Flood-prone land package

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The flood-prone land package provides advice to councils on considering flooding in land-use planning and commenced on 14 July 2021.
The updated guidance supports:
- better management of flood risk beyond the 1% annual exceedance probability
- greater resilience built into communities in floodplains and reduces potential property damage and loss of life in recognition of increasing extreme flood events throughout NSW.
The package included:
- a revised 9.1 local planning direction on flooding (PDF, 460 KB)
- a planning circular on flooding: PS 21-006 – Considering flooding in land use planning: guidance and statutory requirements (PDF, 139 KB)
- a planning guideline: Considering flooding in land use planning guideline - July 2021
- the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Amendment (Flood Planning) Order 2021 which included the following clauses:
- Clause 5.21 Flood Planning – which has been included in all standard Local Environmental Plans. This clause aims to minimise the flood risk to life and property associated with the use of land within the flood planning area.
- Clause 5.22 Special flood considerations – which has been included in the Local Environmental Plans of 33 councils. This clause helps to strengthen planning laws to protect and manage:
- new sensitive and hazardous development between the flood planning area and the probable maximum flood, and
- development that is not sensitive or hazardous on land that the consent authority considers that, in a flood, may pose a particular risk to life and where people may need to evacuate.
- the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Flood Planning) Regulation 2021
- the State Environmental Planning Policy Amendment (Flood Planning) 2021.
Special flood considerations clause 5.22
The department strengthened planning rules to better protect and manage new development in areas that could be at risk during floods through an optional special flood considerations clause (clause 5.22 of the Standard Instrument—Principal Local Environmental Plan).
The special flood considerations clause applies to:
- sensitive and hazardous development, such as caravan parks, hospitals and seniors housing, between the flood planning area and the probable maximum flood level
- development that is not sensitive or hazardous on land that the consent authority considers that, in a flood, may pose a particular risk to life and where people may need to evacuate, or where there are other safety concerns.
An explanation of intended effect (EIE) was exhibited from 17 January until 28 February 2023 and sought feedback on implementation options for clause 5.22. A submission report summarises feedback from the exhibition and how that feedback has been used to implement the clause.
Feedback received identified the preferred option of having the clause included in the LEPs of the 33 councils that agreed to include the clause in their LEPs.
Frequently asked questions
Land uses are defined in the Dictionary of the Standard Instrument - Principal Local Environmental Plan.
Any land that as the result of a flood, the consent authority deems will cause a risk to life or evacuation issues.
An example of this may be high flood islands where the land itself is not inundated in floods but people could be isolated for an extended length of time which could pose a risk to life, additional safety considerations or an evacuation issue.
Clause 5.22 will remain an optional clause in response to feedback received in the exhibition of the Explanation of Intended Effect.
Councils can implement clause 5.22 in their local environmental plan via their own planning proposal process. The Department has completed the State led optional clause adoption process.
The following 33 councils have adopted the clause:
- Bega Valley Shire
- Byron Shire
- Central Coast
- Cessnock City
- City of Canada Bay
- Clarence Valley
- Coffs Harbour City
- Coonamble Shire
- Eurobodalla Shire
- Fairfield City
- Goulburn Mulwaree
- Inner West
- Kempsey Shire
- Liverpool City
- Murray River
- Musswellbrook Shire
- Narromine Shire
- Newcastle City
- Northern Beaches
- Orange City
- Port Macquarie-Hastings
- Randwick City
- Richmond Valley
- Shellharbour City
- Shoalhaven City
- Snowy Monaro Regional
- Sutherland Shire
- Tweed Shire
- Upper Hunter Shire
- Upper Lachlan Shire
- Wagga Wagga City
- Willoughby City
- Wollongong City
Evacuation considerations can be determined by applying a risk-based approach as outlined in the Flood Risk Management Manual 2023 and its accompanying Flood Risk Management Toolkit, including EM01 Support for emergency management.
Flood maps were largely removed from Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) due to the implementation of the 2021 Flood Prone Land Package, which introduced two standard LEP clauses replacing previous clauses that referred to flood maps.
There are some LEPs that still reference flood maps or combine them with other maps, such as drinking water maps. These flood maps will remain in LEPs until they are updated or no longer referenced in the plans.
These changes will make it easier and faster for councils to keep their flood maps up to date.
Councils are still required to make flood maps publicly available, in accordance with Principle 4 of the Flood Risk Management Manual 2023.
To ensure the information is still accessible to landowners, councils can display the maps in a variety of ways, including on council websites or in Development Control Plans.
For additional guidance on flood maps, councils can refer to the planning guideline Considering flooding in land use planning guideline - July 2021.
Flood maps can play a crucial role in determining proposed development under specific rules outlined in the council plans. They are particularly relied upon for assessing clauses 5.21 and, where applicable, 5.22, of the relevant LEP.
More information
For further information, email [email protected]