Development in Centres - Development Control Plan Chapter B4 Update

The stage 1 update is focused on Council’s Retail and Business Centre’s Hierarchy.  The Centres Hierarchy sets out the role, function and planning requirements for each Centre classification. The Hierarchy includes required characteristics for Centres of all scales, from our small villages up to our City Centre.

The incoming changes to our business zones through the Employment Zone Reforms, will mean that our villages and towns will now have the same land use zoning – and therefore the same objectives and permitted uses under the Wollongong Local Environmental Plan (LEP). To ensure development in our Centres continues to reflect the nuanced characteristics our community values, Wollongong Council negotiated with the Department of Planning and Environment to include an objective in the amended LEP that development in these zones be compatible with the Centres Hierarchy.

The Retail and Business Centres Strategy acknowledged the impact of the Employment Zone Reforms and also analysis of the retail demand of our population moving forward. The Strategy recommended that the Centres Hierarchy be updated to reflect the contemporary role and function of Wollongong’s Centres, retain their unique differences and guide their growth.

The Stage 1 update to the B4 Chapter includes revised objectives, changes to the placement of some centres within the hierarchy, and a table which consolidates the desired characteristics of Centres at each level of the hierarchy.  

A future Stage 2 update to the DCP will review and revise the Economic Impact Statement requirements, General Design Requirements and the location specific controls relating to each Centre. Council will undertake a Centres Built Form review starting in the latter half of 2023 to inform these updates. As part of the Stage 1 update, only minor housekeeping updates have been made to these sections to update zone names and address out of date references.