The Developer Contributions Plan determines the amount of financial contributions to be made to Katherine Town Council for developments, as defined in the Planning Act 2005, within the Katherine Municipal Area.

Money paid by the Developer to the Katherine Town Council must be paid into a trust account within the meaning of the Local Government Act. Katherine Town Council must, within a reasonable timeframe, spend this money for the purpose of providing infrastructure in the policy area where the development is situated (Refer Planning Act, Section 72).

The first Developer Contribution Plan was prepared for Katherine Town Council in April 1997, and then reviewed again in July 2000. Since this time a new Planning Act has come into force as of 2005 and a new Planning Scheme was introduced in February 2007. Additionally, the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway cuts through the Katherine region impacting on future developments in certain areas. Coupled with these occurrences the 1% AEP Flood Level was also updated after the 1998 Flood and the 2006 Flood was classified as a 1:25 year event. The Katherine Municipal boundaries were also redefined in January 2008 with land development issues in the Katherine area affected by these changes. Due to these changing circumstances it was considered that an updated Developer Contribution Plan would be appropriate for the Katherine Municipality and on this basis the attached Draft 2008 Developer Contribution Plan has been prepared.

The 2008 Draft Developer Contribution Plan will only take affect after a 28 day public exhibition period, adoption by Katherine Town Council with amendments as required and after publication of a notice in the Northern Territory Gazette (Refer Planning Act 2005, Section 68).

Following is a comparison of the reviewed 2000 Developer Contribution Plan and the Draft 2008 Developer Contribution Plan.

* 2000 revised Plan consisted of 14 Areas, 2008 Draft Plan consists of 15 Areas.