Local Environmental Plan (LEP)

Local Environmental Plan (LEP)

The LEP facilitates the revitalisation and growth of Newcastle city centre by establishing the key objectives and design parameters for new development.

The Newcastle City Centre LEP aligns with the new statewide Standard Instrument (LEP template) that seeks to bring consistency in plans across NSW.

The aims of the LEP are to:

  • Promote the economic revitalisation of the Newcastle city centre;
  • Strengthen the regional position of the city centre as a multifunctional and innovative centre that encourages employment and economic growth;
  • Protect and enhance the vitality, identity and diversity of the city centre;
  • Promote employment, residential, and recreational opportunities;
  • Facilitate the development of building design excellence;
  • Encourage responsible management, development and conservation of resources, and ensure the city centre achieves sustainable environmental outcomes; and
  • Protect and enhance environmentally sensitive areas, and the natural and cultural heritage of the city centre.

The following zones for the city centre are established in the LEP:

  • Residential - housing, facilities and uses to support residential development;
  • Commercial Core - commercial development with a mix of retail, business, entertainment and community uses in the central core;
  • City Edge - compatible mixed uses including residential, retail, commercial and other non-residential uses;
  • Infrastructure - sets uses for roads and other support transport networks; and,
  • Public Recreation - public open space or recreational purposes.

The LEP also establishes the primary parameters for new development in the city centre in terms of:

  • Building heights
  • Floor space
  • Design excellence
  • Heritage items and conservation
  • Principles for ecologically sustainable development

Local Environmental Plan Documents

The LEP documents are available for download in PDF format below. The LEP contains many maps and elements of high quality imagery, making a single file download too large for many internet users. To accommodate those on slower connections, the document has been split into the following sections.


LEP Part 2 LEP Part 1 1.758 MB
LEP Part 2 LEP Part 2 1.758 MB
LEP Part 3 LEP Part 3 5.930 MB

These documents are for information purposes only. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure these documents are accurate, where a difference exists between these documents and those provided in hard copy, the hard copy documents will prevail.

  • Dial-up internet users can usually achieve speeds of 1Mb every 5 minutes.
  • Broadband internet users can achieve speeds from 1Mb in 30 seconds, to 1Mb in less than 6 seconds.