Somerset Planning Scheme 2026: Koala Habitat and Clearing Changes
Version 5.0 has applied to every Somerset application since 4 June 2026
Adopted 20 May 2026 after consultation from 4 November to 5 December 2025. A request to be assessed under the previous version can be made for one year from 4 June 2026 under section 29 of the Planning Act 2016.
If your land in the Somerset region is mapped on the Biodiversity overlay, the Biodiversity overlay - Wetlands map, or inside a watercourse buffer on the Catchment management overlay, clearing native vegetation there may need Council approval under the Somerset Region Planning Scheme unless it fits the new definition of locally accepted vegetation clearing, and a house, shed, subdivision or works on that part of the lot may be assessed against the Biodiversity overlay code. Version 5.0 of the scheme has applied to every application made since 4 June 2026. It removed Council’s own koala habitat map and the koala measures from the code, rewrote the clearing exemptions, and redrafted the tables that decide when the Biodiversity overlay code applies near watercourses.
Koala habitat in Somerset is now handled entirely by the State under the Planning Regulation 2017, which is where it has legally sat since 2020; Version 5.0 took the local koala provisions out of the document to match. For the koala part, that reads as less Council regulation, and it is; the State’s koala rules are untouched. The catch sits in the clearing rules: the new definition measures exemptions in metres from buildings, fences and access ways, where the old one gave area allowances of 1,000 m2 and 5,000 m2, so a clearing check done under Version 4.2 can give the wrong answer today.
Does Version 5.0 change anything for your block?
Work down this table and stop at the first row that clears you. The mapping to use is Council’s Version 5.0 overlay mapping, available through somerset.qld.gov.au/planning-scheme, and the map names matter: the scheme calls them the OM003A Biodiversity overlay map, the OM003B Biodiversity overlay map - Wetlands, and the OM005 Catchment management overlay map.
Three questions, in order
Somerset Region Planning Scheme Version 5.0, Tables 5.9.3 and 5.9.5 and Schedule 1. State and Commonwealth layers are a separate check whatever the answer here.
| Question | If no | If yes |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Is any part of the lot mapped on OM003A (biodiversity corridor, protected area, wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation or legally secured offset area), on OM003B (wetland or wetland buffer), or inside a waterbody or watercourse buffer on OM005? | Council’s Biodiversity overlay code is off the table for this lot. The State koala habitat area mapping, the regulated vegetation map and MSES still need their own check. | Go to question 2. |
| 2. Is the work clearing only, and does all of it fit the Schedule 1 definition of locally accepted vegetation clearing (set out below)? | Go to question 3. | The scheme asks for no Council approval for that clearing. The Planning Regulation 2017 and the State’s vegetation and koala laws are a separate check on the same trees. |
| 3. Are you proposing a material change of use, a subdivision, or operational work on the mapped part of the lot? | The overlay tables apply to development, so with no use, subdivision or works proposed the mapping on its own asks nothing of you. | Depending on the development proposed, Table 5.9.3 or 5.9.5 may make it accepted development subject to requirements, or code assessable against the Biodiversity overlay code, usually with an Ecological Site Assessment under Planning Scheme Policy 1. |
Two mapping facts from Council’s own information sheets help with question 1. Council did not change the Biodiversity overlay map or the Wetlands map in this amendment, so a lot mapped under Version 4.2 is mapped the same way now. The Catchment management overlay map was updated to carry the State’s latest MSES watercourse mapping, including stream order 1 and 2 watercourses (the smallest channels, high in the catchment), so a creek line that was absent from the old map can appear on the new one, although Council notes the scheme sets no setbacks for stream orders 1 and 2.
What happened to the koala habitat requirements
Version 4.2 carried a Biodiversity overlay - Koala conservation map (sheets OM003c and OM003d) showing bushland koala habitat in primary and secondary habitat areas, and five koala performance outcomes in the Biodiversity overlay code, PO14 to PO18. They covered setbacks and layout, construction practices, fencing with 300 millimetre gaps so koalas could pass, road design near habitat, and landscaping with koala habitat trees. A material change of use on mapped bushland koala habitat became code assessable if it fell short of those acceptable outcomes.
Version 5.0 removed the map and all five outcomes. Council’s Koala habitat information sheet gives the reason: in 2020 the Queensland Government made koalas a matter of State environmental significance with its own South East Queensland koala habitat mapping under the Planning Regulation 2017, and from that point Council’s koala provisions were, in the sheet’s words, “taken to have no effect”. The amendment brings the printed scheme into line with what has applied on the ground for six years. Koalas still appear in the code’s purpose, which says koalas and other significant species are appropriately protected and that development minimises adverse impacts on koalas and koala habitat, so an Ecological Site Assessment on a mapped lot will still record koala habitat trees and koala use, but the old setback, fencing and road rules are gone.
