Logan Plan 2026: What the New Planning Scheme Could Mean for Vegetated Land and Your DA
Logan Plan is moving closer, but its commencement date is still being finalised
Consultation closed 31 October 2025 and drew more than 4,000 submissions. Council is working through them and reviewing the implementation timeline.
Logan is one of the fastest growing local government areas in South East Queensland, and it is replacing the planning scheme that has governed development there since 2015. Council had previously indicated that Logan Plan was expected to commence in late 2026. However, following more than 4,000 public submissions and ongoing work on flood mapping and policy, Council is now reviewing the implementation timeline. The Logan Planning Scheme 2015 remains in effect until the new scheme formally commences.
If you own land in Logan, or you are planning a subdivision, a house on a vegetated lot, or a commercial development, the period before a new scheme commences is the most useful one you will get. This article sets out where Logan Plan is up to, what the current scheme already controls on vegetated land, and the one provision in the Planning Act 2016 that gives you a window after commencement if the new mapping does not suit you.
Where Logan Plan is up to
Council endorsed an updated draft in March 2025 and sent it to the Queensland Government to complete the State interest review. Following the Minister’s approval, Logan Plan went out for public consultation from 1 September to 31 October 2025, supported by more than 50 engagement events across the city. Submissions are closed.
Council is now working through that feedback, and more than 4,000 submissions were received. The updated scheme goes back to Council for endorsement together with a consultation report, and both are then sent to the Queensland Government for review and approval. Council has also signalled that its flood mapping and policy work is likely to affect when Logan Plan can be implemented, and it is reviewing the timeline accordingly. The practical effect is that a firm commencement date is not available yet.
The practical point: the detail of the final scheme is not settled yet, but the direction is settled and the timing is close enough to matter. Work you commission now is useful under either scheme, because the ecology of your land does not change when the mapping does.
What the current Logan scheme already controls
The Logan Planning Scheme 2015 protects environmental values mainly through two overlays. Understanding where your land sits under these is the baseline you need before you can judge whether anything proposed in Logan Plan affects you.
The two overlays that drive ecological assessment in Logan
Logan Planning Scheme 2015. Whether a particular overlay triggers assessment depends on the mapping over your lot and the development you are proposing.
| Overlay | What it protects | What it can mean for you |
|---|---|---|
| Biodiversity Areas Overlay | Wildlife habitat and movement, biodiversity corridors and native vegetation across the city | Depending on the development proposed, the overlay may trigger additional assessment against the Biodiversity Areas Overlay Code, including ecological assessment |
| Waterway Corridors and Wetland Overlay | Waterways, wetlands and their buffers | Setbacks and buffer requirements can shape where building envelopes, lots and infrastructure can go |
Council’s biodiversity mapping was built from a mix of criteria including zone, property size, remnant vegetation, locally significant vegetation, and wetland and waterway buffers. The corridor mapping brings together environmental management and conservation areas, biodiversity corridors and koala corridors.
Two things follow from that. First, the mapping is not simply “where the trees are”, so plenty of owners are surprised to find their lot captured. Second, because the mapping is partly driven by zone and lot size, a change of scheme is exactly the kind of event that can move the boundaries.
The rule most landowners have never heard of
When a planning scheme is replaced, the old one becomes a superseded planning scheme, and the Planning Act 2016 gives you a limited right to ask that your application be assessed under it.
Superseded planning scheme requests, section 29
A written request asking the local government to accept, assess and decide a development application under the scheme that applied before the change.
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Make the superseded planning scheme request | Within 1 year after the scheme becomes superseded |
| Lodge the development application, if Council agrees | Within 6 months of Council agreeing to the request |
Council is not obliged to agree. It has discretion whether to accept the request, so the superseded scheme process should not be treated as a guaranteed way of preserving the old planning rules. It is not a way to avoid assessment. What it does give you is a defined period in which a project scoped under the old mapping can still be pursued, if the change genuinely disadvantages it. That period is measured in months, and it starts running whether or not you are watching.
Worth knowing before commencement, not after: to use the superseded scheme provision sensibly you need to know what your land looks like under the current mapping, and whether the new mapping treats it differently. That comparison is much harder to make in a hurry.
What a new council scheme does not change
This is where we see the most expensive misunderstandings. A council planning scheme is one layer of control. It sits alongside State and Commonwealth regulation that a new local scheme does not touch.
In practice this means a favourable local outcome can still leave a State or Commonwealth trigger in place, and a property that looks unconstrained on a council map can still carry significant regulated vegetation. The two questions are separate and both need answering.
What to do while the scheme is being finalised
Establish your baseline
Get the current overlay position for your lot recorded properly, so you have something concrete to compare the new mapping against when it lands.
Check the State layers too
Regulated vegetation, essential habitat, koala mapping and watercourses are set independently of Council and often matter more.
Decide whether timing changes anything
If a project is close to lodgement, the difference between lodging before or after commencement is worth understanding rather than guessing.
None of that is wasted work if the final scheme turns out to leave your land unchanged. An ecological constraints analysis is about the land, not the version of the document, and it is the same evidence base you would need for a development application under either scheme.
Common questions
Has Logan Plan commenced yet?
No. Public consultation closed on 31 October 2025 and drew more than 4,000 submissions, which Council is still working through. The scheme has to go back to Council for endorsement and then to the Queensland Government for review and approval. Council previously indicated late 2026, but is now reviewing the implementation timeline, partly because of its flood mapping and policy work. Until the new scheme formally commences, the Logan Planning Scheme 2015 continues to apply.
Will the new scheme change the biodiversity mapping over my property?
The final mapping is not settled, so nobody can tell you that with certainty yet. What you can do now is establish exactly how your lot is treated under the current overlays. That way, when the new mapping is published, the comparison takes minutes rather than starting from scratch.
Should I rush a development application in before commencement?
Not on principle. Lodging an application that is not properly supported is a good way to attract an information request and lose months. The useful question is narrower: does the work you are planning depend on mapping that may change, and if so, is the application close enough to lodgement for timing to be a real factor? That is worth answering deliberately rather than assuming either way.
Does a superseded planning scheme request guarantee the old rules apply?
No. It is a request, and the local government decides whether to agree to it. If Council does agree, the development application then has to be lodged within six months. It is a limited safety valve, not an entitlement, and it is one reason to understand your position before a scheme changes rather than after.
My land is vegetated but I am not developing. Does this affect me?
It can. Overlay mapping affects what is assessable if you later want to build, subdivide, or clear, and it can affect what a buyer’s due diligence turns up. If you are considering selling within the next few years, knowing your constraints is worth more than discovering them during a contract. Our guide on buying land with an environmental overlay covers what a purchaser will be looking for.
Own or developing land in Logan? Find out how the current Biodiversity Areas and Waterway Corridors overlays treat your lot, and what the State layers add on top, before the new scheme commences. Request a quote or call (07) 3018 7538. See also our Logan ecological consultant page.