Amendments Relating to Composting Facilities
The laws relating to new and existing composting facilities have changed. This article summarises the changes with particular focus on the new “4 kilometre rule”. The amendments are to the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 which operates under the Environmental Protection Act 1994. The amendments are made by the Environmental Protection (Composting Facilities) Amendment Regulation 2024. […]
Advice on Penalty Infringement Notices
Penalty Infringement Notices (“PINs”) can be issued by the Government for a range ofmatters. Milne Legal can advise you about a range of PINs, including PINs issued by the Department of Environment and Science pursuant to the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) for, for example, a breach of an environmental authority condition (for example involving […]
Minor Changes in the Planning Act 2016 (QLD)
The Planning Act 2016 (Qld) (PA) provides a process for making a “minor change” to a development approval. Usually, a minor change application should be made to theassessment manager for the development application (which is most often the local Council), however in certain circumstances the application must be made to the Planning and Environment Court, […]
Ministerial Extensions during COVID-19
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Queensland Government issued three “Extension Notices” pursuant to section 275R of the Planning Act 2016 (“the PA”). Each of the “Extension Notices” applies to development approval and compliance permit currency periods under section 85 of the PA, section 299(2) or any other relevant provisions of the PA […]
Infrastructure Charge Notices
Once a development approval is issued, if the development is going to place extra demand on the Council’s trunk infrastructure networks, an infrastructure charges notice will be issued. The amount of the charge will depend upon the type of approval and what extra demand is been placed on trunk infrastructure. If you do not agree […]
Dividing Fences and Trees
The Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011 (“the ND Act”) defines the ND Act’s objections to provide rules about each neighbour’s responsibility for dividing fences and for trees, so that neighbours are generally able to resolve issues about fences or trees without a dispute arising and to facilitate the resolution of any disputes […]
Costs in the Planning and Environment Court
Section 59 of the Planning and Environment Court Act 2016 (“PECA”) sets out that the usual course in a Planning and Environment Court proceeding is that each party must bear their owns costs for the proceeding. There are exceptions to this however, set out in sections 60 and 61 of PECA. The exceptions provided by […]
conversion applications
Another element of infrastructure charging to consider is whether trunk infrastructure isrequired to be provided by a development which has not been recognised as trunkinfrastructure in an infrastructure charges notice. Trunk infrastructure is defined by the Planning Act 2016 as: trunk infrastructure, for a local government, means— (a) development infrastructure identified in a LGIP as […]
National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) Reporting obligations under the Queensland Environmental Protection Regulation 2019
The Queensland Department of Environment and Science (“the DES”) has recently been crosschecking facilities with an environmental authority with the reporting requirements under theNPI. For example, if a site has an environmental authority for chemical processing, and thatsite has not been reporting under the NPI, then you should expect to be contacted by the DESto […]
Environmental Protection Act amendments – Non-compliance with the General Environmental Duty may soon be an offence
An independent review of powers and penalties under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (“the EP Act”) has recently been completed, and its recommendations supported by the Queensland Government. One of the most interesting and important changes is to make it an offence to fail to comply with the general environmental duty (“the GED”). Since the […]