Outlines planning considerations for development on bush fire prone land.
This circular outlines the planning considerations that apply to development on bush fire prone land, including its application to planning proposals, development applications and complying development.
Planning Circular PS 21-010, issued on 2 December 2021 under the Department's 'Resilience and Hazards' planning principle, is a point-in-time guidance document about development on bush fire prone land. The supplied source only lists and summarises the circular; it does not reproduce the circular's detailed clauses. According to that summary, the circular sets out the planning considerations that apply to development on bush fire prone land and explains how those considerations flow through the three main pathways of the NSW planning system: planning proposals (rezonings and plan-making), development applications (merit-assessed development), and complying development (fast-tracked development certified against standards).
The source does not spell out who is bound. As a planning system circular, it provides non-statutory guidance and, by its own description, is directed at those involved in planning proposals, development applications and complying development — which in practice means planning authorities preparing planning proposals, councils and other consent authorities assessing DAs, and certifiers/applicants dealing with complying development. The detailed audience is not stated in the supplied text.
It applies when development is proposed on bush fire prone land, across three trigger points named in the source: when a planning proposal is being prepared, when a development application is being assessed, and when complying development is being pursued. The specific thresholds or mapping that define 'bush fire prone land' are not set out in the supplied text.
The supplied text does not name any specific instruments, Acts, State Environmental Planning Policies or manuals that PS 21-010 connects to. It is grouped under the 'Resilience and Hazards' planning principle alongside coastal hazards circulars, but no interacting instruments are identified in the source.
The source states the circular 'outlines the planning considerations that apply to development on bush fire prone land'; the specific considerations are not reproduced in the supplied text.
The circular's stated scope includes 'application to planning proposals, development applications and complying development', so the considerations are intended to be picked up in plan-making as well as in DA and complying development processes.
Kiama has bushfire-prone fringes on its rural and vegetated edges, so this circular is relevant wherever a Kiama planning proposal, DA or complying development touches mapped bush fire prone land. On the supplied text alone, the practical message is that Kiama planners, applicants and certifiers should factor the circular's bush fire planning considerations into rezonings, merit assessments and complying development on such land. However, the source does not provide the detailed tests, so the actual circular (and its referenced controls) would need to be read for the operative requirements.
“This circular outlines the planning considerations that apply to development on bush fire prone land, including application to planning proposals, development applications and complying development.”
“Current planning system circulars provide point-in-time non‑statutory guidance to support the consistent application of planning principles, processes and practices across NSW.”
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.