The planning proposal process in NSW, step by step

To rezone land in NSW, you need a planning proposal. The NSW Government's LEP Making Guideline (July 2026) splits the process into five stages: a scoping report, the planning proposal that council looks at, a Gateway determination from the Department, public exhibition, and finalisation, when the new zoning becomes law. The guideline gives the formal part a target of 320 working days for a standard proposal and 420 for a complex one.

Those are targets, not promises. Below is each stage in order: who does the work, who decides, what you lodge and how long the guideline allows. After that we cover what the 2025 planning reforms changed.

What is a planning proposal?

Every council area in NSW has a local environmental plan (LEP). It sets the zone for each lot, the minimum lot size, building heights and more. To change any of that, you write a planning proposal: a document, plus studies, that explains the change and why it makes sense.

If you're a landowner or developer, what you send council is a planning proposal request. It only becomes a formal planning proposal once council (or another planning proposal authority) backs it and sends it to the Department for a Gateway determination. Only council, or a body the Minister appoints, can send a proposal to Gateway. You can't go straight to the state.

What are the stages, and who decides each one?

Here's the whole process on one page. The guideline counts in working days, which leave out weekends, public holidays and the Christmas break from 20 December to 10 January.

By our rough count, 320 working days is about 16 months on the calendar and 420 is about 21. The scoping stage comes on top. Real proposals often run longer. We compare the published figures in how long does rezoning take in NSW?

Is my proposal standard or complex?

Since July 2026 there are just two categories. A standard proposal includes things like a zone change that fits the objectives of the new zone, or one that gives effect to a strategic plan it's consistent with.

A complex proposal includes a zone change that would create a big new demand for local, regional or state infrastructure and needs infrastructure funding. It also covers anything that's inconsistent with a strategic plan. Most rezonings of rural land on the edge of town for housing will need new roads, sewer and water, so expect complex. Council suggests the category and the Department confirms it.

Stage 1: Do I need a scoping report?

It's not a legal step, but the guideline recommends it for complex proposals. A scoping report is a short document covering the proposal, the site, early studies, and how it fits the council's local strategies and the regional plan. You send it to council and ask for a pre-lodgement meeting.

Council should then give you written advice. That advice covers the category, council's fees, the studies you'll need, timeframes, and an early view on whether the idea has strategic and site-specific merit. It isn't a decision, and you can still lodge if council sounds lukewarm. It's cheap insurance, though. Better to hear about a deal-breaker before you've spent six figures on studies.

Stage 2: What do I lodge, and what does council decide?

You lodge the planning proposal request on the NSW Planning Portal, with the studies council asked for. Then the clock starts:

• Council has 10 working days to accept or reject the request as complete, and to send you the fee.
• Your request is only formally lodged once you pay. Leave the fee for more than 10 working days and it can be sent back.
• Council should ask for any more information within 20 working days of lodgement.
• Where the rules require it, council sends the proposal to its local planning panel for advice. The panel only advises.
• Council staff write a report, and the elected council votes on whether to support it.

Council fees vary a lot. Lake Macquarie City Council, for example, lists fees from $101,763 for a standard planning proposal up to $175,227 for a complex one, plus the cost of the studies. The studies are the bigger bill for a greenfield site. For our made-up sample site, Ridgeback Creek (demo), our report starts with $129k to $322k for the planning proposal studies alone, on top of earlier checks. Those are starting ranges, so get real quotes. The greenfield due diligence checklist sets them out in order.

Council can't put your proposal on public exhibition at this stage. Formal community consultation only happens after Gateway.

What if council says no, or doesn't decide?

You can ask for a rezoning review when council:

• tells you in writing it doesn't support the proposal (you then have 30 working days to ask)
• hasn't decided within 95 working days (standard) or 120 working days (complex) of lodgement
• supported it but didn't send it to Gateway within 20 working days.

The fee is $50,000 in metropolitan NSW and $25,000 in regional NSW. A Sydney district or regional planning panel runs the review, or the Independent Planning Commission for the City of Sydney. The panel meets you and council, then says within 5 working days whether the proposal should go to Gateway. If it says yes after council said no, the panel takes over as the planning proposal authority.

Stage 3: What is a Gateway determination?

Council sends the proposal to the Department. The Department checks it's complete (usually within 5 working days) and then tests it for strategic merit and site-specific merit. Strategic merit asks whether it gives effect to the state and regional plans or the council's local strategic planning statement, or responds to a change in circumstances those plans don't cover. Site-specific merit looks at the land itself: the natural environment and hazards, the uses nearby, and whether services and infrastructure can cope.

