Queensland state planning’s one-stop-shop awarded

The Planning Institute Australia has awarded Queensland’s State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) with the 2013 Improving Planning Processes and Practices Award.

SARA, launched on July 1, 2013, was created to centralize state referrals and to streamline development application assessments in a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach.

More than 1,100 applications have been lodged through the new system.

The new system has implications for commercial premises development also, explained Minister for State Development and Infrastructure, Jeff Seeney.

“A beverage company, for example, which had sought a new site to expand its operations, had to consult with and obtain approval from five different agencies on a range of matters from waterways and native vegetation to the project’s impact on state transport infrastructure,” Seeney said.

“Now such companies will only have to obtain approval from one agency – a win for common sense.”

Planning Institute Australia’s state president, Kate Isles, said that cost and time inefficiencies for development applications had now been addressed.