A defined urban growth boundary encourages compact urban growth and avoids expansion into valuable agricultural land or land with important environmental values.

• Growth monitoring and reporting
• Environment and sustainability strategy
• ‘Reshaping our regions planning’ Program:
  • New Planning Scheme (Review) program
  • New Urban Growth Model.

• We grow in an orderly and well-planned way within an urban growth boundary that provides sufficient land and opportunities to support our future urban housing and employment needs.
• Our region’s growth is guided by the SEQ Regional Plan (ShapingSEQ) and Council’s urban growth boundary.
• Council’s urban growth boundary informs reviews of ShapingSEQ and our new Planning Scheme.
• Council regularly monitors growth to ensure that urban land is used efficiently and informs appropriate land use investigations for future urban areas.
• Balance our growth in a way that respects our significant environmental areas and our natural, scenic and productive landscapes.

• Land in the ShapingSEQ Urban Footprint is used efficiently to accommodate expected population and employment growth to 2041 or beyond.
• New employment land outside the ShapingSEQ Urban Footprint may be considered, where necessary, to achieve Moreton Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy outcomes and where such land is not reasonably available within the Urban Footprint.
• In considering any support for expansion of the Urban Footprint for urban residential purposes, Council will consider:
  • achievement of the Urban Footprint principles and general policy directions of ShapingSEQ; and
  • whether such an expansion would materially affect the delivery of housing in well serviced locations within the region; and
  • whether development would result in an orderly and logical expansion to an existing urban area; and
  • whether development would result in protection of significant environmental values and avoidance of natural hazards; and
  • the coordinated, efficient and cost-effective provision of infrastructure; and
  • the delivery of sustainable ‘complete communities’ with a diversity of housing choices, community facilities and access to goods and services that meets the daily needs of residents now and into the future.
• Urban development retains and connects waterways and natural areas of national, state and local environmental significance.
• The inter-urban break between Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast (identified in ShapingSEQ) provides a level of protection from urban development within our region’s National Parks and state forests, and elsewhere supports appropriate environmental, rural, tourism and community use opportunities.