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Planning Instruments

City of Sydney Council and the Central Sydney Planning Committee (for major development within the meaning of the City of Sydney Act 1988) are the consent authorities for the following planning instruments.

Under Section 76A (9) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, the Minister for Planning is the consent authority for Major Projects. Major Projects are described in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Projects) 2005.

Sydney LEP 2005

(Gazetted 9 December 2005, as amended)

Central Sydney Local Environmental Plan 1996 (LEP 1996) included the requirement for a comprehensive review after 5 years of operation.  This review commenced in 2001 and led to the preparation of Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2005.

Sydney LEP 2005 applies to the land shown on the attached map – essentially the same area as LEP 1996, plus parts of Ultimo and Pymront, which were previously subject to State Government planning controls by Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No. 26 – City West (SREP 26). 

Sydney LEP 2005 also includes the provisions of Central Sydney Heritage Local Environmental Plan 2000 (HLEP 2000), so all land use and heritage controls are now within a single local environmental plan. 


The structure of Sydney LEP 2005

There are three parts to Sydney LEP 2005:

Chapter 1: common provisions, applying to all land to which the plan applies:  these include general clauses for subdivision, demolition and design excellence, as well as a single Dictionary to contain all definitions. 

Chapter 2: controls for the CBD (former LEP 1996) area:  this chapter is a merge of LEP 1996 controls and HLEP 2000 controls, and includes zoning, height, FSR, car parking, heritage, opportunity sites and sun access planes clauses for the CBD, the Surry Hills “fringe” and Millers Point. 

Chapter 3: controls for Ultimo Pyrmont (former SREP 26): this chapter is those parts of SREP 26 that apply to Ultimo Pyrmont, including planning principles, zoning, height, FSR, master plan clauses, and so on.

Key changes within Sydney LEP 2005
There are many changes within Sydney LEP 2005.  a discussion of the key changes is following, and the discussion is structured into the three parts of the new LEP:


Chapter one:

Clause 10 – Waiver of certain development standards: this clause replaces State Environmental Planning Policy No. 1 and applies to the development standards of height, floor space ratio and car parking. 

The clause limits exceedence of these development standards to a maximum of 10% and also limits repeat applications of the clause, meaning that once 10% has been reached for any given site or building, there is no further opportunity to vary the relevant development standard.

The clause applies both numeric and qualitative tests (i.e. design excellence) to determine whether the variation of the standard in question is appropriate and thus should be recommended for approval.

Clause 17 – Demolition: this clause states that consent for demolition may not be given unless there is an approved redevelopment scheme in place, or an “approvable” redevelopment scheme lodged with the City.  The clause also requires consideration of the environmental impacts of demolition, specifically the relative environmental impacts of both the original and replacement buildings.

Clause 18 – Subdivision: this clause requires consideration of whether any proposed subdivision (be it land or strata) results in orderly and high quality development of resultant lots, and exhibits design excellence as defined by Sydney LEP 2005.

Chapter two - Central Sydney

Clause 50 – Height of buildings: this clause includes a provision to the effect that developing tower buildings (i.e. buildings of over 55 metres) is dependent on having a minimum site area of 800m2 or greater.

Clause 56 – Opportunity sites: this clause seeks to encourage the upgrading of these identified sites at street level, as opportunity sites generally make a negative contribution to the streetscape at street level. A number of additional “opportunity sites” have been identified in Sydney LEP 2005.

Clause 58 – Site area: this clause now clarifies the various elements that may or may not contribute to site area for any given development proposal.  The clauses addresses issues such as streets, parks and public places and their status in site area calculation, land excluded from site area calculation, land divided in strata and covenants for consolidated sites and ‘double dipping’.

Clause 66 – Public car parking: this clause has been re-worded to clarify that commercial car parks are not expressly prohibited by the plan.

Part 7 – Special areas: all Special Areas were comprehensively reviewed and summary character statements now form part of Sydney LEP 2005, to better define each Special Area.

Chapter three – Ultimo Pyrmont:

It is important to note that the vast majority of controls in Chapter three remain the same as they were in SREP 26. Changes to provisions for Ultimo Pyrmont are thus relatively minor.

Clause 106 – Masterplans: this clause now includes a list of all adopted master plans in the Ultimo Pyrmont area.

Clause 117 – Brothels: this clause now includes a pair of radii against which to measure where a brothel may be located – 400m from Star City Casino and 100m from any sensitive land use (defined as schools, places of public worship, community facilities, etc.)

Part 8 – Affordable housing: now refers to SEPP 70 for the Affordable Housing Principles.

Chapter One

Chapter Two - Central Sydney

Chapter Three -  Ultimo - Pyrmont

Schedules and Dictionary

Clauses

Central Sydney LEP 1996
Central Sydney LEP 1996 has been superceded by Sydney LEP 2005 and is available here for a limited time and for information purposes only

 

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South Sydney LEP 1998

(Gazetted 28 April 1998, as amended)

LEP

Zoning Maps

Heritage Maps

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South Sydney LEP Amendment 16

(Gazetted 8 September 2006)

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South Sydney LEP 1998 Amendment 17 - Green Square Town Centre

(Gazetted 22 December 2006)

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City of Sydney Planning Scheme Ordinance

(Gazetted 16 July 1971)

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South Sydney LEP 114

(Gazetted 19 August 1994)

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Leichhardt LEP 2000

(Gazetted 22 December 2000, as amended)

The following maps and LEP reflect the entire area covered by the Leichhardt LEP 2000. The City of Sydney Council is only responsible for those areas transferred as part of the May 2003 boundary adjustment.

Please refer to the Consent Authorities and Planning Controls maps to confirm those areas where the City of Sydney is the consent authority.

 

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Leichhardt Interim Development Order 27

(Gazetted 12 April 1979)

Copies are not available on this site.

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Last Updated: Wednesday 1 October, 2008
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While care is taken to ensure accuracy, the City of Sydney cannot guarantee that information expressed here is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. The City of Sydney makes no warranty or undertaking, whether expressed or implied, nor does it assume any legal liability, whether direct or indirect.