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Sunshine Coast Council is committed to providing you with excellent customer service and efficient processes for any point of your development journey.  Our services are consistent and accessible providing positive experiences for our customers and value to our community.  

We do this through:  

  • Providing responsive products and services for our customers and Council.
  • Ensuring a high performance work environment where our staff feel empowered and respected with the skills to perform at their best.
  • Encouraging continuous business improvement to focus on highly effective and efficient services.
  • Building positive partnerships with our customers by working together to achieve great outcomes.
  • Contributing towards the economic prosperity of the region.

We welcome your applications, questions, and feedback, and are here to help uncomplicate the complicated, make connections and find a pathway of answers.

Our customer service commitment outlines what you can expect when engaging with us.

Our purpose and values

Our branch's purpose is to facilitate sustainable development outcomes for the liveability and prosperity of the region.

CARERESPECTTRUSTCURIOUSCONNECTED
We care for people and placeWe respect everyoneWe trust and empowerWe explore possibilitiesWe are better together

 Development Services Branch, as part of Sunshine Coast Council, aims to serve our community with excellence, respect our past, and position our region for the future.

What we will do for you

Uncomplicate the complicated
  • Provide you with access to information to understand any related process.
  • Provide up-to-date information to assist you with an application or enquiry.
  • Ensure our interactions and responses are clear, accurate, fair, and timely.
  • Follow legislation and performance standards when undertaking our work to provide certainty and clarification of processes and   timeframes.
  • Provide clear information and advice ensuring our actions and processes deliver consistent outcomes.
  • Ensure consistent, high quality, and professional feedback which is reasonable and relevant.
Make connections
  • Engage with you regularly via email, phone, or meeting to address concerns, when required.
  • Conduct ourselves ethically, professionally, and cooperatively in our communication with you.
  • Encourage and engage with you on new and innovative ways of improving Council’s services.
  • Keep you informed of any changes or updates to an application or enquiry.
  • Build strong partnerships with you to understand your needs and solve issues to achieve a positive outcome.
  • Ensure strong partnerships with Council’s internal partners to provide you with an integrated seamless experience.
Pathway of answers
  • Assign a council officer to an application or enquiry to be the main contact throughout the process.
  • Ensure our staff have the required capability to assess or answer your enquiry in a timely manner.
  • Be proactive in putting forward alternative approaches to facilitate an agreed resolution for you and Council.
  • Assist in finding answers and resources available for you with other associated entities.

Our Service Standards

We aim to ensure our products and services are delivered on time while still achieving desired development outcomes. When partnering with us, you can expect our services to be managed following the relevant legislative requirements and guided by the timeframes outlined below.

Customer acknowledgement 
  • Enquiry or application acknowledged within 2 days.  
Development advice 
  • Development advice enquiries response within 10 days. 
  • Pre-lodgement meeting held within 15 days of request
  • Pre-lodgement meeting notes issued within 2 days of meeting date. 
Property searches 
  • Search returned within 15 days.  
Planning applications 
  • Priority Residential Assessment applications decided within 10 days (when decision ready*). 
  • Code assessment decided within 3 months. 
  • Impact assessment decided within 6 months. 
Engineering and environment specialist applications 
  • Operational Work application decided within 3 months. 
Building applications 
  • Concurrence agency referral decided within 10 days.
Plumbing applications 
  • FastTrack decided within 2 days. 
  • Standard decided within 10 days. 
  • Final Inspection certificate issued within 2 days of inspection.  
Plan sealing applications 
  • Plan sealing application processed within 20 days. 
  • Bond released within 10 days. 
Planning and Development Certificates 
  • Limited processed within 5 days. 
  • Standard processed within 10 days. 
  • Full processed within 30 days.  
Development, building and plumbing complaints
  • Complaints relating to development, building and plumbing compliance acknowledged within 2 business days.

Note: all timeframes are business days and applicable from lodgement unless otherwise stated.

* Decision ready means after Council has confirmed that there is no information required, where the applicant has provided a satisfactory response to an information request, or where a final response has been received from a State Agency Referral and the application has entered the Decision Part.

What we ask of you

You can help us deliver the best service to you by:

  • Treating our staff with courtesy and respect.
  • Taking responsibility for coordinating high-quality and professional information to assist us in our response.
  • Taking the time to visit our website, review our guidance material, understand our requirements and use the services available to get the right information.
  • Advise council when there are changes to your application or enquiry.
  • Provide all relevant information to enable council to undertake a meaningful assessment or investigation and provide the necessary advice back to you.
  • Maintain open two-way communication to support a smooth assessment or investigation process.
  • Provide constructive feedback and recognition to Council’s staff on the service received.
  • Providing us with constructive feedback and innovative ideas about how we can improve.

Our resolution process

We want to work with you to ensure a productive experience, but we understand processes can sometimes be complex. We therefore have open and transparent liaison processes.

Level 1Level 2 EscalationLevel 3 EscalationLevel 4 Escalation
Project Manager / Inspector / Compliance OfficerProject Director / Senior / PrincipalTeam Leader /  CoordinatorBranch Manager

If you have any issues, you can raise them at any time with the Project Manager, Inspector or Compliance officer directly allocated to the assessment of your application or compliance matter.

This officer is your first point of contact and is best placed to manage and respond to any issues.

If you do not receive a satisfactory resolution, you may ask for the matter to be referred to the nominated supervisor, being the Project Director/Senior or Principal.

The Project Director, Senior or Principal is responsible for providing technical support and guidance to the Project Manager, Inspector or Compliance officer.

If you continue to have concerns, you may request that the matter be referred to the Team Leader or Coordinator.

The Team Leader or Coordinator is responsible for managing and resolving complex matters in the team.

 

If you are not satisfied with the proposed resolution of your issue, you may request that the issue be escalated to the Branch Manager.

The Branch Manager is responsible for managing and leading staff to achieve the Branch's purpose and goals, including achieving Branch service standards and performance targets.

Find more information to guide your application process.

For more information please contact council's development services.

Our Development.i portal is an easy way to stay informed of all development applications in the Sunshine Coast local government area.

Feedback

We appreciate and value all feedback. If you would like to provide feedback, please get in touch with us and share your experience.  You can contact us via:

 Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07 5475 7272

Council is committed to ensuring accessibility for everyone, please contact us if you require assistance on this page.