Regional guide · Moreton Bay
What changes when you sell in Moreton Bay
City of Moreton Bay is not the water and sewerage service provider. Unitywater is, servicing the City of Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Noosa Shire Council areas.
Every figure on this page is sourced and dated. Where a figure is not published for this region, the page says so. Last updated 15 September 2026.
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What changes when you sell in Moreton Bay
Your trade waste permit is a Unitywater permit, and it does not transfer
City of Moreton Bay is not the water and sewerage service provider. Unitywater is, servicing the City of Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast Regional Council and Noosa Shire Council areas. So in a sale here the planning approval, the food licence and the local law permits sit with the council, and the trade waste permit sits with a separate statutory entity with its own forms and its own rules.
Unitywater states the position in terms: there are no refunds or part refunds on any permit issued, and permits are not transferable. The process on a change of ownership is set out just as plainly. The outgoing owner completes and submits the cancellation of trade waste permit form. The incoming owner completes and submits the apply for a trade waste permit form, and is then sent an account for the annual permit fee.
The obligation arises under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld), and a permit is required where a business washes or cleans equipment and discharges to sewer, or produces non-domestic liquid waste containing chemicals or residues. That reaches a Redcliffe Parade restaurant, a Narangba manufacturer, a Brendale spray painter, a Caboolture butcher, a Morayfield car wash and a North Lakes commercial laundry alike. There is no transfer mechanism to negotiate and no refund of your unexpired fee, so draft it as a condition precedent in the contract rather than leaving it to the settlement statement.
The food business licence does transfer, for $533.00
City of Moreton Bay issues food business licences under the Food Act 2006 (Qld), and the licence can be transferred on a change of ownership. The 2026-27 change of ownership fee is $533.00, published through the Australian Business Licence and Information Service. That is the number to put in a settlement adjustment schedule for any cafe, restaurant, takeaway, bakery or food manufacturer sale in Caboolture, Redcliffe, North Lakes, Morayfield or Bongaree.
City of Moreton Bay food business licence fees, 2026-27
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Change of ownership, transfer | $533.00 |
| Application and assessment | $704.00 |
| Annual licence, category 1 premises | $856.00 |
| Annual licence, category 1 (large) premises | $1,325.00 |
| Annual licence, category 1B premises | $575.00 |
| Annual licence, category 2 premises | $190.50 |
Fees recorded as 2026-27 in the Australian Business Licence and Information Service record for City of Moreton Bay. Council’s own register of fees could not be retrieved for this research, so these are the published ABLIS figures rather than a council document, and they should be confirmed against council before they go into a contract.
What transfers on sale in the City of Moreton Bay, and what does not
| Approval | Transfers on sale? | Fee, 2026-27 | Issued by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food business licence | Yes | $533.00 | City of Moreton Bay |
| Environmental authority, prescribed environmentally relevant activity | Yes | $143.10 | City of Moreton Bay |
| Footpath dining or commercial goods display | Yes | $174.50 | City of Moreton Bay |
| Trade waste permit | No | New application plus a full annual permit fee | Unitywater |
The cheap approvals transfer. The one that does not transfer is the one attached to the sewer, and it is the one issued by a body that is not the council.
An environmental authority transfers for $143.10
City of Moreton Bay administers environmental authorities for devolved prescribed environmentally relevant activities under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld). You can apply to transfer an authority for a prescribed activity, but an authority for a resource activity cannot be transferred. Fees recorded for 2026-27 are $143.10 to transfer, $1,425.00 for a new application with an aggregate environmental score, $785.00 for one without, $682.00 for annual renewal with an environmental score and $407.50 for a transitional environmental program assessment.
With 1,514 manufacturing businesses in the council area at 30 June 2024 and industrial estates at Narangba and Brendale behind them, this reaches spray painting, metal forming, chemical storage, vehicle workshops and waste handling. An industrial business at Narangba or Brendale will often need the environmental authority, the food or local law permits and a Unitywater trade waste permit at once, and each one behaves differently on sale. Map all three before you go to contract.
There are four planning instruments here, not one
The MBRC Planning Scheme commenced on 1 February 2016 and is still published under the old Moreton Bay Regional Council initials. Over parts of the council area, other instruments apply instead. The Mango Hill Infrastructure Development Control Plan covers North Lakes. The Moreton Bay Central priority development area at Petrie and Kallangur has its own development scheme, effective 13 October 2025. Waraba west of Caboolture, 2,880 hectares, has an Interim Land Use Plan pending a development scheme, and North Harbour at Burpengary East, 420 hectares, has an Interim Land Use Plan dated 29 July 2025.
