At Tuesday night's meeting, Wollondilly Council voted to endorse the North Wilton Neighbourhood Plan No.1, after
changes were made to the plan by the proponent in response to community and Council feedback.
The Neighbourhood Plan has established a set of design and sustainability principles for the area aimed at achieving a 6-Star Green Star Communities rating; including adopting Water Sensitive Urban Design principles and mitigation against the urban heat island effect through enhanced tree canopy.
Similar to a land use Master Plan, a Neighbourhood Plan provides an overview of how development is planned to roll out across part or all of a precinct and is one of the few ways the elected Council can have direct input into the State-led development of the Wilton Growth Area. The adopted plan will now provide a framework for the assessment of Development Applications in North Wilton.
The Neighbourhood Plan was originally scheduled for consideration at the October 2021 Ordinary Council meeting; however, it was withdrawn at the request of the proponent (Landcom) to give them an opportunity to address a number of issues that had been raised by Council and the community during the engagement process.
Mayor Matt Gould said, "The key matters raised, such as water supply, wastewater, a 40% tree canopy target,
bushfire management and the masterplan layout, including the co-location of the school and sports field, have been satisfactorily addressed by the proponent and the respective public agencies."
"This Neighbourhood Plan has improved significantly from where it started, and now sets up a solid framework to make North Wilton a great place to live for current and future communities."
"Whilst it isn't perfect, under the state government's planning framework, if Council had failed to approve a neighbourhood plan at this meeting the Development Application for this site
could have been considered without a plan in place. This would have meant that all the improvements we have been able to secure in this neighbourhood plan wouldn't be required to be delivered by the developer, leading to a much worse outcome for our community."
"I'd like to thank everyone who made a submission during the two rounds of public exhibition to help us reach this
fantastic outcome."
"Council will continue to strongly advocate alongside the major landowners for priority infrastructure for Wilton to be fast-tracked, including transport, health, education, roads and community facilities."
The Neighbourhood Plan area is predominantly comprised of low-density residential development, with the proposed school site, dual football fields and the sub-arterial road.
There are an estimated 750 lots with the development of the Neighbourhood Plan area proposed to take place in four sub-stages that will deliver between 150-200 lots each, with associated open space, roads, drainage and services.
The North Wilton draft Neighbourhood Plan No. 1 will now be forwarded to the Department of Planning and
Environment, with requests that they make amendments to the Wilton DCP and to the North Wilton Precinct Structure Plan.
