Types of land tenure
Roads
A road under the Land Act 1994 is defined as an area of land, whether surveyed or unsurveyed:
- dedicated, notified or declared to be a road for public use, or
- taken under an Act for the purpose of a road for public use.
The term includes:
- a street, esplanade, reserve for esplanade, highway, pathway, thoroughfare, track or stock route
- a bridge, causeway, culvert or other works in, on, over or under a road
- any part of a road.
Examples of Acts a road may be taken under are the Acquisition of Land Act 1967 and the Transport Planning and Coordination Act 1994.
A road encompasses not only the area covered by the actual road formation (carriageway) but the entire area of land set apart for road purposes, from property boundary to property boundary. (It does not matter whether a constructed carriageway exists.)
Not all roads are used by vehicles or pedestrians, and some may never be.
An activity may not be undertaken on a road if it substantially interferes with the purpose for which the land was dedicated unless this has been authorised under an Act.
While the ownership of the road rests with the State, the management, control and regulation of most roads lies with the relevant local government in terms of the Local Government Act 2009 (or for the Brisbane City Council under the City of Brisbane Act 2010).
However, if a road is a State-controlled road under the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 its management and control rests with the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
Local governments and the Department of Transport and Main Roads therefore may respectively authorise various uses of roads.
If the department is to grant a tenure under the Land Act 1994 other than a permit to occupy over a road, the road must first be closed—temporarily for the issue of a road licence, or permanently if it is intended to grant a lease or freehold title.
In this guide:
- Previous ( https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/state/use/tenure/reserves )