Koala habitat in the Somerset scheme, before and after 4 June 2026
Sources: Version 4.2 (17 December 2021) and Version 5.0 (4 June 2026) of the Somerset Region Planning Scheme, and Council’s Biodiversity overlay - Koala habitat information sheet.
| Item | Version 4.2 | Version 5.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Council koala map | OM003c-d Biodiversity overlay - Koala conservation: bushland koala habitat, primary and secondary habitat areas | Removed. Council cites inconsistency with the Koala Habitat in SEQ maps prescribed by the Planning Regulation 2017 |
| Koala outcomes in the Biodiversity overlay code | PO14 to PO18: layout and setbacks, construction, fencing, roads, landscaping | None. Koalas remain in the code’s purpose and overall outcomes only |
| Which mapping decides whether clearing is assessable | State koala habitat area mapping (since 7 February 2020); Council’s provisions taken to have no effect | State koala habitat area mapping under the Planning Regulation 2017 |
| Who assesses and enforces | SARA assesses assessable clearing; DETSI enforces clearing without a permit; Council enforces prohibited clearing | Unchanged |
Somerset is one of the local governments listed as the SEQ region in Schedule 1 of the Planning Regulation 2017, so the State’s koala habitat area and koala priority area provisions apply across the region. Where a lot carries a mapped koala habitat area, clearing native vegetation there may be assessable development assessed by the State Assessment and Referral Agency against State code 25, and a koala habitat assessment is the report that usually goes with it. Our earlier post on SDAP State code 25 in South East Queensland explains the State side. Where an approval carries koala conditions, a koala management plan is the document that discharges them.
Council’s koala map is gone; the State’s koala map decides. The State’s koala habitat area mapping under the Planning Regulation 2017 is what decides whether clearing on your lot is assessable, exactly as it has since 2020. A lot in Fernvale or Kilcoy that was outside Council’s old koala map can still sit inside the State’s.
The clearing exemptions were rewritten as “locally accepted vegetation clearing”
Under Version 4.2 the exemptions sat inside the definition of minor operational works: outside the mapped constraint areas, clearing was exempt up to 1,000 m2 if ancillary to an existing house, up to 5,000 m2 if ancillary to an existing rural activity, or under a development approval on a lot smaller than 5 hectares. Version 5.0 replaces all of that with a single defined term in Schedule 1, and Council’s Vegetation clearing information sheet says the new wording was written to align with the State’s vegetation legislation and with similar rural councils in South East Queensland.
The shape of the new definition matters more than any one figure in it. Clearing vegetation that is non-native counts as locally accepted anywhere in the region. Native vegetation can be cleared as locally accepted clearing if the trees stand outside five mapped areas: protected areas, wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation and legally secured offset areas on OM003A; wetland buffer areas on OM003B; waterbody and watercourse buffer areas on OM005; landslide hazard areas on OM010; and high scenic amenity areas and scenic route sections on OM012. Inside those areas, only the listed exemptions apply, and every one of them is measured as a distance.
Old allowance, new allowance
Version 4.2 Schedule 1 “minor operational works” against Version 5.0 Schedule 1 “locally accepted vegetation clearing”. Distances are as printed in the adopted definition.
| Situation | Version 4.2 | Version 5.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Shed, tank or other structure beside an existing house | Up to 1,000 m2 of clearing, if ancillary to the dwelling house and outside the constraint areas | Native vegetation within 20 m of an existing or approved class 1 building (a house), or within 10 m of an existing or approved class 10 building or structure (a shed, garage, carport or fence) |
| Infrastructure for an existing farm | Up to 5,000 m2 of clearing, if ancillary to the rural activity and outside the constraint areas | Within 10 m of existing rural infrastructure such as buildings, helipads, stockyards, watering facilities and constructed drains, in the Rural zone |
| Access track | No specific item | A necessary access way up to 6 m in total width |
| Boundary and internal fencing on a farm | No specific item | Up to 5 m either side of a fence needed for a rural activity in the Rural zone; an unbuilt fence has to go up within 2 months of the clearing |
| Utility service corridor | No specific item | Up to 5 m total width from the centre line of the corridor |
| Firebreaks and fire management lines | Essential or routine management as defined by the Planning Regulation 2017 | Necessary firebreaks or fire management lines in accordance with the Planning Regulation |
| Dangerous tree | No specific item | Within 10 m of infrastructure or buildings where needed to remove an imminent risk of serious injury or damage, with replacement native planting on the site |
| Clearing under a house or subdivision approval on a lot under 5 ha | Exempt | No equivalent item. Council’s sheet says clearing associated with a house or subdivision application is assessed as part of that application |
The area allowances are gone, so a shed pad that once fitted inside 1,000 m2 of clearing beside a house is now measured as 20 metres from the house or 10 metres from a class 10 building or structure. If the pad sits in wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation or a watercourse buffer and needs more room than that, the clearing may be an operational works application under Table 5.9.3, with an Ecological Site Assessment attached.
