What is trunk infrastructure in Queensland planning?

Trunk infrastructure is the shared, network-level infrastructure each Queensland council plans, builds and maintains to serve multiple developments. The five categories under the Planning Act 2016:

1. Water supply — trunk mains, treatment plants, reservoirs. 2. Sewerage — trunk pipes, pump stations, treatment plants. 3. Stormwater — trunk drainage, detention basins. 4. Transport — arterial road, intersection upgrades, public transport infrastructure. 5. Parks and community land — district-scale parks, playing fields, community facilities.

Infrastructure charges (the headworks levy on every new lot or dwelling) are the council's mechanism for recovering the cost of trunk infrastructure expansion. The charge is set per the council's adopted Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP).

Non-trunk infrastructure is everything else — the local-scale works that serve only your specific development. Examples: - Internal roads, driveways, footpaths within your subdivision. - Service connections from the trunk main to each new lot (water, sewer, electricity). - Stormwater detention specific to your site. - Local parks if part of a master-planned community.

Cost responsibility split: - Trunk: paid via the Infrastructure Charges Notice (ICN) at DA approval. - Non-trunk: built by the developer at operational works stage.

You can sometimes negotiate an infrastructure agreement where you build trunk infrastructure as part of the project, with the cost offset against your headworks. This works on larger subdivisions but rarely on small developer projects.