QLD planning resource · Free plan check

Can I build a service station in Brisbane?

A service station is always assessable development in Brisbane, and the Service Station Code is strict about where one can go — never in a residential zone, and in centre or industry zones only on a major road. Here are the rules, and a free way to test your site.

Fuel retailers, developers and investors assessing a site for a service station in Brisbane — who want to know whether the location and site constraints stack up before committing.

Check your service station site free Free QLD Council Finder

Location is everything (AO1.x)

A service station in Brisbane is assessed under the Service Station Code (9.3.21) and is always assessable development. The code's locational Acceptable Outcomes are unusually firm: a service station is not in a residential-category zone, and not in a Rural or Environmental management zone (unless it's integrated with a motorway service centre). In a centre zone it's only acceptable where the site is on, or a continuation of, a major road; in an industry zone, only where it's on a major road.

That major-road requirement is the constraint that rules out most candidate sites. A back-street corner in a centre zone won't meet the AO; a site with frontage to a major road will.

Always assessable development — a development application is required
Never in a residential-category zone
Not in Rural / Environmental management zones (except motorway-integrated)
Centre zones — only on or continuing a major road
Industry zones — only on a major road
3 m landscaped strip to the frontage, with the building set back ≥ 7 m behind it

Amenity, separation and storage

Because a service station sits next to where people live, the code manages amenity tightly. Building height is capped at 9.5 m where any part of the site is within 150 m of a sensitive zone. The development must be at least 50 m from a sensitive use (like a dwelling or childcare centre) — or, if closer, achieve it through acoustic treatment, a 2 m fence and limiting hours to 6am–8pm.

Fuel storage has limits too: the Acceptable Outcome caps underground Class 3 (flammable liquid) storage at 385,000 litres and LPG at 16 m³. Larger volumes are possible but push the proposal into performance assessment.

Building height ≤ 9.5 m within 150 m of a sensitive zone
≥ 50 m from a sensitive use, or acoustic treatment + 2 m fence + hours 6am–8pm
Underground Class 3 storage ≤ 385,000 L; LPG ≤ 16 m³
3 m frontage landscape strip; building ≥ 7 m behind it
Driveways, queuing and tanker access to the transport code

Check your site against the rules — free

Looking at a site? Our free Brisbane plan compliance check reads your site details and tests them against the Service Station Code Acceptable Outcomes — zone, major-road frontage, setbacks, separation and height — and flags what's clear and what needs a performance case. No login, no charge.

For the full written assessment a council expects with a service station DA, the QLD planning report covers the use, the code response and the supporting analysis.

Real example

Worked example

A corner site in an industry zone with frontage to a major road, 60 m from the nearest dwelling, a 3 m landscape strip and a 9 m canopy, meets the Service Station Code AOs as a code-assessable DA. The same use on a centre-zone back street, 30 m from housing, fails the locational and separation AOs and becomes a difficult performance case.

The statutory basis

Service stations in Brisbane are assessed under the Brisbane City Plan 2014 Service Station Code (section 9.3.21), made under the Planning Act 2016, together with the relevant zone code. 'Service station' is a defined use in the Planning Regulation 2017. The locational, setback, separation, height and storage figures are the code's Acceptable Outcomes; a neighbourhood plan or overlay can vary them, so always confirm the controls for your specific site.

Brisbane City Plan 2014 — Service Station Code

Section 9.3.21 (AO1.x, AO2, AO9, AO10)

Planning Act 2016 (Qld)

Categories of development & assessment

Planning Regulation 2017 (Qld)