The Planning Process

The necessity for a planning permit depends on what you are proposing for your property.

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The necessity for a planning permit depends on what you are proposing for your property.

Council provides an enquiry service to assist the public with determining the necessity for permits under Planning, Building & Plumbing – This is called the Building Enquiry Form <link>.

Council’s Planning staff can provide you with some initial guidance on whether your proposal requires a planning permit, and what planning scheme requirements need to be met or may be relevant to your property.

By talking to us early in the planning process, we can help provide some indication whether the George Town Council is likely to support your proposal and can discuss changes to your project design that may be necessary to make the proposal more compliant with the effective planning scheme.

Council accepts both phone consults, as well as walk-ins (subject to planner availability) at Council’s offices in George Town.

If you would like confirmation that your proposal is exempt or does not require a permit from planning, then you can email a Building Enquiry Form along with details of your proposal to planning@georgetown.tas.gov.au.

Additionally, this process provides an indication on what (if any) approvals are required from building and plumbing.

If you require a planning permit and you would like further advice about your proposal, this may attract a fee. This will be explained to you once your application has been reviewed and you will not incur the fee without electing to do so.

Your application will be assessed to ensure all initial documentation has been provided with your application. Council will contact you if further information is required.

Council’s Planning and Building team will then lodge the application and send you the invoice to pay. Once it is paid, the application will be allocated to a Town Planner for assessment.

Council has 42 days to process 'discretionary' and 28 days to process a 'permitted' planning application.

We will refer your application to other Council employees and external stakeholders, including, but not limited to: Council's Infrastructure and Development Department and/or Environmental Health Officer, TasWater, TasNetworks, Tasmanian Heritage Council, State Growth and Tasmanian Gas Pipeline.

Once these stakeholders have provided feedback of your proposal, we will determine whether further information is required to advertise and/or assess your development.

If Council needs more information, we will let you know in a timely manner. Planning officers have up to 21 calendar days to request further information for discretionary planning applications and up to 14 calendar days for permitted planning applications.

The application will be held in abeyance until information that satisfies the request is submitted to Council.

Your application may require advertising depending on whether it is 'permitted' or 'discretionary', in accordance with the requirements of the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (LUPAA). Members of the public have from the date of advertisement until the cessation of the advertisting period to lodge a representation with Council. This must be done in writing and should state the reasons why they support or object to the application.

Discretionary planning applications are advertised and are available to be viewed within the advertising period on the George Town Council website and at Council's office.

The time the assessment takes varies depending on the size and complexity of the project.

An assessment against the provisions of the planning scheme must be conducted and a recommendation is made as to whether the application is to be approved or refused and whether the conditions are to be placed on the permit.

Planners consider both internal and external representations made by members of the public, either for or against the proposal and compliance with the standards and objectives of the planning scheme.

Planning applications may need to be presented to the Councillors, who act as the Planning Authority, for determination at a Council meeting.

Planning applications need to be presented to the Councillors if representations have been received during the advertising period, or if the Town Planner's recommendation is for refusal.

An extension of time may need to be requested in order to present an application to the Councillors if a meeting does not fall within the statutory timeframe of 42 days.

For full Council meeting details, dates and agendas, visit the Council Meetings page HERE

Council will issue a notice of our decision to approve or refuse the application and if applicable, provide the applicant with a permit within 7 days of the decision.

Talk to your neighbours

We highly recommend that you discuss your proposal with your neighbours and anyone else who may be impacted, before you lodge your application. This often saves a lot of time later down the track if small changes can be made to address their concerns early on.

Consider getting professional advice

This will help you develop your ideas and designs, to help determine what information you will need to submit with an application.

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