Planning Scheme Changes Address Housing Crisis

Whitsunday Regional Council have delivered what Mayor Julie Hall is calling “one, tiny piece of the pie” towards solving the housing crisis sweeping the region.

At Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday, November 23, Councillors approved amendments to the Whitsunday Planning Scheme in hopes to encourage housing diversity, promote affordable rentals, and entice home ownership options.

The amendments are a direct result of Council’s consultation with community for input on affordable housing options.

The results of the Affordable Housing Consultation Submission Analysis Report were placed into two “Amendment packages”.

Whitsunday Regional Council’s Director Development Services, Neil McGaffin, said the first of those two changes to the planning scheme was to reduce the minimum lot size for dual occupancies to 600 square metres.

“What we have taken out of the data is the need to reduce that minimum lot size,” Mr McGaffin said.

“There’s a lot of land out there that is just below the minimum requirements. The potential is, if we reduce the minimum lot size, that it could free up opportunity for dual occupancy or two dwellings on the one site.”

The second amendment to the Planning Scheme complimented an earlier change passed down by State Government in the same meeting and accepted by Council on a local level: That secondary dwellings or ‘granny flats’ can now be rented out to third parties rather than a person from the same household, such as grandparents or teenagers of the same family.

“In the past, there’s been an inherent requirement for a relationship between the people in the main dwelling and the proposed granny flat. That’s now been wiped, so it’s possible for two separate families to live in two separate dwellings on the same block of land,” Mr McGaffin said.

In addition to those State-wide changes, Council’s Affordable Housing Amendment Package 2 is a further boon for secondary dwellers or those looking to construct them, with it allowing an increase in the size of granny flats from 100 square metres to 120 square metres.

“That makes it a bit more liveable and reflects the desire for more housing opportunities not only in this area, but throughout the state,” Mr McGaffin said.

“And that’s coupled with the potential removal of infrastructure charges, so that’s Councils initiative to make housing a lot more affordable in the area.”

Mayor Julie Hall was pleased with the result after what was a three-month consultation period.

“The purpose of this consultation was to investigate the possible amendments to the Whitsunday Planning Scheme that will encourage a range of housing and home ownership options and promote affordable rentals,” Mayor Hall said.

“This is just one little, tiny bit of a massive issue. It’s definitely not going to solve the housing shortage in the region, but at least it will give one, tiny piece of the pie to solve the issue in some circumstances.”

Whitsunday Regional Councillor Michael Brunker was more than pleased with the State Government’s amendment to definitions surrounding granny flats.

“This will go towards a freeing up of more housing,” Councillor Brunker said.

“There could be the old-style granny flats out there where granny has moved on and the fact other people can now rent them should help with our housing crisis.”

Director Neil McGaffin was mindful, however, that although the changes are now implemented, the “direction from community” was unclear – particularly as only 39 submissions were made to the survey.

“The interesting thing was that some of the responses to the questions were about fifty-fifty,” Mr McGaffin said.

“So there was no clear indication that some of the initiatives council could have considered had any clear direction from the community.”

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