The Clarence Valley Local Housing Strategy (LHS) has been adopted following the November Ordinary Council Meeting.
The Local Housing Strategy recommends actions to implement priorities of the North Coast Regional Plan 2041 and Council’s Local Planning and Policy Framework as well as assists Council to plan for housing based on the four housing pillars: supply, diversity, affordability and resilience.
After receiving a total of 372 submissions, Council staff considered changes to the strategy in relation to the Iluka Intervention Area, Palmers Island, Yamba Intervention Area, Yamba Library and Community Hall, James Creek, Elland and Gulmarrad.
Following the Council meeting, the Clarence Valley Local Housing Strategy will be available on Council’s website: www.clarence.nsw.gov.au/Building-and-planning/Strategic-Planning/Strategies-and-plans
A lengthy report was tabled at the November 21 meeting with staff detailing the various locations for which submissions had been received.
The LHS also identifies land suitable for greenfield development away from areas prone to natural hazards or land with high environmental value to meet the projected housing needs of the community over the next 20 years.
The LHS identifies a lack of diversity in housing choice within the Clarence Valley. That is, the vast majority of housing stock is made up of detached single dwellings with three (3) or more bedrooms. The actions within the LHS aim to address this imbalance and facilitate the provision of options for community members at all stages of life and a variety of family structures.
Draft versions of the LHS have been publicly exhibited from 27 October to 22 December 2023 (first round), and again after making changes in response to submissions, from 9 August to 23 September 2024 (second round).
The report detailed the recommended changes to the LHS in response to the second round of submissions and NSW Government agency recommendations. It provides a summary of the key concerns raised.
The report to Council said submissions had been carefully considered by Council’s professional staff and changes to the LHS were recommended.
A total of 372 submissions were received consisting of five (5) agency submissions and one (1) non-government organisation, 88 online unique written submissions, including five (5) letters of support and 278 proformas in objection.
Submissions in support relate to the Iluka planning intervention and the Yamba planning intervention. Objections relate to the Iluka, Yamba and Palmers Island planning interventions, the James Creek investigation area and Yamba
Library and Community Hall being identified for investigation for opportunities for affordable housing. Four (4) submissions request three (3) specific sites be included in the LHS.
No objections were received regarding the Grafton and Maclean intervention sites; however general concern was expressed regarding increased density on the flood plain. General comments and recommendations were also received
requesting careful consideration of natural hazards and emergency evacuation and limiting the fragmentation of land with high environmental value and agricultural significance.
When put to the vote, Cr Whaites, Cr Yager, Cr Novak, Cr Toms, Cr Johnstone, Cr Smith, Cr Causley voted in favour, whilst Cr Clancy, Cr Cairns opposed the adoption of the Local Housing Strategy.
What the LHS changes mean?
Changes to the LHS in response to submissions are detailed below:
Iluka Intervention Area
The proposed intervention in Iluka has been removed due to community opposition which included specific feedback that considered the demand for additional housing. Whilst the proposed intervention would provide support for increasing housing supply and diversity in the future, there is acceptable capacity within the existing zoning to cater for projected housing demand. Although the current need for greater diversity in housing choice remains, it is considered more appropriate to revisit the need for additional housing provision
in Iluka during subsequent reviews of the LHS.
In future LHS reviews, the Open Coast Coastal Management Program will be considered, along with any plans to address the resilience of Iluka Road.
Palmers Island
The land at 4 River Street, Palmers Island has been removed. The inclusion of this land could compromise the endorsement of the LHS by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) due to conflicts with NSW Government policy and Ministerial Directions.
This land was inserted into the draft amended LHS by the 23 July 2024 Council resolution (07.24.122) requiring its inclusion and nomination of rezoning from RU2 zone to R5 zone. However, Council has since received a submission from the DPHI stating that the inclusion of this site “is not supported as it is inconsistent with the North Coast Regional Plan 2041, and a number of s9.1 Ministerial Directions, as the
land is highly flood prone and subject to riverbank erosion, is regionally significant farmland and within the sensitive coastal strip.”
DCCEEW submission
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) have submitted that the LHS must be consistent with the Open Coast Coastal Management Program (CMP), however the CMP is not yet finalised as it is awaiting certification from the Minister of Environment. In response, the LHS has been updated to ensure that the CMP is considered prior to any relevant rezoning proposal. Additional
wording around compliance with the Coastal Management Framework, the Coastal Management Act 2016and tidal inundation has been included in response to the submission from DCCEEW.
Additional capacity calculations have been updated.
