Buying a Camden growth area lot: what 300 to 450 sqm can carry

A lot in the Camden growth area is not controlled by Camden LEP 2010 but by State Environmental Planning Policy (Precincts, Western Parkland City) 2021, whose Chapter 3 carries the Sydney region growth centres provisions and whose Appendix 5 is the Camden Growth Centres Precinct Plan, with Oran Park and Turner Road in Appendix 2 and Leppington Town Centre in Appendix 3. The design controls come from the Camden Growth Centre Precincts Development Control Plan, which sorts lots by frontage width rather than area: a typical 300 to 450 square metre lot with a 10 to 12.5 metre frontage falls into the 9 to 15 metre front-access category, allowing a two-storey detached house with a 4.5 metre front setback, 0.9 metre side setbacks, a 5.5 metre garage setback and at least 25 per cent landscaped area. This guide is for buyers looking at land in Oran Park, Gregory Hills, Gledswood Hills, Leppington, Catherine Field and Lowes Creek who want to know, before they sign, what the block can carry and how the approval works.

Who this is for: home buyers and small investors purchasing a registered or off-the-plan lot in the Camden growth precincts who want to check which controls apply, what house, granny flat or duplex the lot can carry, and whether the approval will be a CDC or a DA before exchange.

Which planning instrument controls a Camden growth area lot?

State Environmental Planning Policy (Precincts, Western Parkland City) 2021 commenced on 1 March 2022 and absorbed the former Sydney Region Growth Centres SEPP. Chapter 3 Sydney region growth centres contains the general provisions, including clause 3.10, which applies the precinct plan controls once precinct planning is finalised, and Part 3.5, which adds heads of consideration for flood prone and major creeks land. The precinct plans sit in the appendices: Appendix 2 Oran Park and Turner Road Precinct Plan, Appendix 3 Leppington Town Centre Precinct Plan and Appendix 5 Camden Growth Centres Precinct Plan, which covers precincts such as Leppington, Catherine Field, Lowes Creek Maryland and East Leppington. Each precinct plan works like an LEP and is the instrument the section 10.7 certificate names. Camden LEP 2010 and Camden DCP 2019, which govern Narellan, Camden, Elderslie and Spring Farm, do not apply, and buyers who read the wrong instrument get the wrong lot size, height and setbacks.

What lot sizes does the Camden Growth Centre Precincts DCP set?

Table 3-2 of the DCP sets minimum lot sizes by density band, expressed as a minimum net residential target of 15, 20 or 25 dwellings per hectare in the R2 and R3 zones. For a dwelling house the base control is 300 square metres in every band, reduced to 250 or 225 square metres with an approved building envelope plan and lower again as an integrated DA. A secondary dwelling requires a 450 square metre lot in the 15 and 20 per hectare bands, and clause 52 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 caps it at 60 square metres while clause 51 prohibits subdividing it. A dual occupancy requires 500 square metres in those bands and 400 square metres at 25 per hectare. The version we read is the November 2016 consolidation hosted by the Department; Camden Council publishes the current amended DCP and the tables should be checked before purchase. The common mistake is buying a 375 square metre lot assuming a granny flat can be added later; at 450 square metres for a secondary dwelling, it cannot.

What can you build on a 300 to 450 square metre lot?

Section 4.2 contains the dwelling controls, and section 4.2.1 explains that Table 4-1 sorts lots by access and frontage width, directing the reader to Table 4-2 for rear-access lots of 4.5 metres or more, Table 4-3 for front-access lots of 7 to under 9 metres, Table 4-4 for front-access lots of 9 to 15 metres, Table 4-5 for lots over 15 metres and Table 4-6 for the Environmental Living zone. A 300 to 450 square metre lot with a conventional street frontage is usually 10 to 12.5 metres wide and about 30 metres deep, which puts it in Table 4-4.

Is the approval a CDC under the Greenfield Housing Code or a DA?

Part 3C of State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, the Greenfield Housing Code, applies to nominated urban release areas including the Camden growth precincts and allows one and two storey houses, alterations and additions to be approved as complying development by a council or registered certifier, typically within 20 days of a complete application. The NSW Planning Portal maps the greenfield areas and the code sets standards by lot type (standard, corner, parallel road and battle-axe). It cannot be used on heritage items, land reserved for a public purpose or environmentally sensitive land, and it cannot vary a standard. A DA to Camden Council is needed where the design does not meet a code standard, where flood or bushfire mapping excludes the lot, or where the buyer wants a dual occupancy, manor house or secondary dwelling outside the complying development provisions; the DA is assessed against the precinct plan and the DCP under section 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 with a statement of environmental effects. Decide before the builder’s contract is signed, because the drawing sets differ; our DA or CDC pathway advice is designed for this decision.

Six checks before you exchange on a growth area lot

1. Obtain the section 10.7(2) and (5) certificate and confirm the instrument (Precincts SEPP appendix), the zone, the residential density band and the lot size map figure.
2. Check the lot width at the building line against Table 4-1 of the DCP, so you know which controls table applies and whether a double garage is achievable.
3. Check the Planning Portal for flood, bushfire and Greenfield Housing Code mapping; flood and bushfire mapping can take the lot out of the code and add reports to a DA.
4. Confirm the builder’s drawings are prepared to the code or to the DCP table that applies, and who lodges the CDC or DA. Our development due diligence report covers these checks in one document.

Definitions

Precinct plan

An appendix to the Precincts (Western Parkland City) SEPP 2021 that functions as the local environmental plan for a growth centre precinct, with its own zoning, lot size, height and density maps.

Residential density band

The minimum net residential density (15, 20 or 25 dwellings per hectare) on the precinct plan’s residential density map, which determines the minimum lot sizes in the Camden Growth Centre Precincts DCP.

Zero lot boundary

A side boundary on which the DCP allows a dwelling wall without a setback, usually paired with an easement on the neighbouring lot recorded in the section 88B instrument.

Greenfield Housing Code

Part 3C of the Codes SEPP, which allows one and two storey houses in nominated urban release areas to be approved as complying development against fixed standards.

URBA prepares development due diligence reports and statements of environmental effects for growth area lots across Camden, Liverpool and Wollondilly, reading the precinct plan, the DCP table and the 88B instrument so buyers know what the lot carries before exchange. See our town planner for Camden page and our development due diligence report service, or request a fee proposal for a lot check.