LEP, SEPP and state mapping — the three sources of a NSW constraint
A local environmental plan is the council's planning instrument, made under Part 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 on the Standard Instrument template. Its written clauses set the rules and its maps apply them lot by lot: the Land Zoning Map, Height of Buildings Map, Floor Space Ratio Map, Lot Size Map, Heritage Map, Flood Planning Map, Land Reservation Acquisition Map, Acid Sulfate Soils Map and, where the council has adopted them, local provision maps for foreshore building lines, riparian land, urban release areas and similar. The zoning map answers what the land may be used for; every other map is a constraint on how.
State Environmental Planning Policies are made by the Minister and apply across every LEP. Two matter most to a value-add buyer. State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 consolidates the coastal management provisions (chapter 2, giving effect to the Coastal Management Act 2016) and the contaminated-land provisions (chapter 4, the former SEPP 55). State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 consolidates the secondary dwelling, dual occupancy, boarding house and co-living provisions, and since February 2025 carries the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy that permits dual occupancies, terraces, manor houses and residential flat buildings with non-refusal standards in mapped precincts around stations and town centres across the Six Cities region. State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 sets the complying-development pathways whose exclusions — heritage items, flood control lots, high bushfire attack levels — decide whether a project needs a development application at all.
The third source is hazard mapping made and certified under separate legislation and then carried into the planning system. Bush fire prone land maps are prepared by councils and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service under section 10.3 of the EP&A Act. The Biodiversity Values Map is made under section 7.3 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. Mine subsidence districts are declared under the Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017. Australian Noise Exposure Forecast contours are endorsed by Airservices Australia and applied through the LEP airspace and aircraft-noise clauses. Contaminated land is recorded by the Environment Protection Authority under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997.
- Source 1 — Local environmental plan (Standard Instrument)
- Clause 4.1 minimum lot size; 4.3 height of buildings; 4.4 floor space ratio; 5.1 relevant acquisition authority (Land Reservation Acquisition Map); 5.10 heritage conservation (items and conservation areas, schedule 5); 5.21 flood planning; local acid sulfate soils, riparian, foreshore and urban release area clauses. Made under Part 3 of the EP&A Act 1979.
- Source 2 — State Environmental Planning Policies
- Resilience and Hazards 2021 (coastal vulnerability, wetlands, environment and use areas; contaminated land); Housing 2021 (secondary dwellings, dual occupancy, Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy from February 2025); Exempt and Complying Development Codes 2008 (the complying-development exclusions); Biodiversity and Conservation 2021; Transport and Infrastructure 2021.
- Source 3 — State mapping under other Acts
- Bush fire prone land (EP&A Act s 10.3, certified by the RFS Commissioner; Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 via s 4.14); Biodiversity Values Map (Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 s 7.3); declared mine subsidence districts (Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017); ANEF contours (Airservices Australia, AS 2021); Contaminated Land Record (Contaminated Land Management Act 1997); waterfront land and riparian corridors (Water Management Act 2000).
How to find the constraints on a NSW property — the section 10.7 certificate and the Planning Portal
- Read the section 10.7 planning certificate. Under the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022 a current certificate must be attached to every contract for the sale of land in NSW. The section 10.7(2) part discloses, in prescribed terms, the zone, the applicable LEP and SEPP provisions, whether the land is bush fire prone, in a flood planning area, a heritage item or conservation area, reserved for acquisition, in a mine subsidence district, or affected by a contributions plan; the section 10.7(5) part adds any further council information such as flood levels or contamination notes.
- Open the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer and search the address. It draws every LEP map — zoning, height, FSR, lot size, heritage, flood planning, acquisition, acid sulfate soils — plus bush fire prone land and the SEPP coastal areas, and it links each layer to the clause it implements.
- Check the state hazard layers separately where the certificate flags them. The Biodiversity Values Map is served by the NSW BOSET tool; bush fire prone land by the RFS; mine subsidence districts by Subsidence Advisory NSW; the Contaminated Land Record of Notices by the EPA; ANEF contours by the relevant airport.
- For flood, ask council for the property-level flood information — the flood planning level, the 1% AEP and probable maximum flood levels and whether the lot is a flood control lot. The LEP flood planning map is an extent, not a level, and the level is what the design and the complying-development pathway turn on.
- For a heritage conservation area, ask council for the grading of the specific property (contributory, neutral or detracting). It is not on the certificate or the map and it decides what will be approved.
