NWRL corridor proposals must follow the corridor strategy and TOD principles.
Applies to: Land within the North West Rail Link Corridor in the Hornsby, The Hills and Blacktown LGAsPlanning proposals for land within the North West Rail Link Corridor must give effect to the direction's objectives, be consistent with the NWRL Corridor Strategy (including growth projections and future character for each precinct), and promote transit-oriented development around the eight stations.
Direction 1.16 is a ministerial planning direction that guides how growth is planned around the eight stations of the North West Rail Link (NWRL) in Sydney's north-west. Its purpose is to concentrate new development close to rail stations (called 'transit-oriented development' or TOD) and to make sure any changes to planning controls in that corridor line up with the vision already set out in the NWRL Corridor Strategy and the precinct Structure Plans.
In practical terms, when a planning authority (usually a council or the Department) wants to change the planning rules for land inside the NWRL corridor, it must prepare a planning proposal that follows the growth projections and future character described for each precinct in the Corridor Strategy, and that promotes TOD principles. The mechanism is consistency: if a proposal does not match these documents, it cannot simply proceed — the authority must satisfy the Planning Secretary that the inconsistency is justified in one of the specified ways.
The consequence of getting this wrong is that a planning proposal that conflicts with the Corridor Strategy or Structure Plans, without an approved justification, should not advance. The direction also expressly gives way to Direction 1.22 (Cherrybrook Station Precinct Place Strategy) where the two conflict.
Relevant planning authorities (typically councils, or the Department) preparing planning proposals for land in the Hornsby, The Hills and Blacktown local government areas that falls within the North West Rail Link Corridor.
It is triggered when a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal for land within the NWRL Corridor (as identified in the NWRL Corridor Strategy and Structure Plans) in the Hornsby, The Hills or Blacktown LGAs.
A planning proposal may be inconsistent only if the planning authority satisfies the Planning Secretary (or a nominated Departmental officer) that the inconsistent provisions are: justified by a strategy approved by the Secretary that considers the objective and identifies the subject land; or justified by a supporting study that considers the objective; or in accordance with the relevant Sub-Regional Delivery Plan that considers the objective; or of minor significance.
The direction operates alongside the NWRL Corridor Strategy, precinct Structure Plans, and Sub-Regional Delivery Plans prepared by the Department of Planning and Environment. It expressly defers to Ministerial Direction 1.22 (Cherrybrook Station Precinct Place Strategy), which prevails to the extent of any inconsistency.
A planning proposal for land in the corridor must give effect to the objectives, which are to promote transit-oriented development and manage growth around the eight NWRL train stations.
The proposal must align with the Strategy's proposals, including the growth projections and the proposed future character for each of the NWRL precincts.
The proposal must promote the TOD principles set out in the NWRL Corridor Strategy.
This direction does not apply to Kiama. It is confined to land within the North West Rail Link Corridor in the Hornsby, The Hills and Blacktown LGAs in Sydney's north-west. Kiama has no NWRL corridor land, so no Kiama planning proposal or DA is affected by it.
1.16 North West Rail Link Corridor Strategy Objectives The objectives of this direction are to: (a) promote transit-oriented development and manage growth around the eight train stations of the North West Rail Link (NWRL), and (b) ensure development within the NWRL corridor is consistent with the proposals set out in the NWRL Corridor Strategy and precinct Structure Plans. Application This direction applies when a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal for land in the Hornsby, The Hills and Blacktown local government areas that applies to land within the North West Rail Link Corridor, as identified in the NWRL Corridor Strategy and Structure Plans. Direction 1.16 (1) A planning proposal that applies to land located within the NWRL Corridor must: (a) give effect to the objectives of this direction (b) be consistent with the proposals of the NWRL Corridor Strategy, including the growth projections and proposed future character for each of the NWRL precincts (c) promote the principles of transit-oriented development (TOD) of the NWRL Corridor Strategy. Consistency A planning proposal may be inconsistent with the terms of this direction only if the relevant planning authority can satisfy the Planning Secretary (or an officer of the Department nominated by the Secretary) that the provisions of the planning proposal that are inconsistent are: (a) justified by a strategy approved by the Planning Secretary, which: i. gives consideration to the objective of this direction, and ii. identifies the land which is the subject of the planning proposal (if the planning proposal relates to a particular site or sites), and (b) justified by a study (prepared in support of the planning proposal) which gives consideration to the objective of this direction, or (c) in accordance with the relevant Sub-Regional Delivery Plan prepared by the Department of Planning and Environment which gives consideration to the objective of this direction, or (d) of minor significance. Note: In the event of any inconsistency between this Ministerial Direction and Ministerial Direction 1.22 Cherrybrook Station Precinct Place Strategy, Ministerial Direction 1.22 prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. Date commenced: 16 December 2022
Reproduced from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (planning.nsw.gov.au), © State of New South Wales, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Text extraction may introduce minor formatting artefacts — rely on the official source for anything decision-critical.
This is an unofficial reproduction provided for convenience. It is not the official version of the legislation. For the official, in-force version, see legislation.nsw.gov.au.