Proposed LEP and DCP Review

An LEP (Local Environmental Plan) is the main legal document that guides planning decisions and manages the way land is used within a local government area.

Through zoning and planning controls, an LEP is used to guide development, protect heritage and the environment as well as reserve land for open space, schools, transport or other public uses.

A DCP (Development Control Plan) supports an LEP through providing more detail regarding development controls.

The review of the LEP and DCP is intended to facilitate amendments to the documents to achieve the following objectives:

• Ensure the LEP and DCP are aligned with other relevant principals, strategies and plans.
• Amend ‘land use tables’ in the LEP to reflect actual and potential future uses of land within the Hunters Hill municipality.
• Amend ‘land use tables’ in the LEP to include additional land uses that are complimentary to certain land use zones.
• Remove specific land use listings in the LEP that are not required or not compatible with existing land uses.
• Improve battle axe block subdivision outcomes.
• Clarify and strengthen the provisions of the LEP and DCP to better achieve plan objectives.
• Amend clear heritage listing anomalies and errors.
• Specifically, in relation to the DCP, to restructure the document to make it easier to understand and administer.

• Specific development proposals (e.g. Montefiore proposal).
• Planning controls applicable to specific sites, where not related to the scope outlined by the objectives of this review.
• Potential changes to heritage controls that require additional studies or assessments.
• Planning controls related to past and future master planning investigations.

These meetings are providing important feedback about suggested pathways and content into the LEP/DCP review. Members of the community have also been speaking with staff on a regular basis as well as providing written feedback. Written feedback is important as it provides the basis for reports to both Council and State Government.

The next step in the process is for Council’s Strategic Planner to develop a comprehensive Scoping Report that will include feedback received to date. This Scoping Report will come to both Council and the community for comment before it will go to the State Government for comment.

A scoping proposal is currently being prepared by Hunters Hill Council (Council) in relation to proposed amendments to the Hunters Hill Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP) through the process of a planning proposal.

The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) recommends that early due diligence should be undertaken to scope a proposal and before preparation of any planning proposal. Consultation associated with this proposal has been undertaken as part of the preparation of the Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS). In addition, community consultation and notification specifically in relation to the proposed LEP and DCP amendments was also undertaken through:

• A town hall meeting on 15 March 2022.
• Notification on Council’s website.

Feedback received as a result of the above consultation will be considered and referenced within the subsequent planning proposal scoping report and relevant reports to the elected Council.

For a council-initiated planning proposal, DPE also recommends that council officers consult with the Department to confirm what supporting information is needed to justify the proposal. The Department will liaise with council and the authorities/agencies (as required) on the planning proposal requirements.

The Scoping Proposal will outline the sections of the LEP proposed to be amended and the associated objectives of these amendments.

The subsequent planning proposal would be prepared in accordance with Section 3.33 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), and in accordance with the Department of Planning and Environments Local Environmental Plan Making Guideline.