A scheme that commenced in February 2016 predates all three priority development area declarations and predates the opening of the Redcliffe Peninsula line. If your sale depends on a use right, a fit out, an expansion or a change of use, the first question is which instrument your site sits under, because the assessing instrument and the assessment manager differ. Due diligence that checks only the 2016 planning scheme is incomplete across four large and growing parts of the council area.
One gap worth stating plainly. Council’s register of fees could not be retrieved for this research, so no material change of use application fee is quoted on this page. If your buyer needs a change of use, get the current fee from council directly rather than working from a figure quoted for another local government area.
Council publishes a free flood check report for every property
City of Moreton Bay publishes flood check reports free of charge for every property in the region, has completed a number of flood studies and investigation reports, and publishes online mapping of potential flood and storm tide event extents. Council states that the region experiences four types of naturally occurring flooding and that many people in the region will probably experience flooding.
The state’s own road projects show the same thing. The completed Bruce Highway upgrade between Caboolture-Bribie Island Road and Steve Irwin Way improved flood resilience through upgraded creek crossings at five locations, and the Anzac Avenue to Uhlmann Road business case includes new Burpengary Creek bridges. The council area also carries coastal exposure along the whole Redcliffe peninsula, the Deception Bay foreshore, the Caboolture River mouth and the full length of Bribie Island.
For a commercial lease in the Caboolture River, Burpengary Creek, Sideling Creek, North Pine River or South Pine River catchments, pull the free flood check report before you sign and before you go to market. Insurance, make good and business interruption cover all follow from it, and a buyer’s lender will ask. The council’s list of completed flood studies and the overlay categories in the planning scheme were not retrievable for this research, so ask council for the study that covers your catchment.
The Bruce Highway divides two labour markets inside one council area
The council area contains two ABS statistical areas level 4. At June 2025 the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office recorded Moreton Bay South, holding Strathpine, Brendale, Petrie, Kallangur, North Lakes and Mango Hill, at 136,400 employed persons with a 76.4 per cent participation rate and 5.4 per cent unemployment. Moreton Bay North, holding Caboolture, Morayfield, Burpengary, Narangba, Deception Bay, the Redcliffe peninsula and Bribie Island, ran 136,900 employed persons with a 58.5 per cent participation rate and 3.9 per cent unemployment.
Add the age structure. At 30 June 2024, 93,852 residents were aged 65 or over, 18.0 per cent of a population of 522,494, and that share sits heavier on Bribie Island and the Redcliffe peninsula than in North Lakes or Narangba. So a comparable quoted from Strathpine does not translate to Bongaree, and weekday daytime trade, staffing availability, average transaction value and seasonality all change as you cross the highway.
Named and funded projects in the City of Moreton Bay
| Project | Value | Date and status |
|---|---|---|
| Waraba priority development area, west of Caboolture | Not published as a capital figure | Declared 2 August 2024, the area long referred to locally as Caboolture West; approximately 2,880 hectares bounded by Bellmere, Lilywood and Wagtail Grove to the east, the D’Aguilar Highway to the north, Caboolture River Road to the south and Old North Road to the west; approximately 25,000 homes and about 65,000 residents over a 40 year timeframe, with approximately 17,000 jobs; an Interim Land Use Plan took effect on declaration and a proposed development scheme has been through public notification |
| Moreton Bay Central priority development area, Petrie and Kallangur | Not published as a capital figure | Declared 2 September 2016 as The Mill at Moreton Bay and renamed Moreton Bay Central on 30 July 2025; approximately 460 hectares from the Petrie town centre west of Petrie station to land south of the new Kallangur station; development scheme effective 13 October 2025; facilitates the UniSC Moreton Bay campus on the former paper mill site plus health, retail, commercial and residential development |
| North Harbour priority development area, Burpengary East | Not published as a capital figure | Declared 30 July 2025; approximately 420 hectares on the eastern side of the Bruce Highway bordered by the Caboolture River; around 3,700 new homes, plus a marina and marine industry component with 400 wet berths, a dry stacker for 500 boats and 511 private pontoons; Interim Land Use Plan dated 29 July 2025, full development scheme still being finalised |
