Ipswich in Spring - 2025

Ipswich CITY PLAN

2025 Thinking about a second dwelling on your property? To help meet the growing demand for diverse and affordable housing, council introduced new opportunities on 1 July 2025, to encourage Secondary Dwellings and Dual Occupancies in established suburban residential areas. These housing options offer flexible living arrangements that can support extended families, provide rental opportunities or simply make use of underutilised residential land. To make it easier for the community, council has removed the requirement for planning approval in most instances where a Secondary Dwelling or Dual Occupancy is proposed. This allows more people to call Ipswich home whilst protecting what we value about our established suburbs.

Your options: A Secondary Dwelling is a smaller dwelling on the same lot as a primary dwelling (e.g. a granny flat). Any person/s can occupy the Secondary Dwelling. It cannot be separately titled. A Dual Occupancy means two dwellings on one lot, with no requirement for one to be subordinate to the other. They may be attached (e.g. a duplex) or detached, and can be strata titled. The new Ipswich City Plan 2025 allows a generous approach to the size of a second dwelling based on the size of the property. Refer to the table below for the Gross Floor Area (GFA) allowable, without a planning approval.

Dual Occupancy Dwelling (GFA m 2 )

Secondary Dwelling (GFA m 2 )

Lot size (m 2 )

> 450–600 > 600–800

60 90

–

120 150

> 800

120

There are a number of requirements that need to be met, such as setbacks, building heights and car parking. Building and plumbing approvals are still required for any new building works.

Scan the QR code to find out more, including the full criteria for when planning approval is not required. D wnl a th fac shee

Find out more about how we are shaping the future of our city at Ipswich.qld.gov.au/cityplan