About our planning system

What is the planning system?

The Tasmanian planning system is part of the Resource Management and Planning System (RMPS): a frame work of legislation, policy and regulation. Governments, industry, community groups and individuals use these together to shape their communities.

The RMPS gives high-level goals for the sustainable use and development of Tasmania’s natural and physical resources, and for public participation in planning.

The legal part of the RMPS framework is mostly in the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993 (LUPAA). However, there are other acts too, like the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 and other planning and environment laws that are part of the framework. Please see the diagram below.

The planning system is split into land use planning and development control. Land use planning is a collective agreement on what land uses can be located where, based on thinking about community needs, and environmental protection. It also needs to balance short term needs with long term needs. It is usually done at a local government level for their town planning scheme.

Land use planning can also be done at bigger scales than a local government area, such as regions or landscape level. Where this has been done, plans at a smaller scale must conform to the bigger area plan.

Once the main land uses have been decided, development control adds the detail. For example, in residential areas, development controls sets things like:

• how big a block of land is
• the height of the houses, and
• and how far they should be set back from the street.

Together, land use planning and development control try to strike a balance between lots of competing issues like environmental protection, economic prosperity, social and community needs.

It aims to achieve a balance between the public good and private enterprise, while protecting the environment and our quality of life.

Watch this short video for more about information about urban and regional planning (PIA)

Why do we have a planning system?

Planning decisions affect everyday life and the environment. These decisions involve every tier of government and the community, and involve a broad range of issues, such as housing, transport, heritage, environment, tourism, natural hazards and infrastructure.

The planning system has grown over time, to protect human health and solve problems caused by conflicts between different land and resource uses. Over time, people saw the need to have a set of rules that guided how everyone used land and its resources.

This has a very long history – for example in ancient Rome the first sets of laws were written down in 449 before the common era (BCE). They included what to do if your neighbour flooded your land, and how to share water when it was scarce. Later in the second century BCE they made rules to protect how public rivers were used, including shipping, and how much water any one person could take. Much later in 1306 King Edward 1 of England banned burning coal. This is widely agreed to be the first environmental law in England.

Planning provides a way for us to decide how we want our society, settlements, infrastructure and landscapes to look and function.

Land use planning decides the future of the places where we live, work and play, by establishing a framework for decision making, including:

• making policies
• developing regional and local plans
• applying development control through planning schemes.