Culture and heritage boost under new planning controls for Randwick City – LEP 2022

Randwick City’s night time economy is set to be bolstered with more live music and cultural activities while more local heritage will be preserved as part of new planning controls endorsed by Council at an Extraordinary Meeting on Tuesday 6 September 2022.

The changes to local business rules are part of a raft of initiatives contained within Council’s new Local Environmental Plan (LEP) which also includes additional housing areas, changes to dual occupancy controls and rezoning some sites.

Councillors met at the Prince Henry Centre in Little Bay for a special meeting to consider community feedback and endorse the new LEP following an extensive six-week community public exhibition period.

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker said the new LEP helps protect local heritage, encourages a diverse and vibrant night time economy while meeting Council’s housing requirements imposed by the State Government.

“Our new LEP contains provisions that support businesses and enhances our town centres. New controls enable low impact businesses to operate 7am to 11pm and provide cultural activities such as live music and performances without requiring development consent,” Mayor Parker said.

“Local heritage is also being protected with more than 50 new heritage items and a new heritage conservation area to help preserve the character of our unique City,” Mayor Parker said.

The LEP also provides for increased housing in certain areas to meet imposed housing targets set by the State Government.

“We understand that many community members remain concerned about increasing densities and housing targets set by the State Government.

“We have been vocal in objecting to NSW State Government housing targets, but the reality is we don’t have a choice. We are under direction from the NSW State Government to meet housing targets of 4,300 new dwellings in the next 6-10 years.

“To limit the impact of these housing targets, our LEP identifies additional housing in limited areas well located to public transport, jobs and shops,” Mayor Parker said.

These new housing areas will promote active transport and reduce carbon footprints, support existing and new businesses, provide new pedestrian links and wider footpaths and facilitate a healthy lifestyle and new places to socialise. Affordable housing will also be boosted with a requirement for all new development to contain 10% affordable housing within the new housing areas.

The following provides an overview of key parts of Council’s new LEP 2022 as supported by Council:

• Housing Investigation Areas (HIAs):
  Four new housing precincts will be created in Randwick and Kingsford south. These areas have been identified through extensive analysis as locations suited for additional homes due to their access to transport, open space and nearby town centres. Zoning, heights and densities will change to encourage more homes to be built. Councillors voted to remove the Kensington North and part of the West Randwick HIA and to amend the boundaries of the Arthur Street HIA and Kingsford South HIA following requests from the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and UNSW who are both major landholders in the HIAs. The removal of the LAHC and UNSW land provides for further investigation into longer term strategic opportunities for both sites. These changes are forecast to reduce the new dwellings created by the HIAs from 574 new dwellings to 445 new dwellings. (Read Council report, refer page 25)

• Dual Occupancy in R2 low density residential zones:
  Minimum lot sizes to both build and subdivide a dual occupancy will be standardised at 275sqm (that is, a minimum 550m2 parent lot will be required). The new controls seek to create consistency in Council’s planning approach by aligning LEP controls for the construction and subdivision of attached dual occupancies within the R2 Low Density Residential zone. This means if permission is given to construct a dual occupancy, it will now also be permissible to subdivide the dual occupancy into separate ownership if desired. Previously Council permitted dual occupancies to be built on lots as small as 450sqm but they could only be subdivided if the resulting lot size after subdivision was at least 400sqm each. The change is designed to support building and subdividing dual occupancies (also referred to as duplexes) which are popular with families. (Read Council report, refer page 137)

• Heritage:
  More than 50 properties will be listed as new heritage items as part of changes to Council’s heritage controls designed to protect and preserve local character. One property will also be listed as a archaeological site, a new Heritage Conservation Area will be created in Edgecumbe Estate and boundary of the existing Moira Crescent Heritage Conservation Area will be extended. Read the full Council report. (Read Council report, refer page 175)

• Economic development: Low impact businesses such as shops will be able to operate from 7am to 11pm and provide small scale cultural activities such as acoustic music and performances without requiring development consent. The changes are designed to support local businesses and create vibrant and lively town centres. (Read Council report, refer page 279)

• Employment Land Zones Reform: New employment zones to replace existing B1 Neighbourhood Centre, B2 Local Centre and IN1 Light Industrial zones to align with State government reforms. Various changes have been made by Council responding to community feedback received. This includes new local provision for proposals to consider the fine grain village character and development pattern of neighbourhood centres, and a new local provision prohibiting freight transport facilities within the E4 General Industrial zone. Council will also write to the Minister for Planning seeking an exemption from state controls regarding the hours of operation of industry in the light industrial zone. (Read Council report, refer page 309)

The draft LEP was publicly consulted over a 42-day period from 31 May to 12 July 2022.

During the 42-day exhibition period, Council sent out over 50,000 letters to property owners, advertised in three newspapers, produced extensive information sheets, created two explainer videos and provided an online property checker to help people more easily understand potential changes to their property.

Council staff held eight drop-in sessions at local shopping centres and community centres engaging more than 200 people over 22 hours.

Council received 317 written submissions on the new planning controls with 45% in support, 44% opposed, 7% neutral and 4% did not state a position.

In addition, Council also commissioned external independent research to better understand community attitudes towards the proposed changes. This included a representative telephone survey of the whole community and in person intercept surveys at each of the proposed Housing Investigation Areas to better under the attitudes of people in each area. [For full details download the Community Consultation Report]

The draft Planning Proposal to amend Council’s LEP will now be forwarded to the Department of Planning and Environment for formal approval and gazettal expected take place in the coming months.