New laws passed in Parliament will make life easier for landowners and builders.
Speaking in Parliament last week, I talked about how the application process for building over infrastructure such as sewers, water mains and stormwater drains has been streamlined and made consistent.
With thousands of people expected to move into my electorate over the next ten to twenty years, many new homes will be needed. Helping our building industry to work effectively, without bureaucracy and red tape, will allow it to get on with what it does best – building homes for the future.
The old process was confusing and not logical. It meant that a building certifier had to seek permission from a service provider who owned the water infrastructure, when there was no consistent process across these providers. This consent meant that a planning development application might be required, leading to more paperwork and more fees. Worse, there was no design standard for building over water infrastructure.
Building costs and time frames were blown out beyond what was reasonable, and a straightforward job could become a bureaucratic mess. It was no surprise that the Master Builders and Housing Industry Association were looking for sensible changes.
The new laws eliminate the need for building certifiers to seek permission from water service providers to build over infrastructure, while building in specific safeguards to protect it. In fact, these safeguards are covered in the new Queensland Development Code.
For landowners and builders of houses and backyard sheds, work can now be assessed directly by the building certifier against consistent, state-wide standards rather than individual local government schemes and requirements of water service providers.
For applications that don’t fall into line with the new uniform standards, or where an applicant doesn’t agree with a decision, the government has built in a fast and affordable appeal mechanism through the Building and Development Dispute Resolution Committees.
This is a great outcome for all parties concerned. Landowners can develop their land faster and not be out of pocket due to application fees. For owners of water infrastructure, consistent design standards ensure their assets are protected. Finally our builders, on whom our economy relies so greatly, can get on with their work without being buried in red tape.
We know that builders were turning down work on sites where water infrastructure existed because of the complicated approvals process. We don’t need that. We need people working in this great state of Queensland. And these new laws support just that.