Coordinator General

Industrial intensity categories

The category that an activity falls into is often a reflection of the physical size or scale of output/production capacity of an industrial activity. It may also reflect the degree of potential off-site impacts (e.g. air and noise emissions) generated by the activity.

Low impact industry

Premises used for low impact industrial activities which have minimal impacts on non-industrial uses and where impacts such as noise and air emissions are able to be readily mitigated. Examples include:

small engine repair workshop
vehicle workshop
cabinet making
shop fitting
sign writing
tyre depot.

Medium impact industry

Premises used for industrial activities that have moderate impacts on non-industrial uses and where impacts such as noise and air emissions are required to be mitigated. Examples include:

beverage production
concrete batching plant
tyre manufacturing and retreading
surface coating
metal recovery
junk yard; and
fuel depot.

High impact industry

As defined in the Queensland Planning Provisions under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009, ‘high impact’ industries are defined as those that can not be located near non-industrial uses due to their off-site emissions.

They are typically large-scale, noisy, smelly activities that may require locations where there is suitable access to major transport routes. These industries provide materials that support transport, infrastructure and development - and everday materials for homes and workplaces.

Some examples of high impact industries as provided in the draft State Planning Policy for Air, Noise and Hazardous Materials, 2009 are:

bottling or canning facilities (200 tonnes of food, or more, per year)
durface coating facility (anodising, electroplating, enamelling or galvanising 1000-10,000t / year)
meat processing including rendering (1000-50,000 tonnes of meat product per year)
tanneries (100t or more of leather product per year)
timber milling and wood-chipping operations (10,000-20,000 tonnes of timber pa)
glass or glass fibre manufacturing (200 tonnes or more, per year)

Noxious and hazardous industry

The Queensland Planning Provisions under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 defines ’noxious and hazardous’ industries as those which potentially have very high impacts on non-industrial activities and are difficult to locate.

They are not to be located within close proximity to non-industrial activities such as residential.
They should be protected from encroachment by non industrial activities.

Some examples of ’noxious or hazardous’ industries as provided in the draft State Planning Policy for Air, Noise and Hazardous Materials 2009 are:

chemical manufacturing (more than 200t per year)
oil refinery or processing facility
metal smelter
cement manufacturing (manufacturing 200t or more of cement or calcining 200t or more of limestone in a year)
regulated waste treatment plant (operating a facility for receiving and treating regulated waste or contaminated soil to render the waste or soil non-hazardous or less hazardous).

Offensive industry

Although not defined in the Queensland Planning Provisions offensive industry is a term which has been used in the past to describe certain industrial activities. Offensive industry uses may produce offensive emissions (e.g. causing unpleasant sensations or nuisance), without actually being harmful or dangerous.

An example of an offensive industrial use would be a meat rendering works.

Major hazard facility

The Dangerous Goods Safety Management Act 2001 has been designed to protect people, property and the environment from chemical-related accidents. This is achieved by applying safety obligations on everyone involved with the storage and handling of hazardous materials.

The Act regulates major hazard facilities (MHFs) to minimise the likelihood of accidents at these sites and to minimise adverse impacts. MHFs are locations such as oil refineries, chemical plants and large fuel and chemical storage sites where large quantities of hazardous materials are stored, handled or processed.

MHFs are highly regulated and controlled operations/sites. Due to the management practices adopted, a MHF may be low, medium or high impact industrial uses. The risk or likelihood of an incident occurring at a MHF is also rated.

For example MHFs that may be:

low impact industrial activities - fuel and LPG depots, warehouses and chemical formulators
medium impact industrial activities - bulk gas storage facility
high impact industrial activities - complex chemical manufacturing facility.

'Difficult to locate' industry

Although not an official planning definition, an industry may be ‘difficult to locate’ because it:

needs a large site - typically two hectares or more - to locate a large footprint building or series of buildings/structures and/or may have storage activities that require large areas. Large sites are hard to find in appropriate and affordable locations
requires specific infrastructure networks such as roads to accommodate B-doubles or other special vehicles, congestion-free roads or a large and reliable electricity source
operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week
has specific security requirements requiring isolation from residential areas or sensitive land uses
needs to be co-located in close proximity to associated industrial uses, or conversely, should not be located near certain activities (e.g. certain chemicals should not be stored in close proximity to each other).
needs to be separate from built-up areas to allow efficient operation of facility.

Examples of difficult to locate industries include:

transport and logistics warehouse - requires large site, operates 24 hours and day and 7 days a week, needs uncongested roads and roads capable of accommodating B-doubles
food or beverage manufacturer - needs large site to accommodate large scale production lines, refrigerated storage facilities and product transport vehicles
wood product manufacturer - a low impact use that requires a large site for processing plant, timber storage areas and large vehicle turning areas.

Overall precautionary principal

Despite these broad definitions, no use would be permitted if it would pose an unacceptable risk to the environment and/or the community. This would be assessed on an individual proposal basis. For example, while an area may be designated for industrial use in a planning scheme, each industrial use within that area would need to be assessed against the planning scheme provisions and/ or other legislative requirements such as the Environmental Planning Act 1994.