the medium density residential zone code that contains a stronger policy direction and objective on low-medium rise apartments, medium rise apartments, and high rise in well located areas
  • Allowing 60% site coverage for buildings up to 9m on lots equal to or greater than 4oosqm in the medium density residential zone code to support greater opportunities to facilitate low-medium rise apartment style buildings
  • Revising the rear setback boundary requirement of 4m for building heights between 9m-16m to 3m to appropriately reflect the reduced density for buildings between 16m-33m
  • Investigating greenfield opportunities to accommodate the anticipated population growth and demand for dwellings in the expansion areas as per ShapingSEQ.

Any enquiries on this can be directed to Policy Executive, Robert Tily (rtily@udiaqld.com.au) on (07) 3229 1589.