All councils in Queensland have a common system for receiving and assessing development applications, guided by the Planning Act 2016.

There are five key parts to the development assessment process:

• application (lodging the application with all the required forms, plans and other information)
• referral (we ask other people to look at the application, if it impacts them – this may include the Queensland Government)
• information request (we do this if we need more information about any part of the application)
• public notification (the time when members of the public can look at the application and comment on it, this is only done for complex (impact assessable) applications)
• decision (we decide whether to approve the application or not).

The development assessment framework describes the process, rules and forms. It also guides the way councils and other agencies assess and make decisions on various types of land use and development proposals, and sets out timeframes for each part of the process.

For more information about the assessment process, please visit Queensland Government – Development assessment process.