LEP Zones
Zoning Maps
The land use zoning maps that have been prepared in conjunction with the LEP working draft are available by clicking on the Zoning Maps item in the left side menu.
Zoning Implications
Although it is now a little dated, readers are referred to the LEP Discussion Paper available on the Burra-Urila Residents' and Ratepayers' Association (BURRA) Web site for background information and some specific examples of how particular land use may be affected by the proposed zonings.
Browse through the land uses that are allowed with and without consent, in the list below. While only the RU4 description does not include a list of permitted uses (it does not currently appear in the working draft document), we would expect the list of uses for any zone applicable to our area to be similar. You may need to refer to the working draft document for definitions of particular land uses. It will be important to ensure that the 'Objectives' of the zones, and their associated land uses, accurately reflect what we, the current residents, feel are acceptable land use practices.
Zone Definitions
As mentioned elsewhere, there are items in black text and items in red text throughout the current working draft of the LEP. The items in black text are mandatory inclusions (they appear in all LEPs), as determined by the NSW State Government. The items in red text are optional inclusions, identified by council planning staff as being relevant in our LGA. These optional inclusions are again simply chosen from a list provided by the NSW State Government.
In some cases, as in the lists of permitted and prohibited land uses in a zoning category, the red text must be included exactly as is, if it is determined that it is required. In other cases, the wording provided is simply a guide to what can be included.
In the current draft LEP, rural residential populations such as Wamboin and Bywong are Zoned E4, defined as follows:
Zone E4 Environmental Living
- Objectives of zone
- To provide for low-impact residential development in areas with special ecological, scientific or aesthetic values
- To ensure that residential development does not have an adverse effect on those values
- Home businesses; Home occupations
- Bed and breakfast accommodation; Building identification signs; Business identification signs; Cellar door premises; Community facilities; Dual occupancies; Dwelling houses; Emergency services facilities; Environmental protection works; Extensive agriculture; Farm buildings; Flood mitigation works; Function centres; Home based child care; Home industries; Horticulture; Neighbourhood shops; Places of public worship; Recreation areas; Restaurants or cafes; Roads; Roadside stalls; Secondary dwellings; Viticulture; Waste or resource transfer stations; Water recycling facilities.
- Industries; Service stations; Warehouse or distribution centres; Any other development not specified in Item 2 or 3.
The Objectives of the other rural residential type Zones that might be applicable to properties in Bywong and Wamboin are:
Zone R5 Large Lot Residential
- Backpackers’ accommodation; Bed and breakfast accommodation; Building identification signs; Business identification signs; Cellar door premises; Child care centres; Community facilities; Dual occupancies; Dwelling houses; Electricity generating works; Environmental facilities; Environmental protection works; Farm buildings; Flood mitigation works; Group homes; Health consulting rooms; Home-based child care; Home industries; Horticulture; Neighbourhood shops; Recreation areas; Recreation facilities (indoor); Recreation facilities (outdoor); Respite day care centres; Roads; Roadside stalls; Secondary dwellings; Sewage treatment plants; Viticulture; Water recycling facilities; Water supply systems.
- Any development not specified in item 2 or 3.
Zone RU4 Rural Small Holdings
- Objectives of zone
For reference, the following are the Objectives of the other land use Zones applied within and immediately around Wamboin and Bywong.
Zone RU2 Rural Landscape
- Objectives of zone
- To encourage sustainable primary industry production by maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base
- To maintain the rural landscape character of the land
- To provide for a range of compatible land uses, including extensive agriculture
- To minimise conflict between land uses within the zone and land uses within adjoining zones
Zone E1 National Parks and Nature Reserves
- Objectives of zone
- To enable the management and appropriate use of land that is reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 or that is acquired under Part 11 of that Act
- To enable uses authorised under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974
- To identify land that is to be reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 and to protect the environmental significance of that land
Zone E3 Environmental Management
- Objectives of zone
- To protect, manage and restore areas with special ecological, scientific, cultural or aesthetic values
- To provide for a limited range of development that does not have an adverse effect on those values
The following comments are offered by council's planning staff on this matter.
The following extracts from the 2008 Rural, Rural Residential and Environmental Areas Discussion Paper might help explain the reasoning behind the use of E4 and the omission of RU4 [from the current working draft LEP]. We didn’t get a huge response to the discussion paper, but I thought the E4 proposal was reasonably well received in Wamboin/Bywong as reflecting the importance of the local environment to the community. The biodiversity information we received from the Department of Environment & Climate Change indicated significant areas of moderate to high conservation value vegetation in that area, which is perhaps surprising considering the generally poor state of the country when rural residential development replaced sheep farms in the 1970s.
RU4 Rural Small Holdings
This zone is generally intended for land which is to be used for small scale rural and primary industry production. Land within this zone might also provide for emerging primary industries and agricultural uses. A mandatory objective for this zone in the standard instrument is “to enable sustainable primary industry and other compatible land uses”.
The Department of Planning has noted that it is not intended that this zone be used for land that is primarily residential in function—the R5 Large Lot Residential zone should be used for that purpose.
In Palerang: The sustainable agriculture objective and the Department’s indication that it should not be used for areas with a primarily residential function make the RU4 zone difficult to apply in Palerang. While productive agricultural enterprises are carried out in the existing rural residential zones, there is no denying that the primary use of the land is residential. Zone R5 Large Lot Residential and zone E4 Environmental Living are considered more appropriate for the existing rural residential areas.
R5 Large Lot Residential
This zone is generally intended to cater for development that provides for residential housing in a rural setting. The allocation of large lot rural residential land must be justified by a strategy in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department. This zone was formerly known as a Rural Residential zone.
In Palerang: This zone would be appropriate for the rural residential areas adjacent to towns and villages that were zoned 1(c) under the TLEP 1991. The R5 zone is less appropriate for the existing rural residential areas in the former Yarrowlumla Council area which, while primarily residential in function, are not residential in character. Zone E4 Environmental Living is considered more appropriate for these areas.
E4 Environmental Living
This zone is generally intended for land with special environmental or scenic values where residential development could be accommodated.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change has suggested that E4 should not be used for any lands with high conservation values and that such areas should be zoned E2 or E3. Also, DECC would not advocate the use of E4 in lands with contiguous forest canopy cover of any sort, as the likely density of dwellings envisioned by an E4 zoning would lead to fragmentation of such forest areas.
Consequently DECC considers the E4 zoning may be appropriate for:
- land which does not have high conservation values but which has fragmented canopy cover, where impacts of new building envelopes and roads can be minimised, and
- existing rural residential areas where significant environmental values remain.
In Palerang: This zone may be the most appropriate for all or part of the existing rural residential areas that are located away from towns and villages and which have significant areas of high or moderate conservation value vegetation, for example Bywong/Wamboin, Burra/Urila and Carwoola.
In drafting the plan we were in the difficult position of having to choose from the standard list of zones and not really having one which matched the type of development we have had over the last 30 years in the former Yarrowlumla rural residential areas. The Department of Planning advised that we shouldn’t use RU4 unless agricultural production was the primary purpose. The Department favours R5 Large Lot Residential for land currently zoned rural residential, but our view was that the R5 zone was more suited to the serviced ‘big backyard’ style of development such as Elmslea west. Although residential is the prime function of Wamboin/Bywong, I don’t think it really has a residential character.