Don't rezone rural land to urban uses or lift rural density.
A planning proposal must not rezone rural land to residential, employment, mixed use, SP4, SP5, W4, village or tourist zones. In listed LGAs it must also not increase permissible density within a rural zone, except within an existing town or village. This protects the agricultural production value of rural land.
Direction 9.1 is a planning direction that exists to protect the agricultural value of rural land. It works by placing limits on what a council (or other planning authority) can do when it prepares a planning proposal — the document that changes a Local Environmental Plan (LEP) to rezone land or alter what can be built there. Under this direction, a planning proposal cannot take land out of a rural zone and hand it to residential, employment, mixed use, tourist, village and similar zones. This is the main lever that stops rural/agricultural land quietly being converted to development land through the rezoning process.
There are two operative parts. Part (1)(a) applies statewide to every planning authority: it blocks rezoning rural land into a listed set of urban/development zones. Part (1)(b) is narrower — it only applies in the listed metropolitan Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter and Illawarra councils — and it stops a proposal from increasing permissible density within a rural zone, except on land already inside an existing town or village.
If a proposal is inconsistent with these rules, it is not automatically fatal, but the planning authority must justify the inconsistency to the Planning Secretary. Acceptable justifications include a Secretary-approved strategy, a supporting study, alignment with a relevant Regional/District Plan, or the inconsistency being of minor significance. In short, the default is protection of rural land, and departures must be reasoned and approved.
All relevant planning authorities (typically councils) preparing planning proposals. Part (1)(a) binds every planning authority in NSW; part (1)(b) binds only the specified Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter and Illawarra LGAs listed in the direction (which includes Wollongong).
It is triggered when a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal that will affect land within an existing or proposed rural zone, including any proposal that alters an existing rural zone boundary.
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: (a) justified by a strategy approved by the Planning Secretary that considers the direction's objectives and identifies the subject land; (b) justified by a supporting study that considers the objectives; (c) in accordance with a relevant Regional Strategy, Regional Plan or District Plan that considers the objective; or (d) of minor significance.
Inconsistency can be justified by reference to a strategy approved by the Planning Secretary, or a relevant Regional Strategy, Regional Plan or District Plan prepared by the Department of Planning and Environment. No specific SEPPs or Acts are named in the source text.
A planning proposal must not rezone land from a rural zone to a residential, employment, mixed use, SP4 Enterprise, SP5 Metropolitan Centre, W4 Working Waterfront, village or tourist zone. This applies to all planning authorities.
In the listed Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter and Illawarra LGAs, a proposal must not contain provisions that increase the permissible density of land within a rural zone, other than land within an existing town or village.
Kiama is not one of the LGAs listed for part (1)(b), so the density-increase restriction does not bite there. However, part (1)(a) applies statewide, so it does apply to Kiama: any Kiama planning proposal that would rezone rural land to residential, tourist, village, employment, mixed use or the other listed zones is caught. Given Kiama's housing pressure and its band of rural land between coastal towns, this is directly relevant — proposals seeking to convert rural land for housing or tourism must either avoid rezoning to those zones or justify the inconsistency to the Planning Secretary via an approved strategy, supporting study, regional plan alignment, or minor-significance argument.
9.1 Rural Zones Objective The objective of this direction is to protect the agricultural production value of rural land. Application This direction applies when a relevant planning authority prepares a planning proposal that will affect land within an existing or proposed rural zone (including the alteration of any existing rural zone boundary). Direction (1)(a) applies to all relevant planning authorities. Direction (1)(b) only applies in the following local government areas: Ashfield Canada Bay Kogarah North Sydney Auburn Canterbury Ku-ring-gai Parramatta Bankstown City of Sydney Lake Macquarie Sutherland Baulkham Hills Fairfield Lane Cove Warringah Blacktown Gosford Leichhardt Waverley Blue Mountains Hawkesbury Liverpool Willoughby Botany Bay Holroyd Manly Wollondilly Burwood Hornsby Marrickville Woollahra Camden Hunters Hill Mosman Wollongong Campbelltown Hurstville Newcastle Wyong Direction 9.1 (1) A planning proposal must: (a) not rezone land from a rural zone to a residential, employment, mixed use, SP4 Enterprise, SP5 Metropolitan Centre, W4 Working Waterfront, village or tourist zone. (b) not contain provisions that will increase the permissible density of land within a rural zone (other than land within an existing town or village). 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 objectives 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), or (b) justified by a study prepared in support of the planning proposal which gives consideration to the objectives of this direction, or (c) in accordance with the relevant Regional Strategy, Regional Plan or District Plan prepared by the Department of Planning and Environment which gives consideration to the objective of this direction, or (d) is of minor significance. Date commenced: 20 February 2023
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.