Department of Planning Directions
The NSW Department of Planning (DoP) has a significant influence on the way that local councils throughout NSW conduct their plan making and development assessment.
The DoP and the Minister for Planning are responsible for creating and maintaining a comprehensive range of legal binding plans, broader strategies and detailed policies to guide the strategic planning and development assessment activities across the site.
Through the force of the core legislation, the Environmental Planning Assessment Act 1979, the DoP is to impose mandatory controls and development considerations under State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs) and Regional Environmental Plans (REPs), policy and procedural Directions and Circulars, and in certain circumstances, a role of development consent authority.
Local councils have a legal obligation to follow these controls and directions, and to ensure consistency through their local plan making and development assessment procedures. If they do not, they run the risk that their local plans and approvals are rendered invalid, and, in extreme cases, the State Government can act to remove a Council’s planning powers.
In terms of plan making, councils must demonstrate that any new Strategies, or new Local Environmental Plans (LEPs), or amendments to LEPs, are consistent with the major planning strategies that apply to a particular region. The Minister for Planning has the ultimate power to determine whether or not an LEP can be granted final approval.
The major DOP plans and strategies that currently influence plan making and development assessment in the Tweed Shire are shown below (click on the headings to expand). Further details on the Department of Planning’s plan and policy initiatives can be found by visiting
 www.planning.nsw.gov.au.
Regional Environmental Plans (REPs) cover issues such as urban growth, commercial centres, extractive industries, recreational needs, rural lands, and heritage and conservation. REPs are made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and provide the framework for detailed local planning by councils. All REPs are exhibited in draft form for public comment, and all submissions are considered before a final plan is gazetted and becomes legal.
The North Coast Regional Environmental Plan (NCREP) provides local government with state and regional policy guidelines for the preparation of local environmental plans and for certain types of development. The plan sets the basis for new urban and rural development. The emphasis is on progress coupled with careful management.
Of note, Clause 38(1) of the NCREP requires that:
- The council should not prepare a draft local environmental plan which permits development that, in the opinion of the council (subject to the directions given by the Director), constitutes significant urban growth unless it has adopted an urban land release strategy for the whole of its local government area.
- Tweed Shire Council has an adopted Urban and Employment Land Release Strategy which can be viewed here. This document enables Council to coordinate future growth through future LEPs, as per the requirement of the NCREP.
The NCREP also contains development assessment criteria as well as strategic functions. Development assessment criteria are provided to particular development types and development within particular areas, for example, development in rural areas, development within 100 metres of a waterway, overshadowing of coastal lands. For more information please visit NCREP Legislation Website.
State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) No. 71 - Coastal Protection commenced on 1 November 2002. The Policy has been made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to ensure:
- development in the NSW coastal zone is appropriate and suitably located;
- there is a consistent and strategic approach to coastal planning and management; and
- there is a clear development assessment framework for the Coastal Zone.
The SEPP outlines a number of matters for consideration prior to granting development consent, and includes matters such as:
- the aims of the SEPP;
- retaining and improving existing public access to and along the coastal foreshore for pedestrians or persons with a disability;
- the suitability of development given its type, location and design and its relationship with the surrounding area;
- any detrimental impact that development may have on the amenity of the coastal foreshore, including any significant overshadowing of the coastal foreshore and any significant loss of views from a public place to the coastal foreshore;
- the scenic qualities of the New South Wales coast, and means to protect and improve these qualities; and
- the likely impact of coastal processes and coastal hazards on development and any likely impacts of development on coastal processes and coastal hazards.
SEPP No. 71 also requires the provision of a masterplan for the subdivision of land within a residential zone into more than 25 lots, or 5 rural residential lots.
For more information please visit SEPP 71 Legislation Website.
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