Land under a state-led growth instrument

Four different mechanisms appear in this dataset, and they are not variations of one thing. Each answers a different question, and each is a reason not to take a council's planning scheme as the whole story on growth-area land.

Queensland — Priority Development Areas. 6 published suburbs sit inside a declared PDA (Greater Flagstone, Northshore Hamilton, Southern Thornlands, Southport, Sunshine Coast Airport, Yarrabilba). In a PDA the development scheme replaces the council's planning scheme and Economic Development Queensland becomes the assessment manager. So the council's scheme is not the applicable instrument and the council is not the decision-maker — the single largest difference any of these mechanisms makes.

Victoria — the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution. 22 published suburbs sit in an urban growth area where land may attract the GAIC, a per-hectare charge triggered on certain dealings with growth-area land. This one is a cost rather than a control, and it is the kind that surfaces at settlement: establish in writing whether it has already been paid on the lot or whether it will fall to you.

Western Australia — endorsed structure plans. 85 published suburbs are covered by one or more endorsed structure plans. In a structure-plan area the lot layout, the density and the staging are settled before any block goes on sale, which means much of what a buyer might expect to influence is already fixed — and which plan applies, and what stage it is at, is the question to ask.

New South Wales — precinct policies. 9 published suburbs are partly covered by a State Environmental Planning Policy precinct plan alongside the council's plan. Provisions can be tied to infrastructure delivery or to a staging sequence, so what is permissible can depend on when as well as where, and a parcel's future zoning under the policy can differ from the zone it carries today.