The Minister decides, usually through a delegate in the Department. The Gateway determination says whether the proposal can go ahead, and on what terms, such as extra studies, changes to the proposal, which agencies to consult, how long to exhibit, and the date the LEP should be finished by. It also says whether council can make the final plan itself.

A yes at Gateway doesn't mean the rezoning will happen. It means the proposal has enough merit to keep going.

If Gateway says no, or sets conditions you object to, you or council can ask for a Gateway review within 30 working days. If it's the conditions you object to, you must tell the Department within 10 working days. The Independent Planning Commission advises, aiming to report within 25 working days, and the Minister decides.

Stage 4: What happens at public exhibition?

This stage has the longest target of the lot. First the Gateway conditions get done: the extra studies, the changes and the agency consultation. For a greenfield site that might mean flood, bushfire, biodiversity and traffic work that wasn't finished at lodgement. State agency advice now comes through the Development Coordination Authority (more on that below).

Then the proposal goes on public exhibition. The guideline recommends at least 20 working days. If the Gateway determination doesn't set a period, the law sets 28 days. Council gets the submissions, and you get 5 to 25 working days to respond to them and suggest changes. If the proposal changes a lot, it may have to go on exhibition again. Then council decides whether to recommend it for finalisation.

Stage 5: Who gives the final yes?

The body that makes the new LEP is called the local plan-making authority. Under the law that's the Minister, but the Gateway determination can let council do it. The guideline says councils will generally be allowed for standard proposals. For complex ones the Department will usually finalise it.

For changes to the written plan, the Parliamentary Counsel's Office drafts the legal wording and must certify that the LEP can legally be made. The Department drafts changes that only touch the maps. The decision maker can make the plan, make it with changes, defer part of it, or refuse it. The new zoning starts on the day it's published on the NSW legislation website, or a later date the LEP sets.

What did the 2025 planning reforms change?

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 got assent on 24 November 2025 and is starting in stages. For rezoning, these are the parts that matter so far:

• New objects for the planning law from 15 December 2025, including housing, climate resilience and a risk-based approach. Plans already being prepared can still be made under the old objects, but only for 12 months.
• The Development Coordination Authority, a new body inside the Department, was set up from 15 December 2025. The Department said it would take on its full statutory functions from July 2026. The July 2026 guideline gives it the job of agency consultation and advice through the whole LEP process, so you and council no longer chase each agency one by one.
• The Housing Delivery Authority is now in the Act, and the quick amendment power in section 3.22 can be used for changes it needs to enable certain state significant housing projects.
• The Act also starts winding down the Sydney district and regional planning panels in favour of local planning panels for development applications. For now, the July 2026 guideline still sends rezoning reviews to those panels.

Alongside the Act, the Department updated the rules from 1 July 2026 for proposals lodged from that date:

• A new LEP Making Guideline with two categories instead of the old set, and every timeframe in working days.
• Rezoning review triggers moved from 90 or 115 calendar days to 95 or 120 working days. The Department says the other timeframes didn't change.
• The 54 old section 9.1 Ministerial Directions were folded into one, the section 9.1 Ministerial Direction, Local Plan Making. A proposal is judged against the version in force when it was lodged.

There are other pathways too. You can run a planning proposal alongside a development application, but council can't approve the development until the LEP is made. The state can also lead or assess a rezoning itself when it has state or regional significance.

Where do rural rezonings usually get stuck?

The first test is strategic merit, and it comes before anyone looks closely at the land. If the regional plan and council's housing strategy don't point to your site, the proposal starts on the back foot. In Sydney, the new Sydney Plan makes that bar higher still for land outside its urban growth area. Read what the Sydney Plan says about rural land before you buy there.

Then comes site-specific merit, which is where the maps matter. Creeks, flood land, mapped bushland, steep slopes and bushfire buffers all shrink the land that can take houses. On our made-up Ridgeback Creek site, 38.8 ha shrinks to 24.3 ha once those come off. The proposal has to be built around the land that's left, and so does the price you pay. Our guide to how many lots you can fit shows how to work that out.

Sources: Local Environmental Plan Making Guideline (NSW DPHI, July 2026); Making and amending LEPs (NSW DPHI, updated 3 July 2026); Planning system updates: Guidance improvements fact sheet (NSW DPHI, 1 July 2026); Information sheet: First commencement of the Planning System Reforms Act 2025 (NSW DPHI, December 2025); Information sheet: Second commencement of the Planning System Reforms Act 2025 (NSW DPHI, February 2026); Rezoning (Lake Macquarie City Council, viewed 18 October 2026).