Qld’s fastest growing city hires 48 new staff for building approvals

Queensland’s fastest growing city, Logan, is seeing such huge housing demand that it’s hiring 48 new development approvals staff to cut red tape and get people into new homes faster.

Logan mayor Jon Raven, who’s been in the top job for four months after two years as deputy, expects the move to ease some of the pressure of having the highest rate of internal migration of any council in the country.

“Logan is really doing the heavy lifting when it comes to delivering new homes for Queenslanders,” he said. “We’re essentially helping the state to build its way out of the housing crisis. We’ve consistently met the housing targets set for us by the Queensland government.”

The Logan City Council has a huge workplace to get more homes ready across one of the fastest growing spots on the eastern seaboard.

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He said the new development assessment staff would help “streamline building approvals and make sure that it’s easier for people to build new homes”.

“We’re seeing so much growth and the challenge is if you don’t have adequate staffing levels, it takes longer to process development applications and building approvals.”

Mr Raven said the delays in houses being built was a struggle all over South East Queensland.

“There are actually 60,000 approved lots that aren’t being built at the moment in SEQ. The choke point isn’t local government, we’re doing our best to make sure that lots are approved. The question is why isn’t it getting built? Some of that is construction, some are land banking and there are people sitting on old approvals that probably aren’t fit for purpose anymore in the current market.”

“I’d love to see a way that we could rejuvenate some of those approvals and really focus them in a way that gets people building instead of just sitting on land to try and make a profit.”

Much like Brisbane and the Gold Coast, units and apartments close to already set up amenities are expected to play a crucial role in meeting future housing needs. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England.

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Mr Raven said Logan had a new planning scheme that would come into force next year.

“It really focuses on not just delivering detached dwellings and that classic home with the backyard in the new greenfield parts of our city but it also brings online new products – terraced housing, townhouses and units that will be near our public transport corridors and our existing centres and economic hubs. So people can choose the kind of lifestyle that they want.”

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He said it would ensure residents “who want a more affordable option get to have it near our already built up areas around public transport”.

Along with Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Weipa, Logan has one of the highest population densities in the state – with estimated residents at almost 380,000 earlier this year.

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