Open the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer — every LEP map and SEPP area for any NSW address →
Biodiversity Values Map — the BOSET map tool (Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 s 7.3) →
LEP maps and state policies both change
Councils amend their LEP maps by planning proposal several times a year; the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy rewrote the effective height and density of thousands of Sydney lots from February 2025 without touching the LEP maps at all; the flood prone land package replaced every council's model flood clause with clause 5.21 in 2021. A planning certificate is current on the day it is issued and a historical document a month later.
Open the Suburb Stats map — 590 NSW suburb areas with the constraint panel
Band 1 — major impact on value or usability
These four attack the reason you are buying the property. In our own acquisition process a floodway, a land reservation acquisition or a contaminated-land flag on a value-add site is a near-automatic exclusion, and bush fire prone land means the build budget and the approval pathway have to be re-planned before an offer goes in. That is our commercial filter, not a rule of law — plenty of people buy and build on all four.
Floodway
Floodway — high flood risk, severe building restrictions · Impact band 1 (PremiumRea editorial)
A floodway is the part of the floodplain where a significant discharge of water occurs during a flood — the fastest, deepest water. Councils identify floodways in their flood studies and floodplain risk management plans under the NSW Flood Risk Management Manual, and the Standard Instrument flood planning clause (clause 5.21) applies to development in them.
Value-add: a new dwelling in a mapped floodway is rarely supportable, and filling the land is generally refused because it displaces flood water onto neighbours. Treat it as an exclusion for anything but an existing use.
Land Acquisition
Land Reservation / Acquisition — government may acquire this land · Impact band 1 (PremiumRea editorial)
Land shown on the Land Reservation Acquisition Map of the local environmental plan is reserved for a public purpose — a road, rail corridor, drainage or open space — and clause 5.1 of the Standard Instrument names the relevant acquisition authority the owner may require to acquire it.
Value-add: the NSW counterpart of Victoria's Public Acquisition Overlay, and we treat it the same way — a near-automatic exclusion for a value-add strategy. The one advantage NSW gives is that the owner can compel acquisition under the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 once the land is reserved.
Bush Fire Prone Land
Bush Fire Prone Land — RFS certified, affects BAL rating & construction · Impact band 1 (PremiumRea editorial)
Bush fire prone land is mapped by each council and certified by the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service under section 10.3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Development on it must conform to Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 (section 4.14 of the Act), which sets asset protection zones, access, water supply and construction to the bushfire attack level determined for the site.
Value-add: the mapped category matters — vegetation category 1 and its 100 m buffer is a different proposition from a 30 m buffer around category 3 grassland. A secondary dwelling as complying development is only available where the BAL is 29 or lower; above that the project needs a development application.
Contaminated Land
Contaminated Land — EPA listed or SEPP Resilience & Hazards Ch 4 · Impact band 1 (PremiumRea editorial)
Land recorded on the EPA's Contaminated Land Record of Notices under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, or identified by council as potentially contaminated from a former use (a service station, dry cleaner, orchard, industrial site). Chapter 4 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 — the former SEPP 55 — requires the consent authority to consider contamination before approving a change to a more sensitive use such as housing.
Value-add: a preliminary site investigation is cheap; a detailed one and remediation are not, and a site audit statement from an EPA-accredited auditor can be a condition of consent. Treat a contamination flag on a residential value-add site as a stop until a consultant has looked at it.
Band 2 — significant restrictions you can usually work with
These add cost, time and a development application, and they can block a specific plan — most often demolition and subdivision. They rarely make a property unbuyable. What they do reliably is remove the complying-development shortcut, which in NSW is the difference between a ten-day certifier approval and a three-to-six-month council process.
Flood Planning Area
Flood Planning Area — LEP Clause 5.21 · Impact band 2 (PremiumRea editorial)
The Flood Planning Area is land at or below the flood planning level — typically the 1% annual exceedance probability flood plus a freeboard, commonly 0.5 m — shown on the council's flood planning map. Clause 5.21 of the Standard Instrument LEP, introduced by the 2021 flood prone land package, applies to all development on it and lets council consider flood hazard above the flood planning level for sensitive and hazardous uses.
Value-add: expect a minimum habitable floor level, flood-compatible materials below it, and a flood assessment with the development application. It rarely stops a secondary dwelling outright, but a "flood control lot" cannot use the complying development pathway without council certification of the floor level.
