Draft Lithgow Development Control Plan 2021

No.

In January 2017, Council repealed all the Development Control Plans in force at the time as these were rendered obsolete and invalid by legislative changes to the EP & A Act, 1979 and the commencement of Lithgow Local Environmental Plan 2014.

Since 2017, Council has been operating under a full merit based assessment system. A DCP will provide greater certainty for all planning developments as well as the community and Council’s development assessment process.

The overarching aims of this DCP are:

• To implement and support the objective of Lithgow Local Environmental Plan 2014.
• To provide clear and concise development guidelines for various forms of development.
• To promote growth and development in the Lithgow LGA and ensure that is occurs in an

orderly, environmentally friendly, and sustainable manner.

• To ensure positive planning outcomes are maximised for the benefit of the broader community.

The DCP will apply when making a development application for development consent.

The DCP applies to all land within the Lithgow Local Government Area except for:

• The “deferred matter” area known as the Portland Foundations Site
• The Pottery Estate Development Area
• The Marrangaroo Urban Release Area

These areas will all have site specific Development Control Plans prepared given the unique circumstances of development in each area and will in time be included in the location specific controls chapter of this DCP.

It is not possible to plan or write controls for all development scenarios. The controls in this DCP have been designed to address common development types and scenarios. However, there will inevitably be situations where strict compliance with controls is not able to be achieved, and or alternate solutions are preferred.

In these cases, Council may vary a control but only where Council has considered a written request from the applicant that seeks to justify the departure by demonstrating:

• Compliance with the control within the DCP is unreasonable or unnecessary in the circumstances of the case; and
• The objectives of the control are met or are sufficiently addressed; and
• There are sufficient environmental planning grounds to justify the departure; and
• The impacts of the non-compliant proposal will not be significantly greater than a compliant proposal or may enhance the outcome.

This provides a degree of flexibility for developments to provide a better design response to specific and unique site constraints/hazards as well as provide for innovative design solutions.

Chapters

 The Draft DCP has the following Chapters:

 

For ease of reference, the Chapters will be colour coded. For any development proposal proponents will need to address the controls in more than one chapter of the DCP depending on the site opportunities and constraints and what type of development proposed.

 

Objectives (Performance Criteria)

These are located either at the start or in the left-hand column of each element/head of consideration and clearly states what Council is seeking to achieve and the desired outcomes.

These are important and will guide development planning and design. These are required to be addressed should a development seek to vary a control for one or more elements within the DCP.

Controls

These are located below the objectives/performance criteria or in the right-hand column of each element/head of consideration. The controls are expressed as acceptable solutions or prescriptive criteria. There is not always an ‘acceptable standard’ provided for all ‘performance criteria’ in which case development will be assessed on its merit and how well it addresses the objectives/performance criteria.