ShapingSEQ 2023 took effect on 15 December 2023 and changed Southern Thornlands from a Potential Future Growth Area outside the Urban Footprint into land within the Urban Footprint. It also identified the area as a category 1 SEQ development area.
The development-area controls were designed to prevent out-of-sequence urban development until detailed land-use and infrastructure planning had been completed. The change therefore established a regional policy basis for future housing and employment uses, but it was not yet a Priority Development Area declaration and did not approve individual developments.
This regional-plan change became the immediate planning foundation for the State's later decision to declare the Southern Thornlands PDA.