FAQs

In March 2018, the NSW Government released ‘The Greater Sydney Region Plan - A Metropolis of Three Cities’ and District Plans for each of Greater Sydney’s five districts. These plans reflect the NSW Government’s policy shift towards upfront strategic planning which requires an alignment between Regional, District Plans and Local Plans to give effect to District Plans. These reforms require councils to review and amend their Local Environmental Plans (LEP) within 3 years of the District plan being made.

In December 2018, all Councils were required to review and submit a LEP health check to the Greater Sydney Commission to identify how closely aligned the existing local environmental plan is to the actions in the relevant District Plan. Council will also need to prepare a Housing Strategy and a Local Strategic Planning Statement.

Recent amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 that came into effect in March 2018 require all Councils to prepare and make a Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) for their Local Government Area (LGA).

A Local Strategic Planning Statement is a 20-year vision for land use in relevant local areas within each Local Government area (LGA). It identifies the areas special character and values that are to be preserved and determines how growth and change will be managed into the future. The LSPS is to give effect to the priorities and actions from the Eastern City District Plan which are relevant to our local government area.

As a minimum the LSPS has to contain:

·  Our LGA context and background

·  Land use vision

·  Planning priorities

·  Actions

·  Implementation and monitoring

The LSPS will guide the preparation of the new Local Environment Plan (LEP) and Development Control Plan (DCP). The LSPS provides Council with an opportunity to translate strategic planning studies into local priorities and actions that are consistent with the Randwick City Plan 2017.

The following diagram illustrates the relationship between the Regional and District plans and Councils Strategic Planning documents.

A draft LSPS needs to be prepared by 1 July 2019 for review by the Greater Sydney Commission.

A review of Council’s existing LEP 2012 and the preparation of technical studies as evidence base, will inform the development of a draft LSPS for Randwick.

The development of a Housing Strategy is a specific requirement in the implementation of District Plans that consider short and medium-term housing supply and longer-term capacity for housing.

Council will be seeking feedback from the community on the draft LSPS which is expected to be on exhibition during the first half of 2019 for a minimum of 28 days.

For more information please see the NSW Department of Planning and Environment website.