THE Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) is currently undertaking a reform process to consolidate the twelve existing business and industrial land use zones into eight new zones (five employment zones, a mixed-use zone, a working waterfront zone and an enterprise zone).

The reforms are a recommendation of the NSW Productivity Commission and are intended to increase the flexibility of the zoning system by allowing for a greater range of land uses within each zone.

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Following the addition of the new zones into the Standard Instrument – Principle Local Environmental Plan, DPIE is now working to convert the existing business and industrial zones to the new zones in local environmental plans.

In the recent Council meeting on 22 March 2022, the Port Stephens Council unanimously voted to adopt and enforce the reform.

The new employment and supporting zones are:

B1 Neighbourhood Centre and B2 Local Centre to E1 Local Centre: provides for a range of retail business, entertainment, community uses that serve a local area.

B3 Commercial Core to E2 Commercial Centre: large-scale commercial, retail, business and service development in strategic centres.

B5 Business Development and B7 Business Park to E3 Productivity Support: mix of industrial, commercial, creative, warehousing and emerging new industries that need larger floor space.

IN1 General Industrial and IN2 Light Industrial to E4 General Industrial: light and general industrial, warehousing uses providing important services like waste management and concrete batching.

B4 Mixed use to MU1 Mixed Use: mix of residential, commercial and industrial to provide a transition between zones and manage out of centre development.

IN4 Working Waterfront to W4 Working Waterfront: provide suitable protections for employment areas adjacent to waterways.

The DPIE has not identified any land within Port Stephens to be converted to E5 or SP4 land.

Port Stephens Council Development Services Group Manager Steven Peart said that an audit process had been undertaken in regard to the plan.

“Council staff had the opportunity to undertake a detailed audit right across our LGA of all of the existing business, industrial and light industrial zones against what’s being proposed here.

“There are only two parcels of land within Raymond Terrace that we proposed to amend as part of that, where the direct correlation between zones in the state planning reforms, we didn’t feel as though it was necessarily appropriate and the state has supported that,” Mr Peart said.

By Tara CAMPBELL