The capacity calculations for the LHS were not updated from the original draft LHS after amendments were
made. The LHS shows the updated capacity calculations as creating capacity for an additional 1,533 dwellings, made up of 1,025 dwellings in the upper Clarence and 513 in the lower Clarence area.
Issues raised in submissions, with no changes to the LHS, are detailed below:
Yamba Intervention Area
Concerns were expressed from community members relating to the “Yamba Hill medium density infill” intervention area, which proposes to change the zoning from R2 Low Density Residential to R3 Medium Density Residential. There is no proposed change to the existing 9 metre height limit.
This intervention area has been retained as there is an identified short-term need for increased housing diversity and choice within Yamba and to contribute to meeting the North Coast Regional Plan 2041 targets for infill development. The proposed change will assist with the delivery of a greater diversity of housing types and sizes (i.e. attached dwellings, multi dwelling housing, residential flat buildings that vary in size and number of bedrooms).
It is also important to consider the uncertainty of West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) for housing provision due to recent refusals by the Northern Regional Planning Panel. In the event that WYURA cannot deliver planned housing supply to meet community need, the LHS would need to be updated. This may include new investigations around increasing density and building heights, and/or bringing forward planning interventions in other locations to provide diverse and affordable housing.
Yamba Library and Community Hall
Submissions were received opposing the inclusion of the site of the Yamba Library and Community Hall on Wooli Street, Yamba. This site is identified alongside four others to “investigate opportunities for affordable housing on Council-owned land delivered through public-private partnerships using a competitive tender process”. The concerns raised are around previous Council resolutions (07.22.290 and 07.23.002) to retain Council ownership of the hall and concerns around lack of transparency relating to the addition of this site in the draft amended LHS.
The draft amended LHS was publicly exhibited, and the site is identified for investigation only with no commitments about its future use. There is a significant amount of further investigation to be conducted before any decisions are made about the best possible uses for the site, inclusive of a number
of opportunities for community engagement, input and informed decision making. It is considered appropriate to retain the reference to this site in the LHS.
James Creek
Submissions in objection to the inclusion of the investigation area on James Creek Road, James Creek, largely concern the lack of master planning within the existing R1 General Residential Zone on James Creek Road and its identification in the report as an Urban Release Area (URA). The LHS states that the intervention area for James Creek will require a structure plan and a site-specific Development Control Plan.
It is considered that these concerns have been addressed. The “planned urban growth area” section of the LHS has been updated to refer to the existing residential zoned land as Lot 104 DP 751388, not a URA.
Elland
A submission was received to request the inclusion of 925 Rushforth Road, Elland (Lot 4 DP 806903). The proposal is to rezone the site from RU2 Rural Landscape to R5 Large Lot Residential. The submission focusses on justifying the requirement for further unconstrained R5 zoned land based on the constraints affecting existing R5 zoned land.
The evidence-base of the LHS focuses on the need for increased diversity and housing choice within the Clarence Valley. Further R5 zoned land will likely yield detached single dwellings with 3 to 5 bedrooms, which would not contribute to the diversity of housing, and will further fragment agricultural land and/or land with environmental value.
What is needed are smaller dwellings, apartments, attached dwellings within close proximity to town centres. The need for further R5 zoned is not supported by the findings of the LHS.
Additional R5 land may be considered in future reviews of the LHS (required every 5 years), however the LHS does not identify a need in the next 20 years.
Gulmarrad
Three (3) submissions were received regarding land in Gulmarrad. One (1) is in support of planning intervention 12 (previously intervention 13) at Boundary Road (part Lot 361 DP 751388) and requests the entire lot to be included as planning intervention for urban residential development. However, this land has not been included in intervention 12 due to the land being identified as High Environmental Value as it is within the coastal emu range, is mapped as bushfire prone land, and part of the lot is mapped significant
farmland as identified in the North Coast Regional Plan 2041.
The abovementioned submission requests the inclusion of Lot 131 DP 1208345 on Parklands Drive and Lot 7 DP 1252002 at 155 Armstrong Road, with proposed zoning to be changed from R5 Large Lot Residential to allow for urban residential development. An additional submission also requests the inclusion of the Parklands Drive site. Biodiversity, stormwater, servicing and bushfire (among other considerations) are current issues that may be exacerbated by denser development. Additionally, including isolated urban
residential development land may be problematic for such reasons as servicing, environmental issues and neighbourhood character.
A submission requests the inclusion of 27 Platers Road, Gulmarrad (Lot 203 DP 622509) for the purposes of
adding two dwellings, however the site is very heavily vegetated and is currently within the RU1 Primary
Production and the RU2 Rural Landscape zones. No justification for a rezoning has been provided, nor which zone is proposed. It is considered the inclusion of this site in the LHS is not justified