Schomburgk Planning

Chris Schomburgk (Principal)

Chris is principal of the company and has practiced as a town planner for over 34 years, the past 28 years in Queensland.  He has held senior management positions in local government (Mulgrave Shire and Cairns City Council), state government (General Manager of Planning Services for the Queensland government - DLGP), and the private sector (Schomburgk and Partners, C&B Group, Schomburgk Planning).

As GM for Planning Services for DLGP from 1997-99, he was responsible for finalising and implementing the Integrated Planning Act.  He also represented the Minister on numerous Committees and Task Forces on planning matters.  During that time he was appointed as the inaugural Chair of the national Development Assessment Forum (DAF) and was Chair of the national Planning Officials Group.  He chaired the PIA (then RAPI) group that prepared the Guide to Performance Based Residential Codes on behalf of the Commonwealth government, and was a member of the consultant team that prepared AMCORD 95.  He has also provided advice to the ACT government on their recent review of planning legislation. 

Chris is a past Qld president of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and has represented UDIA National on DAF.  He is a General Referee for the Qld Building and Development Tribunal and is a Commissioner for the Qld Local Government Review Commission.  From 2005 to 2008 he was a Panel member of the Local Government Code of Conduct Review Panels for SEQ and Qld state.

He is currently a Panel member of the Qld Iconic Places Development Assessment Panels for the Douglas and Livingstone areas.  He is also a member of:

  • Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA - including 6 years on the State Executive and now on the Sunshine Coast Committee, and a Distinguished Service Award 2005)
  • Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) (Fellow)
  • Qld Environmental Law Association (QELA)
  • American Planning Association (APA)
  • International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISoCaRP).

He has lectured in town planning at TAFE Colleges (Nambour and Maryborough), James Cook University (Cairns) and QUT (Brisbane).    He has presented papers to local, state, national and international conferences on a range of planning and housing topics.