Monday, 2 November 2009

Council reviews draft LEP

After considering the 741 formal submissions made on the draft Local Environmental Plan (draft LEP), Eurobodalla Shire Council believes the most significant issues raised are those related to the NSW Government's standard LEP template.

Council's Strategic Services Manager, Shannon Burt, says there are a number of issues raised in the submissions that Council believes it can resolve. "It's the statutory issues, the ones that relate to the draft LEP template, which will be the most difficult to address in a timely way," she said.

Ms Burt says the main issues covered in the submissions include:

  • Application of the E3 Environmental Management Zone
  • Loss of perceived development potential as a result of the lack of an urban investigation zone in the template
  • Lack of appropriate land use definitions for tourism related matters and the restrictive nature of the agriculture definitions in the template
  • The removal of existing controls for integrated housing from the template
  • The proposed height limit of 11.5m in the B2 and R3 zones along Island View Road and Tuross Boulevard in Tuross Head
  • Subdivision of rural dual occupancy
  • Permissibility of dwellings in the R3 Medium Density Zone
  • Rural dwelling provisions.

Ms Burt says Council staff are now working on revisions to the draft LEP in consultation with Councillors and a number of NSW agencies, including the Department of Planning, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, the Roads and Traffic Authority and the Department of Lands. "We're holding workshop sessions and meetings with these groups and making recommendations about changes to the draft LEP," she said.

Of those issues that relate to the standard template, Ms Burt said, "To address them will mean new definitions in the standard LEP template and this will take some time. However, Council has already commenced discussions with the Department of Planning in regard to these issues."

Once Council has reviewed the draft LEP and all issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of councillors, it will be submitted to the Department of Planning for approval to re-exhibit. "This will provide the community with another opportunity to provide further input," Ms Burt said.

However, she says, this is unlikely to occur until early 2010. "It is hard to say at this stage when the revised draft will go on public exhibition as the date will be dependent on deliberations by the Department of Planning once the draft plan is submitted to them and on how successful Council is in having the additional land use definitions included in the draft LEP," Ms Burt said.

If you would like to receive more information on the draft LEP and other current issues and events, Council encourages you to visit its website regularly or to sign up to receive its electronic newsletter, E-Subscribe. This publication is distributed via email each month. To join, please visit www.esc.nsw.gov.au and click on the 'E-subscribe' button.

For all media enquiries, please contact Emma Pegrum, Media Communications Officer, on T 4474 1012, M 0408 200 191 or via email to emma.pegrum@eurocoast.nsw.gov.au