Assessable development

Assessable development is development that requires a formal planning approval, as opposed to accepted (or exempt) development that needs none. It is the Queensland and South Australian umbrella term for any proposal that has to go through code assessment or impact assessment. Whether a job is assessable is the first planning question to answer.

The systems sort development into categories:

• Accepted development (called exempt development in some states) needs no approval, provided it meets the accepted-development requirements.
• Assessable development needs a development approval, and is then either code assessable (assessed against the codes, usually no public notification) or impact assessable (assessed against the whole scheme, with notification and third-party appeal rights).

The category is set by the zone, the use, and the overlays in the planning scheme, not by the size of the job alone.

For a builder the practical move is to check the category before anything else. If the work is accepted development you can proceed without a development application. If it is assessable, you need approval, and the track (code versus impact) sets the timeline and whether the proposal is notified. Getting this wrong, assuming a job is exempt when it is actually assessable, is a common way to end up with unauthorised building work and an enforcement notice. See the Queensland and South Australian DA processes.

Also known as: Assessable work.

Category: Planning / Assessment.

Related

• Queensland DA process
• South Australia DA process

See also

• Accepted development
• Exempt development
• Code assessable

References

• Queensland DA process (Chalkline) (verified 2026-06-01)

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Last updated: 2026-06-01. Verified: 2026-06-01. Quarterly review for currency.