Heritage Item
Heritage Item — LEP Clause 5.10 Heritage Conservation · Impact band 2 (PremiumRea editorial)
A heritage item is a building, place or object listed in schedule 5 of the local environmental plan, or on the State Heritage Register under the Heritage Act 1977. Clause 5.10 of the Standard Instrument LEP requires development consent for demolition, alteration and most new work, and a heritage impact statement with the application.
Value-add: subdivision and demolition of a listed item are frequently refused; alterations that retain significance are usually approvable. Complying development is not available on a heritage item, so every project is a development application.
Heritage Conservation Area
Heritage Conservation Area — LEP Clause 5.10 · Impact band 2 (PremiumRea editorial)
A heritage conservation area is a precinct listed in schedule 5 of the LEP where the streetscape as a whole is protected rather than one building. Clause 5.10 applies, so demolition and external alterations need consent and a heritage impact statement, but the test is contribution to the area rather than individual significance.
Value-add: a replacement dwelling that answers the streetscape is usually approvable; a townhouse row often is not. Councils grade properties inside a conservation area as contributory, neutral or detracting, and that grading — not the listing — decides what will be approved.
Acid Sulfate Soils (High)
Acid Sulfate Soils — Class 1-2, high risk · Impact band 2 (PremiumRea editorial)
Acid sulfate soils are mapped by class on the LEP acid sulfate soils map. Classes 1 and 2 are the high-risk classes: any works, or works below the natural ground surface, require development consent and an acid sulfate soils management plan under the LEP acid sulfate soils clause.
Value-add: mostly a construction-detail cost — testing, neutralisation and disposal — that bites on pools, basements and deep piers. Common in the coastal and estuarine suburbs of Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle and the north coast.
Band 3 — moderate restrictions, usually yield or design
This band shapes how much you can build rather than whether you can. Height and floor space ratio are the two numbers every NSW development feasibility is built on, and the coastal, biodiversity and acid-sulfate controls shape where on the lot the footprint can go.
Height of Buildings
Height of Buildings — LEP height limit map · Impact band 3 (PremiumRea editorial)
The Height of Buildings Map sets the maximum building height in metres for each lot under clause 4.3 of the Standard Instrument LEP. It is the primary numeric control on how many storeys a development can have, and it is applied alongside the zone rather than replaced by it.
Value-add: the figure that caps a dual occupancy at two storeys or a unit block at three. Since February 2025 the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy has overridden LEP height and FSR limits with non-refusal standards in mapped station and town-centre precincts across the Six Cities region — check whether the lot is inside one before reading the LEP map.
Floor Space Ratio
Floor Space Ratio — LEP FSR map · Impact band 3 (PremiumRea editorial)
The Floor Space Ratio Map sets the maximum gross floor area relative to site area under clause 4.4 of the Standard Instrument LEP. A ratio of 0.5:1 on a 600 m² lot means 300 m² of gross floor area across all buildings on the site.
Value-add: FSR is the control that quietly caps a development yield even where height and zone appear generous. Run the arithmetic before the feasibility — on a small lot FSR usually binds before height does.
Coastal Vulnerability
Coastal Vulnerability Area — SEPP Resilience & Hazards Ch 2 · Impact band 3 (PremiumRea editorial)
The coastal vulnerability area, coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area, coastal environment area and coastal use area are mapped under chapter 2 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021, giving effect to the Coastal Management Act 2016. Development in the vulnerability area must not increase the risk of coastal hazards to the site or neighbours.
Value-add: a beachfront or estuary lot in the vulnerability area faces erosion setbacks and, where a coastal management program applies, potentially a planned-retreat position. Read the council's coastal management program before pricing the land.
Biodiversity Values
Biodiversity Values Map — triggers Biodiversity Offsets Scheme · Impact band 3 (PremiumRea editorial)
The Biodiversity Values Map, made under section 7.3 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, identifies land with high biodiversity value. Clearing native vegetation on mapped land triggers the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and a biodiversity development assessment report, regardless of the area cleared.
Value-add: offset credits are priced per hectare of like-for-like habitat and can exceed the land value on a bushland block. A footprint that avoids the mapped vegetation avoids the scheme; one that needs it cleared does not.