The full Schedule 1 definition of locally accepted vegetation clearing
Locally accepted vegetation clearing means the following:
(a) clearing of non-native vegetation; or
(b) clearing of native vegetation if not located within any of the following: protected areas, wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation, or legally secured offset areas on OM003A Biodiversity overlay map; wetland buffer area on OM003B Biodiversity overlay map - Wetlands; waterbody or watercourse buffer area on OM005 Catchment management overlay map; landslide hazard area on OM010 Landslide hazard overlay map; high scenic amenity area or scenic route section on OM012 Scenic amenity overlay map; or
(c) clearing of native vegetation within any area mentioned in (b) if: (i) for the establishment of necessary firebreaks or fire management lines where in accordance with the Planning Regulation; or (ii) limited to within 20 metres of an existing or approved class 1 building, or 10 metres of an existing or approved class 10 building or structure; or (iii) for the construction or maintenance of a necessary access way limited to 6 metres in total width; or (iv) on land in a Rural zone to source construction material to repair infrastructure needed to carry out a rural activity on the same land, provided the clearing does not cause land degradation, restoration of a similar type and extent is ensured, and the cleared vegetation does not leave the farm site; or (v) for the construction and maintenance of fencing required to carry out a rural activity on land in the Rural zone, limited to 5 metres either side of the fence (an unbuilt fence is to be constructed within 2 months of the clearing); or (vi) limited to within 10 metres of existing infrastructure in a Rural zone including any buildings, helipads, stockyards, watering facilities and constructed drains other than contour banks; or (vii) for the construction or maintenance of a service corridor for an aboveground or underground utility service, limited to a total width of 5 metres from the centre point of the corridor; or (viii) limited to within 10 metres of existing infrastructure or buildings and necessary to remove or reduce imminent risk of serious personal injury or damage to infrastructure posed by the vegetation, with replacement of the removed vegetation with suitable native vegetation in a suitable location on the site ensured.
The definition closes with two notes: the Planning Regulation must also be considered when deciding whether clearing is accepted development under the Planning Act, and clearing that meets the criteria may still require assessment or approval under State or Federal legislation.
Near a creek, the Catchment management table now sends you to the Biodiversity overlay code
This is the change most likely to catch a rural-residential owner, because the Catchment management overlay used to read as a drinking-water rule. Council’s sheet says Table 5.9.5 was redrafted to confirm that development near a waterbody or watercourse also requires assessment against the Biodiversity overlay code, and the adopted table does exactly that. A material change of use inside a 400 metre buffer to a waterbody or a 100 metre buffer to a watercourse in the higher risk catchment area, or inside a 150 metre or 75 metre buffer in the lower risk catchment area, is accepted development subject to requirements only if it complies with everything in both the Biodiversity overlay code and the Catchment management overlay code; fall short of either and it becomes code assessable against both.
The Biodiversity overlay code then supplies the watercourse rules. Acceptable outcome AO10.1 is no clearing of native vegetation within watercourses or watercourse buffer areas on OM005. Buildings and structures sit back from the top of the high bank by at least 25 metres in the lower risk catchment area and 50 metres in the higher risk catchment area under Table 7.2.3.3.B, and the same distances apply to a new boundary created by a subdivision and to operational works. No stormwater or wastewater is discharged to a watercourse or its buffer. For wetlands mapped on OM003B, the setback for buildings, new boundaries and works is 100 metres. Where a proposal cannot meet those figures, the performance outcome asks for an Ecological Site Assessment and, for discharges, a site-based stormwater management plan, and a waterway and wetland assessment covers the ecological part of that.
