Rural and large lot subdivision on the Central Coast: LEP 2022 rules

Whether a rural or large lot residential block on the Central Coast can be subdivided comes down to clause 4.1 of Central Coast Local Environmental Plan 2022 and the Lot Size Map, and then to three practical tests in Central Coast Development Control Plan 2022: can each new lot carry its own on-site sewage system (Chapter 3.3), can each lot be defended from bushfire with an asset protection zone under Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019, and can each lot be accessed and serviced under Chapter 2.4 Subdivision. On unsewered land in the RU1, RU2, R5, C3 and C4 zones, the DCP itself says the LEP minimum may need to be increased to fit effluent disposal and bushfire protection. Buyers looking at acreage from Somersby and Mangrove Mountain to Wyee, Jilliby and Holgate should treat the mapped minimum lot size as a threshold, not a promise.

Who this is for: buyers weighing up a rural, environmental living or large lot residential property on the Central Coast for its subdivision potential, who want to know which LEP clauses and DCP chapters to check before exchange.

What minimum lot size applies under Central Coast LEP 2022?

Clause 4.1 of Central Coast LEP 2022 is the starting point. Subclause (3) says the size of any lot resulting from a subdivision must not be less than the minimum shown on the Lot Size Map for that land. The map, not the zone, sets the number: two RU2 Rural Landscape lots a kilometre apart can carry different minimums, and R5 Large Lot Residential land ranges widely across the former Gosford and Wyong areas. Subclause (4) excludes strata and community title subdivisions from clause 4.1, but clauses 4.1AA and 4.2A close that door for rural and large lot land by applying the Lot Size Map to community title and strata schemes in RU1, RU2, RU5, RU6, R5, C3 and C4.

The objectives in clause 4.1(1) tell you how council will read a borderline proposal: lots must be able to accommodate development consistent with the controls, protect the physical characteristics of the land, avoid creating physical hazards, allow infrastructure to be provided and not overburden it cumulatively. A subdivision that meets the map but leaves one lot with no flood-free, bushfire-defendable building area is inconsistent with those objectives, and council will say so.

The common mistake buyers make is to read a listing that says “subdividable, STCA” and assume the map minimum is the only test. It is the first of five.

Can a rural lot be cut smaller than the map for farming?

Clause 4.2 (rural subdivision) allows land in RU1, RU2, RU3, RU4 and RU6 to be subdivided, with consent, for the purpose of primary production to create a lot smaller than the Lot Size Map minimum. Two conditions remove most of the attraction for a residential buyer: subclause (4) says such a lot cannot be created if an existing dwelling would end up on it, and subclause (5) says a dwelling cannot be erected on it. In other words, clause 4.2 produces a paddock, not a house block.

Clause 4.2D deals with boundary adjustments in rural and conservation zones, which can be useful for tidying a lot pattern but cannot be used to manufacture an extra dwelling lot. Clause 4.1E allows subdivision of split-zoned lots containing R5 or C4 land together with C2 or C3 land, provided each resulting R5 or C4 lot contains at least one hectare in that zone and one lot takes all of the conservation land. This clause matters on the bush blocks around Kulnura, Matcham and the Mangrove Creek catchment where lots straddle zone boundaries.

Does a new rural lot come with the right to build a house?

Not automatically. Clause 4.2B (erection of dual occupancies and dwelling houses on land in certain rural and conservation zones) applies to RU1, RU2, RU6 and C3. Development consent for a dwelling house on that land must not be granted unless the lot was created before the LEP commenced with a dwelling permissible on it, or is at least the Lot Size Map minimum, or was created in accordance with the LEP, or falls within one of the narrow exceptions for minor boundary realignments, road widening or mapped lot amalgamation areas. A lot created under clause 4.2 for primary production fails this test.

For buyers this means two things. First, a lot that meets the map through a compliant subdivision carries a dwelling entitlement under clause 4.2B(3)(b) or (c). Second, an old undersized rural lot only carries an entitlement if a dwelling was permissible on it immediately before the LEP commenced, which needs a check of the previous Gosford or Wyong instrument, not a guess. Ask for written planning advice or a pre-lodgement meeting before you rely on it.

What does Central Coast DCP 2022 Chapter 2.4 require for rural subdivision?

Central Coast DCP 2022 commenced with the LEP and is published chapter by chapter on the council website. Chapter 2.4 Subdivision applies across the zones; section 2.4.5 deals with rural, scenic protection and conservation subdivision. Its objectives include ensuring future development is not located in hazardous areas including flood prone, bushfire prone and potentially unstable land, and ensuring each lot has an adequate building area, vehicular access and services.

Section 2.4.5.1 (lot size and design) says the minimum lot sizes by zone are those in Central Coast LEP 2022, and then adds the sentence that decides most rural subdivisions: the minimum lot size may need to be increased to ensure there is adequate provision for water supply, effluent and waste disposal and bushfire protection, and to respond to topography and environmental constraints. The same section requires the plan of subdivision to identify a building envelope for each lot designed around natural features, keeps dwellings off dominant ridgelines, and requires applicants to identify a suitable effluent disposal area for each lot supported by a preliminary geotechnical assessment of its suitability for an on-site system. Battle-axe access corridors are designed to section 2.4.3.4, and where a handle serves three or more dwellings or exceeds 50 metres in length vehicles must be able to enter and leave in a forward direction.

