What’s happening now
Reeves Street, Somersby Planning Proposal
The Hunter and Central Coast Planning Panel (the Panel) received a planning proposal from the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council for a site on Reeves Street, Somersby in July 2023.
This planning proposal seeks to rezone 124.08 ha of land to:
- increase the environmental protections of the area
- create a regional biodiversity corridor
- allow for building 14 homes in the future.
An updated version of the proposal is now ready for public exhibition.
Have your say on Reeves Street, Somersby
The planning proposal is open for feedback from 30 October 2024 to 11 December 2024.
Roles in the planning process
The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel took on the role of planning proposal authority after Central Coast Council declined it.
The proposal was assessed by the Panel, an independent panel of planning experts, and deemed to have strategic and site-specific merit to proceed.
Regional planning panels were introduced in NSW in 2009. They strengthen decision-making on regionally significant development applications and other planning matters, including Aboriginal land planning.
The Department’s role in the process is as the local plan-making authority, so we will carry out the legal functions in making the local environmental plan. This includes deciding to make the plan or not.
Gateway determination
A gateway determination was granted by the Department on 22 December 2023. The gateway determination allowed the proposal to proceed to public exhibition, subject to conditions being met.
The proposal includes detailed supporting studies that respond to consultation with state agencies and entities that was a requirement of the Gateway determination.
Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council updated the planning proposal in 2024 to respond to comments received from state agencies and entities and to incorporate the findings of additional supporting studies.
The Panel has assessed the updated planning proposal and determined that it satisfies all gateway conditions.
The Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council is also preparing a biodiversity certification assessment report for the proposal, which adequately addresses any biodiversity impacts of the proposal.
The planning proposal is open for public feedback from 30 October 2024 to 11 December 2024.
Next steps
After the exhibition, public submissions received during the exhibition will be considered in a post-exhibition report. The report will also include recommendations to The Panel about the future of the planning proposal in response to community feedback.
The Panel will then make a recommendation to the Department on whether the proposal should be finalised and, if so, in what form. The Minister, or the Department as the Minister’s delegate, will make the final determination for the planning proposal.
If the planning proposal proceeds, it will enable Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council to submit a further development application for subdivision of the 19.48 ha into 14 residential lots. Any proposal to construct a dwelling on these lots would need further development consent.
More information
- Have your say about the proposal at the NSW Planning Portal.
- For questions about the submission process, email the Planning Proposal Authority team at [email protected]
- For more information on the gateway determination process, go to Making and amending LEPs.
Project details
The planning proposal aims to amend the Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022 to rezone 19.48 hectares of the site to C4 Environmental Living. The proposal is to protect and manage most of the rest of the site – 104 ha – under a conservation stewardship agreement.
If the planning proposal goes ahead, it will allow the land council to submit a development application for subdivision, which would allow up to 14 homes. Any proposal to build a home will also need development consent.
More assessment would apply to any future development application, including consultation that would consider environmental, social, and economic matters under the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
Aboriginal cultural heritage
Heritage Now prepared an Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment in September 2023 to support the conservation of Aboriginal heritage.
Future development will have to consider Aboriginal cultural heritage at the stage of a development application for subdivision. This includes carrying out recommendations from the Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment report.
The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment has undergone consultation with Registered Aboriginal Parties.
Koalas
Consultants EMM completed a report on plants and animals on the site in August 2023, in the form of a Biodiversity Certification Assessment Report. EMM’s surveys did not find any signs of koala habitats in the proposed development area along the Reeves Street frontage. Surveying included tree cameras, vegetation assessments, nocturnal spotlight searches and call playbacks.
More surveys will be done and detailed in the final Biodiversity Certification Assessment Report, which will be submitted as part of the biodiversity certification of the site.
Biodiversity
The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 sets up a scheme for the biodiversity certification of land. A biodiversity certification assessment report is being prepared for the proposal. This will deliver a biodiversity offset strategy that appropriately compensates any loss of biodiversity values the proposal causes.
A Biodiversity Certification Assessment Report supports an application for biodiversity certification under Part 6 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. It is used for standard and strategic applications for biodiversity certification. The report:
- assesses biodiversity values
- documents land allocation to minimize impacts
- evaluates development impacts
- specifies biodiversity credits needed for offsetting
- outlines added conservation measures.
The report must be prepared by an accredited assessor and use the Biodiversity Assessment Method to evaluate the biodiversity values within the assessment area.
Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council is drafting a development control plan for council's consideration to manage environmental impacts at the development stage. It proposes to carry out specific environmental recommendations of the Biodiversity Conservation Assessment Report.
Wetlands
The site contains Coastal Upland Swamp (wetlands). Development resulting from the planning proposal may impact the adjoining wetland heath areas. However, the planning proposal has stormwater and wastewater management strategies that include protection measures for the Coastal Upland Swamps.
Addressing bushfire risk
A strategic bushfire study report was prepared for the site, in keeping with the requirements of Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019. The report concludes that the proposal satisfies Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 and is compatible with the surrounding environment and bushfire risk.
The NSW Rural Fire Service does not object to the planning proposal, if the recommendations in the strategic bushfire study are carried out. Future development applications for the site will also need to be supported by a Bush Fire Assessment Report.
The current proposal refines the original one for the site, which received strategic support from the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel in 2019.
A gateway determination was issued in 2020. However, because the framework for managing strategic conservation outcomes in the surrounding area changed, the planning proposal was withdrawn so a comprehensive series of environmental and biodiversity studies could be done.
Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council submitted a new planning proposal, refining the original, in July 2023. This was endorsed in October 2023 by the regional planning panel with recommended changes. Updates include a reduced development footprint. This more successfully achieves the proposal’s aim to construct a low-impact residential development while protecting environmentally significant land.
In December 2023, the planning proposal was supported at gateway determination, with several conditions applying.
We consulted the following agencies, which gave responses in May and June 2024 in response to the Gateway determination:
- Ausgrid
- NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water – Heritage
- Central Coast Council
- Biodiversity Conservation and Science
- Transport for NSW
- NSW Department of Primary Industries – Agriculture
- NBN Co Limited
Any submissions received during agency consultation will be considered by the Panel before a final recommendation is made to the Department as the Plan Making Authority.
We welcome community feedback on the proposal during the public exhibition period. Community involvement leads to better planning decisions and is required under section 3.34(2)(c) and schedule 1 clause 4 of the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
All submissions received during the public exhibition period will be reviewed by the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel. Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council will have an opportunity to respond to any issues raised. The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel will consider all submissions before a final recommendation is made to the Department as the Local Plan Making Authority. The Department will be responsible for making the final decision on whether to make the plan or not.