Acid Sulfate Soils (Low)
Acid Sulfate Soils — Class 3-5, lower risk · Impact band 3 (PremiumRea editorial)
Acid sulfate soils classes 3, 4 and 5 — the lower-risk classes on the LEP map. Consent and a management plan are required only for works beyond a depth threshold (for example, more than 1 m below the natural ground surface for class 3, or works that lower the water table).
Value-add: rarely relevant to a slab-on-ground secondary dwelling; relevant to a basement or a pool. A cost to check rather than a constraint to fear.
Band 4 — minor restrictions, but several are direct costs
A contributions plan does not restrict what you build at all — it prices it. Mine subsidence and riparian land are approvals to obtain; an ANEF contour is an acoustic specification and, above 25, a restriction on adding people.
Airport Noise Contour
ANEF Airport Noise Contour — noise-sensitive uses restricted · Impact band 4 (PremiumRea editorial)
Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) contours are prepared for each major airport and endorsed by Airservices Australia. Councils use them with Australian Standard AS 2021 to decide whether noise-sensitive development is acceptable and what acoustic construction is required; the Standard Instrument airspace and aircraft-noise clauses apply around Sydney, Bankstown, Newcastle and other airports.
Value-add: between the 20 and 25 ANEF contours a dwelling is conditionally acceptable with acoustic treatment; above 25 it is generally unacceptable. Adding a secondary dwelling adds a noise-sensitive use, which is exactly what the contour exists to limit.
Contributions Plan
Local Infrastructure Contributions Plan · Impact band 4 (PremiumRea editorial)
A local infrastructure contributions plan under section 7.11 or 7.12 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the former sections 94 and 94A) lets council levy a contribution on development for roads, drainage, open space and community facilities, either per additional dwelling or lot or as a percentage of the cost of works.
Value-add: a real, quantifiable cost that belongs in the feasibility — commonly tens of thousands of dollars per additional lot in Sydney growth areas, and often waived or reduced for a secondary dwelling under 60 m². It prices the project; it does not restrict it.
Mine Subsidence
Mine Subsidence District — Subsidence Advisory NSW · Impact band 4 (PremiumRea editorial)
Declared mine subsidence districts under the Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017 cover land over old and current underground coal workings in the Hunter, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Illawarra and parts of western Sydney. Building in a district needs approval from Subsidence Advisory NSW, which may impose structural requirements or limit the building type.
Value-add: Subsidence Advisory approval is usually a formality for a standard house but can constrain heavier or larger structures and slab design. Get the surface development guidelines for the specific district before design.
Riparian Land
Riparian Land — setback from waterways required · Impact band 4 (PremiumRea editorial)
Waterfront land — land within 40 m of the top of the bank of a river, lake or estuary — is regulated under the Water Management Act 2000, and works on it need a controlled activity approval from the Natural Resources Access Regulator. Guidelines set a vegetated riparian zone of 10 m to 40 m either side depending on the stream order.
Value-add: the riparian zone comes off the developable area before you draw anything. On a creek-side lot the buildable envelope can be half the title.
Band 5 — narrow or procedural
Rarely decisive on their own, but the easement is the one to check first on any secondary-dwelling site, because it is the most common physical reason a 60 m² dwelling does not fit a Sydney backyard.
Road Widening
Road Widening Reservation · Impact band 5 (PremiumRea editorial)
A road widening reservation on the LEP Land Reservation Acquisition Map, or a proposed road widening under the Roads Act 1993, affects a strip along the frontage that the roads authority may acquire.
Value-add: usually a few metres of frontage; check the exact area, because it can affect the front setback available to a new dwelling and the calculation of site area for FSR.
Salinity
Salinity Affected Land · Impact band 5 (PremiumRea editorial)
Salinity-affected land — mainly in western Sydney, the Hunter and inland — has saline soils or shallow saline groundwater that attacks concrete and brickwork and limits landscaping. Some LEPs carry a salinity clause; elsewhere it is a development control plan matter.
Value-add: a construction-detail cost — salt-resistant concrete, damp-proofing and drainage — rather than a planning constraint.
Pipeline / Easement
Pipeline or Utility Easement · Impact band 5 (PremiumRea editorial)
A registered easement for a pipeline, sewer, drainage or electricity crosses the lot, recorded on the title and shown on the cadastre. Building over or within an easement generally needs the benefiting authority's consent, which for a trunk pipeline is rarely given.
Value-add: the single most common reason a secondary dwelling does not fit a NSW backyard is a sewer or drainage easement along the rear boundary. Sydney Water's building-over-assets process, where available, adds time and cost.
