Health service facilities

Access to health services facilities is essential to the wellbeing and health of thriving communities.

Chapter 2, Division 10 of the Transport and Infrastructure State Environmental Planning Policy provides clear planning pathways to help the NSW Government and private health care providers deliver essential health services infrastructure.

The Policy ensures health infrastructure is delivered with environmental assessment and stakeholder consultation, while supporting our growing communities.

The Policy establishes different pathways based on facility type and scale.

Government health services facilities

• Alterations and additions to existing facilities up to 30,000 m² gross floor area without development consent.
• New government health services facilities up to 2,500 m² gross floor area without development consent.

Development within the boundaries of a health services facility

Development can proceed without consent if the work is within the boundaries of an existing facility and meets specific standards contained in sections 2.61 of the SEPP.

For new health services facilities, development can proceed without council consent if specific requirements under 2.61A of the SEPP are met. 

This pathway enables health facilities to be established in areas with appropriate zoning without lengthy development application processes, provided environmental impacts are properly assessed and mitigated. This includes:

Environmental assessment

An assessment addressing factors identified in the Guidelines for Division 5.1 Consideration of environmental factors for health services facilities and schools (PDF, 369 KB) must be undertaken when using this development pathway.

This Guideline sets out items such as:

• Environmental factors that must be considered.
• Types of studies or supporting documentation required.
• Assessment criteria based on development type and scale.

Design requirements

The design must comply with principles in the Design Guide for Health published by the Government Architect NSW.