Industrial land planning terminology

There are numerous sources of formal definitions of industrial activities, such as the Queensland Planning Provisions 2009 and local government planning schemes, plus a wide and varying range of informal perceptions about industrial land activities.

For the purposes of planning for the department's industrial land facilitation program, a range of industrial use definitions has been adopted. The adopted definitions were drafted following consideration of guidance provided in the following planning instruments:

  • Sustainable Planning Act 2009
  • Queensland Planning Provisions 2009 Version 1.0 and draft Version 2.0
  • draft State Planning Policy for Air, Noise and Hazardous Materials
  • various local government planning schemes.

The following industrial use and category definitions apply to projects undertaken under the department's industrial land facilitation projects (information on projects and areas of investigation is available):

Industrial area definition

The Sustainable Planning Act 2009, Schedule 3, page 726, states that an industrial area means land that is designated as industrial land under a planning scheme or instrument, or that is predominantly industrial in character.

Industries that typically utilise industrial land include:

  • manufacturing
  • wholesale trade
  • transport and storage.

Depending on the planning scheme or applicable planning instruments, industrial areas may be defined or categorised for particular industrial activities (for example, extractive industry or warehouse industry) or according to impacts or emissions (for example, low or high impact industry).

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.

For further information contact the department.