What an Ecological Site Assessment involves under Version 5.0
Nearly every performance outcome in the Biodiversity overlay code carries a note that a supporting Ecological Site Assessment is prepared in accordance with Planning Scheme Policy 1, and the policy sets the effort. A basic assessment takes a day or less in the field, without trapping, and applies where the only mapped feature is a biodiversity corridor. A detailed assessment runs over five days and four nights with trapping, sometimes with summer and winter surveys, and applies where the site is mapped as protected area, wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation, legally secured offset area, watercourse or wetland. The policy has the survey cover the whole lot, so the true extent of each feature can be measured at property level, and a detailed assessment that needs a summer survey cannot be finished in July.
For a rural or rural-residential lot mapped as a matter of local environmental significance, PO1 gives a choice between keeping buildings out of the mapped area and clearing nothing beyond locally accepted vegetation clearing, or lodging a report by an appropriately qualified person that shows how the impacts are mitigated, with an environmental offset under the Environmental Offsets Act 2014 for any significant residual impact. An ecological assessment report written to the policy’s contents list answers all of this in one document, and an ecological constraints analysis before design is the cheap way to find out which route you are on. If your proposal sits on the mapped part of the lot, request a quote with the lot on plan and a sketch of what you want to build, and we scope the assessment, basic or detailed, to the features mapped and the season it needs. The full contents list and the MSES and corridor outcomes are set out below.
What the report has to contain, and the MSES and corridor outcomes
Planning Scheme Policy 1 (SC6.2) lists the contents of an Ecological Site Assessment at either level: the author’s qualifications; the trigger, meaning the values mapped for the site on the Biodiversity overlay maps; background desktop assessment; methods of field assessment; a description of habitat values with the regional ecosystems present and lists of flora and fauna known to occur or use the site; site condition and threatening processes such as weeds; species and communities of conservation significance; water and drainage features; the location, alignment and width of regional, local and site corridors; how the proposal responds to the identified values; mitigation and any offset measures; and the likely residual impacts.
For matters of State environmental significance, PO2 expects vegetation clearing to be avoided unless the assessment demonstrates the mapped MSES is absent from the site, or the loss is for community infrastructure, an airport, or extractive resources in a key resource area. AO2.1 and AO2.2 keep buildings and structures out of mapped MSES and limit clearing there to locally accepted vegetation clearing; AO2.3 is the mitigation report route. Within a mapped biodiversity corridor, PO5 asks for cleared or degraded corridor land to be rehabilitated or allowed to regenerate with locally native species, and AO6.1 keeps bands of vegetation at least 200 metres wide free of buildings and structures so fauna can move through the site. In an urban area, PO3 and AO3.1 expect mapped MSES to be dedicated as public open space.
The one-year window: asking Council to assess under Version 4.2
Section 29 of the Planning Act 2016 treats the scheme in effect before an amendment as a superseded planning scheme, so Version 4.2 became one on 4 June 2026. Under section 29(3) a person may make a superseded planning scheme request within one year after the scheme becomes superseded, which for Somerset means a window running from 4 June 2026. Council has discretion whether to agree, and the Act sets out no list of grounds. If Council gives no decision notice within five business days after the decision period ends, it is taken to have agreed. Where Council agrees, or is taken to have agreed, the development application must be lodged within six months of the decision notice or of the day the agreement is deemed, and the assessment manager then assesses it as if Version 4.2 were still in effect.
Superseded planning scheme requests, section 29
Planning Act 2016, reprint current as at 3 September 2026. The form, the fee and the decision period are set by regulation.
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Make the written request to Council | Within 1 year after 4 June 2026 |
| Council decides whether to agree | Within the period prescribed by regulation; deemed agreement if no decision notice follows within 5 business days after that period |
| Lodge the development application, if Council agrees or is taken to have agreed | Within 6 months after the decision notice, or after the day Council is taken to have agreed |
So when would anyone in Somerset actually want Version 4.2 back? Two candidates come out of this amendment, and both sit on the clearing and subdivision side. The first is clearing that fitted the old 1,000 m2 or 5,000 m2 allowance but fails the metre-based definition. Then there is a subdivision whose category of assessment went up, since Council’s 4 June 2026 public notice records that Version 5.0 increases the category of assessment for reconfiguring a lot that fails the minimum lot size in various zones. The koala change runs the other way, because the State provisions applied under both versions and there is nothing in the old koala outcomes a landholder would ask to have back.
Compare the two versions now, not in May 2027. To use section 29 you need to know how both versions treat your lot, and Council keeps Version 4.2 online for reference. Leaving it until the window is about to close, with a survey season already missed, costs more for the same answer.
Where Somerset landholders lose time and money
- Testing the clearing against the Version 4.2 allowances. The 1,000 m2 and 5,000 m2 figures are gone; inside a mapped area the limits are 20 m, 10 m, 6 m and 5 m, and clearing beyond them may need an application.
