planning · Toowoomba Regional Council
Granny flats face half-rate infrastructure charge under Toowoomba proposal
Proposed Charges Resolution No. 8 would lift prescribed infrastructure-charge amounts by about 3.7 per cent and apply half the relevant residential charge to eligible secondary dwellings.
Toowoomba homeowners adding eligible secondary dwellings, including granny flats, would face a new infrastructure charge under a proposed resolution that lifts prescribed amounts by about 3.7 per cent.
The Planning and Development Committee recommended Toowoomba Regional Council adopt Charges Resolution No. 8, with an intended commencement date of 18 August 2026. Council is scheduled to consider the recommendation at its Ordinary Meeting on that date.
Under the proposal, a secondary dwelling would attract 50 per cent of the applicable residential infrastructure charge. A one- or two-bedroom dwelling that is not a secondary dwelling would carry a proposed charge of $27,163.80, up from $26,193.40.
For a dwelling with three or more bedrooms, the proposed charge would be $38,029.25, compared with the current $36,670.70.
Council recorded secondary-dwelling applications increasing from 11 in 2022 to 73 in 2025. Infrastructure charges are attributed across water, wastewater, transport, stormwater, parks and community facilities networks.
The proposed resolution would also apply infrastructure charges to some Ministerial Infrastructure Designations and revise the treatment of credits, offsets, refunds and trunk infrastructure costs. It would replace Charges Resolution No. 7 and revise charges across the council’s urban, township and rural charge areas.
The 3.7 per cent increase reflects updated prescribed amounts under Schedule 16 of the Planning Regulation 2017. The legislation prevents Council from charging above those amounts.
The changes follow an interim amendment to Council’s Local Government Infrastructure Plan. Council said the new resolution would update conversion criteria, clarify trunk infrastructure cost provisions and address legal and administrative issues in the existing resolution.
Council has engaged Novoplan, a software platform for managing infrastructure charges and developer-contribution agreements. Implementation of the new resolution in the platform is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2026.
Reference minutes
Toowoomba Regional Council, Planning and Development Committee, 11 August 2026.
Key facts from the minutes
- The Planning and Development Committee recommended adoption of Charges Resolution No. 8.
- The proposed commencement date is 18 August 2026, subject to Council adoption.
- Prescribed infrastructure-charge amounts would rise by approximately 3.7 per cent.
- Eligible secondary dwellings would attract 50 per cent of the applicable residential charge.
- The proposed charge for a one- or two-bedroom non-secondary dwelling is $27,163.80.
- The proposed charge for a dwelling with three or more bedrooms is $38,029.25.
- Council recorded secondary-dwelling applications rising from 11 in 2022 to 73 in 2025.
Why it matters
- Eligible secondary dwellings would become chargeable at half the relevant residential rate, while prescribed infrastructure-charge amounts would rise by about 3.7 per cent for development across Toowoomba Regional Council’s charge areas.