Positive meeting highlights region’s capacity to supply new housing lots

The Toowoomba Region is well placed to supply new housing lots for at least the next decade and beyond, according to state government research that was presented to a meeting with leading development industry figures at Toowoomba City Hall on Tuesday.

Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) Planning and Development Committee chair Cr Megan O’Hara Sullivan said attendees had a constructive discussion, including an overview of the South East Queensland Regional Plan, (covering the Toowoomba urban area), and associated growth monitoring data from Department of Treasury statisticians and TRC planners.

Cr O’Hara Sullivan said the Toowoomba Region rated most favourably in terms of the available supply of land for new housing lots in comparison with other South East Queensland local authorities.

“Not surprisingly, parts of Logan and the growth corridors around Ipswich, which are experiencing high levels of growth, are leading the pack,” Cr O’Hara Sullivan said.

“The Toowoomba Region is ranked third among South East Queensland local authorities in terms of the available supply of housing land that is available to the market.

“There are 17 separate housing estates that have additional stages to complete. Some of them are submitting operational works applications to seek approval to take extra land to the market.

“Council is constantly monitoring the stock of land that is available for new housing and is ensuring there is no delay for new home lot sales.

“Queensland Treasury figures show the Toowoomba urban area has 2,540 hectares of available land for new dwellings. This area is expected to cater for up to 15,154 homes. Additionally, there are current subdivision approvals in place that could create approximately 3,490 new home lots, which exceeds the minimum four years’ supply benchmark sought under the regional plan.

“In the past three or so years, developers have slowed down their lot production, so this is not an issue of supply failing to meet demand.

“We are seeing a significant surge in land sales for new home building that is being driven by the uptake of state and federal government home building grants. As we stated recently, Council is working with the development industry to meet this recent rise in demand for new home lots.

“Consequently, Council is giving resource priority to meet the demand for lot approvals generated by the state and federal financial incentives.

“Council will be plan sealing more than 150 lots in the next month, with an additional 350 sealed lots anticipated before December, thereby meeting anticipated demand.

“Council’s intent is to expedite the approvals to ensure the market is serviced with a sufficient supply of residential lots.”

TRC Planning and Development Committee portfolio leader Cr Bill Cahill said there was an acceptance that factors such as the slope of available land and whether an area was in a proposed koala protection zone or a hazard zone for fire or flood had to be reviewed when exploring new home locations.

“Council is in the process of establishing a Regional Growth Plan that will underpin the new Toowoomba Region Planning Scheme and Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP) to cater for employment and population growth forecast for the next 20 years,” Cr Cahill said.

“These formative plans will update and reset our strategic direction to ensure it continues to meet community needs and expectations over the next 20 years and aligns with State planning land use and economic development policy.

“Throughout this program there will be multiple opportunities for the community and interested stakeholders, including the development industry groups, to have a say about the future of the region.

“The LGIP is the critical ingredient for responsibly delivering urban development in a sequential manner in accordance with the Toowoomba Region Planning Scheme.

“Without properly coordinated infrastructure planning and delivery we cannot have ongoing urban development.”

“It also helps Council estimate the cost of trunk infrastructure for which it is then able to levy infrastructure charges on development to help cover the cost of providing trunk infrastructure for new growth areas.

“Council must balance the wider interests of all ratepayers and our community as a whole, while supporting the development industry, and ensuring the sustainable growth and management of the Toowoomba Region.”