The NSW Department Planning Housing and Infrastructure has released the updated draft regional plan for Greater Sydney - the Sydney Plan - for consultation. This will replace the Greater Sydney Region Plan developed in 2018 by the Greater Sydney Commission and the district plans. The plan has moved away from the three cities model to a metropolitan-wide approach to actions delivery. Delivering new housing is a key priority of the plan.
The draft plan has been released alongside a discussion paper on statewide strategic land use planning reform - A New Approach to Strategic Planning: Discussion Paper.
A key aspect of the strategic planning reforms is the development of a State Land Use Plan, which sets statewide land use planning priorities that will cascade down through regional plans and local strategic planning. Another major change is that DPHI is reducing the number of planning regions across the state. This will see new regional plans prepared for Greater Sydney (the Sydney Plan), Illawarra-Shoalhaven, the Lower Hunter and Central Coast, and one combined plan for the rest of regional NSW.
A draft Statewide Policy for Industrial Lands has also been released for consultation - https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/draftplans/exhibition/statewide-policy-industrial-lands
These documents are on exhibition until 27 February 2026.
Stormwater NSW will be making a submission and if you have anything you would like to add to the submission please email admin@stormwaternsw.asn.au
A cursory review of the Sydney Plan shows waterways get a few mentions, mostly about how lucky we are to have them, and how iconic they are, and how they provide urban cooling, how much they valued, etc. But sadly, the enthusiasm expressed about our rivers does not materially translate into actions to better manage or protect them with the priority for development.