| Bruce Highway, Caboolture-Bribie Island Road to Steve Irwin Way | $662.5 million, Australian Government $530 million and Queensland Government $132.5 million | Complete; widened 11 kilometres from four lanes to six and improved flood resilience through upgraded creek crossings at five locations; construction November 2020 to April 2024, first section complete August 2023 and final section April 2024 |
| Bruce Highway, Dohles Rocks Road to Anzac Avenue, Stage 1 | $290 million, Australian Government $232 million and Queensland Government $58 million | Under construction at Murrumba Downs and Griffin; extended north facing ramps; main construction commenced April 2025 after early works; later stages covering collector-distributor roads, an Anzac Avenue interchange upgrade and a shared path are planned but not funded or timed |
| Bruce Highway, Anzac Avenue to Uhlmann Road | $12 million business case funding, Australian Government $9.6 million and Queensland Government $2.4 million | A 12.9 kilometre section from Anzac Avenue at North Lakes to Uhlmann Road at Burpengary, through Deception Bay, Narangba and Burpengary East; proposed widening to four lanes each way, replacement of the Frawley Avenue and Potassium Street and Arthur Drewett Drive overpasses and new Burpengary Creek bridges; planning nearing completion as at February 2026; construction is not funded |
| Bruce Highway, Buchanan Road to Caboolture-Bribie Island Road | $12 million planning funding, Australian Government $9.6 million and Queensland Government $2.4 million | Between Buchanan Road at Morayfield and Caboolture-Bribie Island Road at Caboolture, covering Morayfield, Burpengary and Burpengary East; proposed one way collector-distributor roads either side of the highway plus interchange improvements; consultation 2023 and July to September 2025; detailed design and construction are not funded |
| Caboolture Hospital redevelopment, Stage 1 | $352.9 million (P90), present value $255.6 million | Detailed business case dated October 2019; enabling works plus a new clinical services building of approximately 31,000 square metres; 130 acute and sub-acute beds, 16 patient transit hub spaces, 27 emergency department treatment spaces and two operating theatres; catchment population 156,678 in 2016 projected to 263,822 by 2036, an increase of 68 per cent |
| Metro North satellite health centres | Value not published by centre | Three sit in the council area, each running a minor injury and illness clinic 8:00am to 10:00pm seven days a week, walk in and no appointment: Caboolture (Kabul) at 15 Rowe Street, Kallangur (Kalangoor) at 9 Stoker Way and Bribie Island (Yarun) at 103 First Avenue, Bongaree |
| Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre, Petrie | No capital cost published | A confirmed venue in the Queensland Government 2032 venue program, described as a new flexible multisport and events facility supporting basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton, futsal, wheelchair rugby and pickleball; one of two new indoor sports centres in the program and the only 2032 venue in the council area; no cost, capacity or delivery date is published |
| Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade, Stage 1 | $1.004 billion, Australian Government $616.7 million and Queensland Government $387.5 million | Immediately north of the council boundary, on the corridor that starts at Caboolture station; duplicates the North Coast line between Beerburrum and Beerwah with four new bridges, four rail bridges, three level crossings addressed, three park and ride expansions and a bus interchange at Landsborough; main construction commenced November 2025, completion expected late 2027 with commissioning to early 2028 |
| Morayfield Road, Aquatic Centre Drive to Graham Road | Value not published | Early planning for a future upgrade of Burpengary-Caboolture Road, the retail spine of Morayfield |
| Redcliffe Peninsula line | Estimated $1.15 billion at announcement, design and construct contract awarded at $650 million | Complete; announced at the 2010 federal election with a funding agreement signed 3 December 2010; six new stations between Petrie and Kippa-Ring; opened 3 October 2016 with passenger services from 4 October 2016 |
| ShapingSEQ 2023 dwelling supply benchmark | Planning benchmark, not a funded project | The South East Queensland regional plan sets a benchmark of 86,400 additional dwellings for the Moreton Bay local government area to 2046; the regional plan is under review with early feedback sought between December 2025 and July 2026 |
Values and dates as published by the Australian Government, the Queensland Government, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Economic Development Queensland, Metro North Health and the Department of State Development, at the dates shown. Where no capital figure is published, none is stated. What any of these projects does to the value of an individual business is not something this page will guess at.
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