1. An introduction to town planning Town planning has existed since the dawn of time, there may not have been statutory guidelines and endless pages of legislation in place 5000 years ago, but there has always been planning and organisation involved.

These days the majority of cities control development within their region by having a planning scheme in place. A Planning Scheme is a statutory document that sets out objectives, policies and provisions for the use, development and protection of land in the area to which it applies. A Planning Scheme regulates the use and development of land through planning provisions to achieve those objectives and policies. For example, Brisbane has the City Plan 2014.

Understanding how to read and interpret these documents is the key to being a successful developer. If you know the Planning Scheme and all of its policies from top to bottom, you could pre-empt any potential development issues. That being noted, some schemes are up to 4500 pages in length (e.g. Brisbane) and would require a wide range of expertise in engineering, ecology, planning and construction. Furthermore, that is only one of 537+ planning schemes around Australia, which means you could have 2,416,500 pages of planning schemes to read, understand and interpret. To put it in perspective a Bachelor's degree in town planning is usually 4 years (full-time), and that just gives you the knowledge and skillset to read and understand these planning schemes.

2. How to find the right property:

What should you be looking for?

You will be limited regarding the type of site you need to look for depending on the Local

Council region you are searching in.

Two key factors that usually restrict development are:

1. Frontage width

2. Lot size

Each Council region will have minimum lot sizes required for certain zones and precincts,

the majority of Council regions will also have fact sheets or self-help guides on their website,

which can be a helpful place to start.

Unfortunately, one size does not fit all. For example, in Brisbane, the minimum lot sizes can

vary from 180sqm with a 7.5m frontage all the way up to 1,000,000sqm. So it is important

to find out what size allotments you need to be looking for by looking at the Council website,

calling a Council town planner, or asking a private consultant planner.

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