Following a lengthy community consultation process, MidCoast Council last week endorsed a new draft Local Environmental Plan (LEP).
The draft plan has now been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for the final stages of approval.
A Local Environmental Plan provides the framework and planning controls that guide development across the MidCoast local government area.
Currently, the MidCoast has three Local Environmental Plans (from the former Council areas) that have different approaches resulting in an inconsistent planning framework across the local government area.
Having one MidCoast LEP will provide a consistent direction on how development in the MidCoast will occur, Council's Director of Liveable Communities, Paul De Szell explained.
"A single LEP will provide more certainty for the community and the development industry and is intended to achieve better planning outcomes," he said.
Mr De Szell said Council had worked with the community, development industry and NSW Government over the past eight years to identify existing challenges and means to address them.
"During this time, we have developed a Housing Strategy, a Rural Strategy and undertaken a number of zoning reviews to guide our future direction and we have checked in with the community through extensive consultation.
"We have also drawn controls from recently approved Local Environmental Plans across NSW to provide the most up-to-date provisions and have included recent NSW Government reforms.
"All of this has provided the foundation for the draft MidCoast LEP."
Mr De Szell said the draft plan was the subject of formal wide community consultation from 29 April until 14 July 2024, well above the requirement for consultation set out by the State.
"The consultation process was extensive, with more than 51,000 letters sent to residents, and conversations with over 1700 people in person, and an additional 400 via phone."
As a result, over 500 submissions were received from the community on various aspects of the draft plan.
Mr De Szell said these submissions were reviewed and as a result some modifications were made to the draft plan.
"All submissions were reviewed and considered in detail. Considering a submission does not automatically mean that a change is made. We often receive submissions that are in conflict with each other or with what we are able to do from a planning perspective, so not everyone will be satisfied with the outcome."
"We understand that some landholders want to be able to have smaller holdings, some want larger – at the end of the day the community has been divided on this issue. Ultimately, we have developed a draft plan that is in the best interests of the community across the whole of the MidCoast".
The three local environmental plans (from the former Council areas) will continue to be used until the MidCoast LEP is gazetted by the State Government, however Council will also be required to consider the draft plan in conjunction with the three local environmental plans when undertaking development assessment.
