Council Planning Approvals and building certifiers Building Approvals normally have lots of conditions and different requirements that you need to pay attention too. There is, however, one item you should pay particular attention to when determining the budget of a development – the Infrastructure Charges Notice.
Infrastructure Charges – also known as Headworks Charges – are issued by the Assessment Manager (council) upon the approval of a reconfiguration of a lot, or a material change of use. The charges are for Trunk Infrastructure, which is required for the development, and are a form of cost recovery as legislated by the Sustainable Planning Act. This generally includes sewer, water supply, parks, transport, and stormwater infrastructure. The notice will provide details on the individual charges, a total charge amount, the land to which the notice is attached and, when the charge is payable.
Many in the building industry believe that these charges are only applicable to developments requiring council approval. However, council have the ability to issue an Infrastructure Charges Notice on developments that do not require council approval. Therefore, if your development only requires a building permit, the landowner / applicant may still receive an Infrastructure Charges Notice shortly after your building certifier issues the Building Works decision notice. An example of this, could be when a Dual Occupancy development does not require council approval but still requires Infrastructure Charges to be paid to the council. The charges are attached to the land and the notice will be issued within 20 business days.
Most councils have their own infrastructure charges calculators, which both applicants and council use to determine what charges will be for individual developments. However, although they may have their own way of calculating charges, they cannot exceed the maximum infrastructure charges set under the State Planning Regulatory Provision (adopted charges).
If you believe your development may result in infrastructure charges, or if you would like to know more about these charges, contact one of our town planners or building certifiers at Development Certification.