---
title: "Council Planner vs Private Town Planner in Brisbane"
description: "What a Brisbane City Council planning officer will and will not do, how to get council planning advice, and when a private town planner is the right call."
canonical: "https://townplannerbne.com.au/council-town-planner-vs-private-town-planner/"
last_updated: 2026-09-04
---

# Council Planner vs Private Town Planner in Brisbane | Town Planner Brisbane

Brisbane City Council will answer planning questions for free. A private town planner charges for the same general subject. The two are not doing the same job, even when the conversation looks similar.

## What a Council Planning Officer Does

Council's own [Getting expert advice](https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-and-building/applying-and-post-approval/how-to-get-advice/getting-expert-advice) page states council offers "a range of pre-lodgement services, including advice over the phone and in person," and separately runs free "Talk to a Planner" sessions. That advice is a legitimate first step for a straightforward question: what zone applies, whether an overlay affects a site, or what category of assessment a use falls into.

## How to Get Council Planning Advice

Go directly through council's own [Getting expert advice](https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-and-building/applying-and-post-approval/how-to-get-advice/getting-expert-advice) page to request a call back or book a Talk to a Planner session, rather than a number printed elsewhere that can go out of date.

## What Council Will Not Do

A council planning officer is part of the body that decides your application — the assessment manager, in Planning Act 2016 terms. They will explain the controls that apply to your site, but they will not build your case for you, negotiate on your behalf, prepare and lodge the application, or guarantee an outcome in advance.

## What a Private Town Planner Does

A private planner works for you, not for council: testing a concept against current City Plan provisions before design fees are spent, preparing and lodging the development application, coordinating survey, engineering and other specialist reports, responding to council's information requests, and negotiating conditions where there's room to.

## Which You Need, by Situation

| Situation | Start with |
| --- | --- |
| "What zone is my property?" | Check City Plan online yourself, or ask council directly. |
| "Does an overlay affect my block?" | Same — a straightforward lookup question. |
| "Will my specific concept be approved?" | A private planner — needs a judgement call council can't make before an application exists. |
| "I need to lodge a development application." | A private planner — council assesses applications, it doesn't prepare them. |
| "Council has asked for more information." | A private planner, especially where the request touches design or an ambiguous provision. |

## Cost and Time, Honestly

A fixed fee or guaranteed timeframe would be misleading before a specific site and project are known. Council's own advice genuinely costs nothing and is worth using for lookup questions; a private planner's fee buys work council structurally cannot do.

Related: [PD Online is now Development.i](https://townplannerbne.com.au/pd-online-brisbane/) for application history, and [how to read Brisbane City Plan](https://townplannerbne.com.au/brisbane-city-plan-explained/) for zoning and overlays. When the work moves to an application, see [development management](https://townplannerbne.com.au/development-manager/).

## Sitemap

- [Town Planner Brisbane sitemap](https://townplannerbne.com.au/sitemap.md)