Height, floor space ratio and minimum lot size — the three numbers that set a NSW yield
Victoria controls residential density mostly through zone schedules and garden-area rules; NSW writes three numbers on three maps. The Height of Buildings Map (clause 4.3) fixes the maximum height in metres — 8.5 m is the common two-storey figure in low-density zones, 9 m to 12 m the common three-storey figure. The Floor Space Ratio Map (clause 4.4) fixes the maximum gross floor area as a ratio of site area — 0.5:1 on a 600 m² lot is 300 m² across every building on the site, secondary dwelling included. The Lot Size Map (clause 4.1) fixes the minimum area of any lot created by subdivision, and many LEPs add a separate minimum for dual occupancy or a minimum frontage.
| Proposal | Height (cl 4.3) | Floor space ratio (cl 4.4) | Minimum lot size (cl 4.1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary dwelling (granny flat) | Rarely binds — single storey | Binds: the 60 m² dwelling counts toward the site's total gross floor area | Not applicable — no new lot; Housing SEPP requires the lot to meet the LEP minimum for a dwelling house (commonly 450 m²) for complying development |
| Dual occupancy (attached or detached) | Binds at two storeys in most low-density zones | Usually the first constraint to bind on lots under 600 m² | Many LEPs set a dual-occupancy minimum (450–600 m² is common) and a minimum frontage |
| Torrens-title subdivision | Not applicable | Applies to each new lot afterwards | The decisive number — each new lot must meet the mapped minimum, with battle-axe handles often excluded from the area |
| Residential flat building / manor house | Binds — 9–12 m for three storeys | Binds — 0.7:1 to 1:1 is a common range in R3 zones | LEP or the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy may set a minimum site area |
Since February 2025 the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy in the Housing SEPP overrides LEP height and FSR with non-refusal standards inside mapped low- and mid-rise housing areas around stations and town centres in the Six Cities region. Check the precinct map first; outside it, the LEP numbers govern.
Flood in detail — flood planning area, floodway and the flood control lot
Clause 5.21 of the Standard Instrument LEP, inserted across every council by the 2021 flood prone land package, applies to development on land the council has identified as flood prone. Its practical machinery is the flood planning level — the 1% annual exceedance probability flood level plus a freeboard, commonly 0.5 m — and the flood planning area, which is the land at or below that level shown on the flood planning map. Development in the area must be compatible with the flood hazard, must not increase flood risk elsewhere, and must incorporate appropriate evacuation and floor-level measures. For sensitive and hazardous uses the clause lets council consider flood behaviour above the flood planning level, up to the probable maximum flood.
Within the floodplain the NSW Flood Risk Management Manual distinguishes floodway (where significant discharge occurs), flood storage (where water is temporarily held) and flood fringe (the remainder). Floodways are where new dwellings are rarely supportable and filling is refused; flood storage restricts filling and enclosure; flood fringe is usually a floor-level question. The Suburb Stats map shows the floodway (FLOOD_FW) and the flood planning area (FLOOD_FP) as separate codes because their consequences differ by an order of magnitude.
For a secondary dwelling the phrase to know is flood control lot: under the Exempt and Complying Development Codes SEPP a lot identified by council as flood control cannot use the complying-development pathway unless council has certified the floor level and the works are outside the floodway and flood storage areas. In practice that means a development application, a flood assessment and a longer timeline on any lot inside the flood planning area.
Bush fire prone land in detail — categories, Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 and the BAL 29 complying-development ceiling
Bush fire prone land maps classify vegetation into categories — category 1 (forests, woodlands, heath and wetlands) with a 100 m buffer, category 2 (rainforest and lower-risk vegetation) with a 30 m buffer, and category 3 (grasslands and some remnant vegetation) with a 30 m buffer. Any lot within a vegetation category or its buffer is bush fire prone, and section 4.14 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 requires development on it to conform to Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019: asset protection zones, access, water supply and construction to the bushfire attack level determined by a site assessment under AS 3959.
The number that decides the approval pathway is the bushfire attack level. Complying development for a dwelling or a secondary dwelling is available on bush fire prone land only where the BAL is 12.5, 19 or 29; at BAL 40 or Flame Zone the project needs a development application and, for a subdivision or a special fire protection purpose, a bush fire safety authority from the Rural Fire Service. A BAL assessment before the offer is cheap; discovering BAL 40 after settlement is not.
Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 — NSW Rural Fire Service →
Heritage in detail — items, conservation areas and the grading that is not on the map
Clause 5.10 of the Standard Instrument LEP covers two different things. A heritage item is a specific building, place or object listed in schedule 5 of the LEP (or on the State Heritage Register under the Heritage Act 1977, which adds a state approval layer). A heritage conservation area is a precinct listed in the same schedule where the streetscape as a whole is protected. Both require development consent for demolition, external alteration and most new work, and both require a heritage impact statement with the application; neither is available for complying development.
The fact that decides what will be approved inside a conservation area is the grading of the individual property — contributory, neutral or detracting — which councils hold in their heritage studies and development control plans and which appears on neither the LEP map nor the planning certificate. A detracting post-war house in a Federation conservation area can usually be replaced; a contributory one usually cannot. Ask council for the grading before you price the site.
The constraints that most often stop a secondary dwelling in NSW
Chapter 3 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 permits a secondary dwelling — a self-contained dwelling on the same lot as a principal dwelling, not separately titled — in the residential zones where dwelling houses are permitted, with a maximum total floor area of 60 m² or a larger figure where the LEP allows. As complying development it needs the lot to meet the LEP minimum for a dwelling house (commonly 450 m²) and a 12 m frontage, and it is excluded on a heritage item, in many conservation areas, on a flood control lot without certification, at bushfire attack level 40 or Flame Zone, and on land in an environmentally sensitive area or a coastal vulnerability area. Each exclusion pushes the project from a private-certifier approval into a council development application.
What most often defeats the project physically rather than procedurally is the easement — a sewer or drainage easement along the rear boundary that removes the only place a 60 m² dwelling and its setbacks fit — followed by floor space ratio on a small lot, where the existing house already consumes most of the permitted gross floor area. The Suburb Stats map shows easements and cadastre lot by lot; the floor space arithmetic is yours to do before you make an offer.
The Victorian comparison — what a small second dwelling returned across 212 recorded builds
The constraints that most often stop a subdivision or dual occupancy in NSW
The order of questions is fixed by the LEP. First the Lot Size Map: every lot created by Torrens-title subdivision must meet the mapped minimum, and battle-axe access handles are commonly excluded from the calculation. Second the zone and the dual-occupancy minimum, where the LEP sets one — and, since February 2025, whether the lot sits inside a Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy precinct where dual occupancies and terraces are permitted with non-refusal standards regardless of the LEP minimum. Third the constraints on this page that cut into the developable area: the flood planning area (each new lot needs a flood-compatible building envelope and access), bush fire prone land (each new lot needs an asset protection zone, which on a small lot can consume the whole yard), the Biodiversity Values Map (new lot boundaries must avoid mapped vegetation or the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is triggered), riparian land (the vegetated riparian zone comes off the top), and heritage (subdivision of an item or within a conservation area is frequently refused).
The alternative to Torrens subdivision — a dual occupancy strata-titled into two lots — avoids the Lot Size Map but not height, FSR, the dual-occupancy minimum or any hazard constraint, and a secondary dwelling can never be strata-subdivided at all. Section 7.11 contributions are payable per additional lot or dwelling under the council's contributions plan and belong in the feasibility from the first draft.
The Victorian comparison — dual occupancy and subdivision in Melbourne
What NSW planning constraints do not do
- They do not change the zone, and therefore do not change what the land may be used for.
- They do not, of themselves, refuse an application. Every constraint on this page is a matter the consent authority must consider, or a standard the proposal must meet; the proposal and the assessment decide the answer.
- They are not a flood level, a bushfire attack level, a contamination report or a heritage grading. Each of those comes from a site-specific assessment that the mapped constraint tells you to commission.
- They do not all appear on the LEP maps. The planning certificate is the complete disclosure; the Spatial Viewer draws the LEP maps and some state layers; the biodiversity, subsidence, contamination and aircraft-noise mapping sit with their own agencies.
- They do not stay still. LEP maps are amended by planning proposal, SEPPs are rewritten by the Minister, and the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy changed the effective controls on thousands of lots in 2025 without any LEP map moving.
The corollary is the same in NSW as in Victoria and Queensland: a constraint reduces value only to the extent it removes something the market was pricing in. A heritage listing on a Federation house that was never going to be demolished changes nothing about that purchase. The same listing on a lot bought for a duplex is the whole deal.