Pacific Highway proposals must concentrate retail in centres and protect highway safety.
Applies to: North Coast council areas along the Pacific Highway, between Port Stephens and Tweed ShireFor land near the Pacific Highway between Port Stephens and Tweed, planning proposals must manage commercial and retail development. In 'within town' segments, new commercial or retail development must be concentrated in distinct centres rather than spread along the highway. In 'out-of-town' segments, such development must not be established near the highway where inconsistent with the objectives, and all development fronting the highway must consider impacts on highway safety and efficiency. Highway service centres may still proceed at listed localities if Roads and Maritime Services is satisfied they integrate safely.
This direction manages where commercial and retail development can go along the Pacific Highway on the NSW North Coast, when councils prepare planning proposals (the documents that change or make local environmental plans). Its core aim is to keep the Pacific Highway working as the region's main long-distance road: it seeks to stop shops, businesses and other commercial uses from spreading in a ribbon along the highway, which would create extra intersections, slow traffic and undermine road safety and the public money invested in the road. Instead, it pushes retail and commercial activity into town centres where it best serves local populations.
The direction splits highway frontage into two categories. "Within town" segments (existing urban zones where the speed limit is under 80km/h) require new commercial or retail development to be concentrated in distinct centres rather than strung along the road, and any highway-fronting development must consider its impact on highway safety and efficiency. "Out-of-town" segments (non-urban zones, or where the speed limit is 80km/h or more) require that new commercial or retail development not be located near the highway where that would conflict with the direction's objectives.
An exception allows highway service centres (the fuel/food/rest stops defined in the Standard Instrument LEP Order) at a specific list of named interchange localities, but only where Roads and Maritime Services is satisfied they can be safely and efficiently integrated into the interchange. The direction commenced 1 March 2022 and replaced the earlier Direction 5.4.
Relevant planning authorities (typically councils) on the North Coast preparing planning proposals for land in the council areas the Pacific Highway traverses, from Port Stephens Shire Council to Tweed Shire Council inclusive.
When a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal for land within those Port Stephens–to–Tweed council areas that applies to land in the vicinity of the existing and/or proposed alignment of the Pacific Highway.
A planning proposal may be inconsistent with the direction only if the relevant planning authority can satisfy the Planning Secretary (or a nominated Departmental officer) that the inconsistent provisions are of minor significance. The Table 1 highway service centre localities also operate as a carve-out from paragraphs (1) and (2), subject to RMS satisfaction.
Relies on the definition of 'highway service centre' in the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006, and requires satisfaction of Roads and Maritime Services for highway service centres. It replaced the previous Direction 5.4.
On 'within town' segments the proposal must provide that new commercial or retail development is concentrated within distinct centres rather than spread along the highway.
Development with frontage to the Pacific Highway must consider the impact the development has on the safety and efficiency of the highway (applies on both within-town and out-of-town segments).
On 'out-of-town' segments the proposal must provide that new commercial or retail development must not be established near the highway if that proximity would be inconsistent with the direction's objectives.
'Within town' means pre-existing urban-zoned areas where the speed limit is under 80km/h; 'out-of-town' means non-urban-zoned areas or areas where the speed limit is 80km/h or greater.
Highway service centres may be permitted at the localities in Table 1 (e.g. Chinderah, Ballina, Maclean, Woolgoolga, Nambucca Heads, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree, Tomago) provided Roads and Maritime Services is satisfied they can be safely and efficiently integrated into the highway interchanges.
This direction does not apply to Kiama. It is geographically limited to North Coast council areas along the Pacific Highway between Port Stephens Shire and Tweed Shire. Kiama is an Illawarra/South Coast LGA well south of that corridor and is not traversed by the Pacific Highway, so no Kiama planning proposal or DA is caught by Direction 7.3.
7.3 Commercial and Retail Development along the Pacific Highway, North Coast Objectives The objectives for managing commercial and retail development along the Pacific Highway are to: (a) protect the Pacific Highway’s function, that is to operate as the North Coast’s primary inter - and intra-regional road traffic route, (b) prevent inappropriate development fronting the highway, (c) protect public expenditure invested in the Pacific Highway, (d) protect and improve highway safety and highway efficiency, (e) provide for the food, vehicle service and rest needs of travellers on the highway, and (f) reinforce the role of retail and commercial development in town centres, where they can best serve the populations of the towns. Application This direction applies when a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal for land within those council areas on the North Coast that the Pacific Highway traverses, being those council areas between Port Stephens Shire Council and Tweed Shire Council, inclusive, and that applies to land in the vicinity of the existing and/or proposed alignment of the Pacific Highway. Direction 7.3 (1) A planning proposal that applies to land located on “within town” segments of the Pacific Highway must provide that: (a) new commercial or retail development must be concentrated within distinct centres rather than spread along the highway; (b) development with frontage to the Pacific Highway must consider impact the development has on the safety and efficiency of the highway; and (c) for the purposes of this paragraph, “within town” means areas which, prior to the draft local environmental plan, have an urban zone (e.g.: “village”, “residential”, “tourist”, “commercial”, “industrial”, etc) and where the Pacific Highway speed limit is less than 80km/hour. (2) A planning proposal that applies to land located on “out-of-town” segments of the Pacific Highway must provide that: (a) new commercial or retail development must not be established near the Pacific Highway if this proximity would be inconsistent with the objectives of this direction; (b) development with frontage to the Pacific Highway must consider the impact the development ha s on the safety and efficiency of the highway; and (c) for the purposes of this paragraph, “out-of-town” means areas which, prior to the draft local environmental plan, do not have an urban zone (e.g.: “village”, “residential”, “tourist”, “commercial”, “industrial”, etc) or are in areas where the Pacific Highway speed limit is 80km/hour or greater. (3) Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2), the establishment of highway service centres may be permitted at the localities listed in Table 1, provided that Roads and Maritime Services is satisfied that the highway service centre(s) can be safely and efficiently integrated into the Highway interchange(s) at those localities. For the purposes of this paragraph, a highway service centre has the same meaning as is contained in the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006. Table 1: Highway service centres that can proceed Town Locality Chinderah Chinderah Bay Road interchange (southbound) Western side of highway at Tweed Valley Way interchange (northbound) Ballina Teven Road interchange Maclean Southern interchange Woolgoolga Northern interchange at Arrawarra Nambucca Heads Nambucca Heads interchange Kempsey South Kempsey interchange Port Macquarie Oxley Highway interchange (both sides of the Pacific Highway) Taree Old Bar Road interchange Tomago In the vicinity of Tomago Road / South Heatherbrae 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 of minor significance. Issued to commence 1 March 2022 (replaces previous Direction 5.4)
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.
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.