- Siting the shed pad or house site on mapped wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation or a watercourse buffer. It surfaces at the application, when AO1.1 and AO1.2 are missed and the alternative is a report by an appropriately qualified person; moving the pad at sketch stage is free.
- Reading the creek off an old map. OM005 now carries stream order 1 and 2 watercourses absent from the Version 4.2 map, and Table 5.9.5 sends development near a watercourse to the Biodiversity overlay code.
- Booking a detailed Ecological Site Assessment for the wrong season. Where a summer survey is required, a July start cannot finish, and a missed season costs months.
A constraints check before the design is drawn catches all four, and it is where step 4 below starts.
What to do now
OM003A, OM003B and OM005 decide whether the Biodiversity overlay code is in play. OM005 has new watercourse lines, and the bushfire map OM004 was reprinted, so a map saved from Version 4.2 may mislead you.
Test each area you want to clear against the locally accepted definition: 20 m from the house, 10 m from a shed, 6 m for a track, 5 m either side of a rural fence. Anything wider inside a mapped area may need an application.
Koala habitat areas under the Planning Regulation 2017, the regulated vegetation map re-certified on 3 September 2026, MSES and EPBC matters all sit outside the council scheme and can each stop a job the scheme allows.
Have the two versions compared against your actual proposal, and if the old scheme helps, put the section 29 request to Council well before June 2027. Call (07) 3018 7538 to start with a constraints check.
What this does not change
A council planning scheme is one layer of control among several. Version 5.0 moved things around inside that layer and left every State and Commonwealth control where it was, and this is where we see Somerset landholders spend money in the wrong order: a favourable read of the council overlay, followed by a State trigger nobody looked for.
Questions we are being asked about Version 5.0
Did the Biodiversity overlay map change on 4 June 2026?
No. Council’s Biodiversity overlay information sheet states that the Biodiversity overlay map and the Biodiversity overlay - Wetlands map were not updated in this amendment package, and the Version 5.0 map index lists OM003A and OM003B with the same 5 February 2016 gazettal date and the 2 November 2020 amendment date for OM003A. What changed is the Koala conservation sheets OM003c-d, which were removed, the Catchment management overlay map, which was updated with the State’s MSES watercourse mapping, and the Bushfire hazard overlay map, which was reprinted to correct a production error in the potential impact buffer in the northern part of the region, with the underlying dataset unchanged. Planning scheme policy 5 was also renamed “Bushfire hazard”.
Does Council still consider koalas at all?
Yes, at the level of purpose. Section 7.2.3.2 still says the code exists to ensure koalas and other significant species are appropriately protected and that development minimises adverse impacts on koalas and koala habitat, so a Council planner may still ask about koala habitat on a mapped lot, and an Ecological Site Assessment will still describe koala habitat trees. What Council no longer has is its own koala map or any koala-specific performance outcome to assess against. The assessable clearing question belongs to the State.
Do I need an ecologist to build a shed on a mapped rural lot?
Often no. If the shed and its clearing sit within 10 metres of an existing class 10 building or structure, or within 20 metres of the house, the clearing is locally accepted, and a dwelling house itself had its category of development and assessment decreased in Version 5.0. The shed becomes a question for us when it needs to sit inside mapped wildlife habitat, regulated vegetation or a watercourse buffer beyond those distances, because then AO1.1 and AO1.2 of the Biodiversity overlay code are missed and the alternative acceptable outcome is a report by an appropriately qualified person. A short constraints check before the slab is designed usually settles which route you are on.
Where do I find Version 4.2 now?
Council’s planning scheme page keeps Version 4.2 available for reference, and states that applications received or properly made from 4 June 2026 onwards are assessed against Version 5.0. Version 4.2 matters for two things: an application properly made before 4 June 2026, and a section 29 request to have a new application assessed under it.
What else was in Major Amendment 2?
Most of the package is about housing: the public notice lists decreased categories of assessment for dwelling houses and home-based businesses, an increased category for reconfiguring a lot that fails the minimum lot size, and updated or new use codes for a range of residential, accommodation and small-scale food and brewing uses. Council received nine submissions during consultation. The ecological items above are a small part of the amendment by page count and the part most likely to change what a landholder can do on a mapped lot.
Own or buying land in the Somerset region? Our Somerset ecology team reads the Version 5.0 mapping and the State koala and vegetation layers against your actual proposal, tells you whether the clearing is locally accepted, and scopes the Ecological Site Assessment only if you need one. Request a quote or call (07) 3018 7538.