How does sewer, or the lack of it, change the answer?

Most rural and R5 land on the Central Coast is outside the reticulated sewer network, and Chapter 3.3 On-Site Sewage Management of the DCP applies to every unsewered lot. Section 3.3.1.2 says new development in unsewered areas requires an on-site sewage management system designed to the relevant standards, and lists subdivision among the development types that must assess on-site sewage options. The chapter references AS 1547:2012 On-site domestic wastewater management and the Environment and Health Protection Guidelines for on-site sewage management for single households.

The reporting requirement is specific. A wastewater management report by a suitably qualified consultant must include a site assessment against Appendices B and D of AS 1547:2012, a minimum of two soil test pits within the available land application area on each lot (more where there are multiple soil landscapes), a soil assessment against Appendices C, E and F, the design wastewater load, the applicable setback distances from Table R1 of the standard, and the available land application area. Buffer distances to boundaries, waterways, dams and bores come from the standard and from the drinking water catchment controls in Chapter 3.4 where the land drains to Mangrove Creek or Mooney Mooney Creek.

In practice, the land application area is what most often pushes the real minimum lot size above the map. A lot on heavy clay with a 10 per cent slope may need a far larger disposal area than the same lot on a sandy loam, and the area cannot overlap the asset protection zone, the building envelope, the driveway or a flood extent. Where the land is inside a sewered area, clause 7.6 still applies: council must be satisfied that sewage disposal is available or that arrangements have been made, and Central Coast Council as the water authority sets the connection requirements.

What does bushfire do to a Central Coast subdivision?

Section 4.14 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 requires the consent authority to consider Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 before granting consent for development on bush fire prone land, and section 100B of the Rural Fires Act 1997 requires a bush fire safety authority from the NSW Rural Fire Service for subdivision of bush fire prone land for residential or rural residential purposes. PBP 2019 Chapter 5 sets the performance criteria and acceptable solutions for residential and rural residential subdivision: asset protection zones sized from the vegetation, slope and fire danger index tables in Appendix 1, two-way access roads, perimeter roads or fire trails where required, and water supply requirements for non-reticulated areas.

The effect on lot design is that each new lot must contain its own APZ, on land the future owner controls, without clearing vegetation that the LEP or the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 protects. On a bush block in C4 Environmental Living at Wyong Creek or Bensville, the APZ, the effluent area and the building envelope often compete for the same cleared corner. The DCP’s instruction that the minimum lot size may need to be increased for bushfire protection is the formal expression of that competition. Check whether the land is mapped bush fire prone on the RFS online tool or the section 10.7 certificate before paying for a concept plan.

What should a buyer check before exchange?

1. Obtain a section 10.7(2) and (5) planning certificate under section 10.7 of the EP&A Act; it states the zone, the minimum lot size, whether the land is bush fire prone, flood affected or in a drinking water catchment, and whether any dwelling entitlement restrictions apply.
2. Open the lot on the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer and read the Lot Size Map figure for the exact parcel, then check the Natural Resources and Terrestrial Biodiversity layers for C2 and C3 land inside the lot.
3. Confirm the dwelling entitlement position under clause 4.2B for each proposed lot, including the history of any undersized lot, with written advice from council or a planner.
4. Commission a preliminary wastewater assessment (soil test pits and a land application area calculation to AS 1547:2012) for the worst lot, not the best one.
5. Commission a bush fire assessment identifying the APZ for each lot under PBP 2019 and confirm the APZ fits inside the lot without clearing protected vegetation.
6. Check legal access (a public road frontage or a registered right of carriageway of adequate width), water supply, electricity and waste collection against clause 7.6 and DCP section 2.4.2.2.
7. Only then price the land on a per-lot basis, allowing for section 7.11 or 7.12 contributions, road and driveway works and the biodiversity offset risk on vegetated land.

Definitions

Lot Size Map

The map adopted by Central Coast LEP 2022 that shows the minimum lot size for subdivision of each parcel; clause 4.1 applies it.

Dwelling entitlement

The ability to obtain consent for a dwelling house on a rural or conservation lot, governed by clause 4.2B of Central Coast LEP 2022.

Land application area

The part of a lot used to dispose of treated wastewater from an on-site sewage management system, sized and buffered under AS 1547:2012 and DCP Chapter 3.3.

Asset protection zone (APZ)

A managed, low fuel buffer between a building and bushfire hazard vegetation, sized under Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019.

Bush fire safety authority

The approval issued by the NSW Rural Fire Service under section 100B of the Rural Fires Act 1997 for subdivision of bush fire prone land, obtained through the integrated development process.

Section 10.7 certificate

A planning certificate issued by council under section 10.7 of the EP&A Act stating the planning controls and hazards that apply to a parcel of land.

URBA prepares development due diligence reports and subdivision Statements of Environmental Effects for rural and large lot land across the Central Coast, testing each proposed lot against clause 4.1, clause 4.2B, Chapter 2.4, Chapter 3.3 and PBP 2019 before a contract goes unconditional. See our development due diligence report service, our subdivision planning service and our Central Coast town planning page, or request a fee proposal for a particular property.