No approval needed. A house driveway in Toowoomba starts as accepted development, and so do dual occupancies, bed and breakfast accommodation and home-based businesses.
Then comes the list that takes it back. Checked 15 August 2026 against the council's Driveways page.
The distances that cancel accepted development
In a residential urban area, accepted development holds as long as the driveway is none of these:
| Situation | Distance |
|---|---|
| Road intersection with traffic signals | Within 25 m |
| Intersection in a commercial or industrial area, no signals | Within 20 m |
| Intersection in a community, residential or rural area, no signals | Within 10 m |
| Any infrastructure — signage, poles, street lights, manholes, gully pits, council assets | Within 1 m |
| Tree Protection Zone, as defined by AS 4970 | Within the zone |
A second access is excluded too, as is a crossover to a road with bluestone kerbing.
Concrete, square to the road, and nothing moved
An accepted residential crossover must also:
- Not require changing, moving or removing existing infrastructure: street trees, fire hydrants, water meters, manholes or gully pits
- Not sit next to a traffic island, speed control device, car parking bay, bus stop or other structure in the roadway
- Not require changes to existing kerbing or those structures in the road reserve
- Not require changes to existing footpath or verge profiles, including table drains
- Not be restricted by an access restriction strip or link reserve
- Not access an unformed road, or a road without kerb
- Be constructed from reinforced concrete, and be perpendicular to the road edge
The frontage numbers, and the 10 m ambiguity
A driveway is outside accepted development on a frontage of 10 m or less. So is one over 4 m wide on a frontage of 10 m to 20 m, or over 6 m wide on a frontage over 20 m.
The one council here that names AS 2890.1
Driveways in a residential urban area must be in line with:
- AS 2890.1 (Off Street Car Parking) and AS 2890.2 where relevant
- IPWEA Standard Drawing RSD-100-101 (Vehicle Crossing, Residential Driveways)
- AS 4970 (Protection of Trees on Development Sites)
RSD-100 and RSD-101 are the IPWEA vehicle crossing drawings that appear elsewhere as RS-049 and RS-050. The profile is in the Gold Coast article.
Naming AS 2890.1 outright settles which document applies, and you'll need a current copy of the standard, not a summary.
Disclaimer
General information, not advice. Summarised from Toowoomba Regional Council's published Driveways page as at 15 August 2026, not reproduced, and it does not reproduce AS 2890.1 or AS 4970, which are copyright to Standards Australia. Accepted development conditions change and individual sites may differ. Confirm current requirements with Toowoomba Regional Council before designing or building.
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