Posted on February 18, 2025 by Taylor Finnegan and Katie Mortimer 4

NSW Government releases the Industrial Lands Action Plan

On 24 January, the NSW Government released the Industrial Lands Action Plan (Plan).

The Plan aims to establish a coordinated, statewide approach to planning, securing and managing the supply of industrial lands across NSW.

In the Plan the term ‘industrial lands’, captures land that is zoned for industrial or similar purposes in planning instruments, it contains a mix of businesses involved in manufacturing; transport and warehousing; service and repair trades and industries; integrated enterprises with a mix of administration, production, warehousing, research and development; and urban services and utilities. 

The Plan outlines 4 actions that the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) will implement, intended to support the planning and proactive management of industrial lands:

1. Deliver a statewide policy for industrial lands based on the categorisation of areas and precincts as state significant, regionally significant, locally significant and other industrial lands.
2. Investigate planning and policy interventions to support the intensification of state or regionally significant industrial lands.
3. Finalise and release a statewide approach for an industrial lands supply pipeline.
4. Implement an Employment Land Development Program to manage supply and coordinate infrastructure investment.

Action 1: Categorisation of Industrial Lands

The Plan introduces 3 categories of industrial lands:

1. State significant – areas that include or are directly linked to state or nationally significant infrastructure such as national/international airports, ports, intermodals and defence facilities. These areas would be protected from incompatible land uses to give certainty around allowed activity that are crucial to national and state supply chains.
2. Regionally significant – are of a scale that contributes significantly to local and regional economies. These areas include assets and services that support broader city functions such as waste transfer stations and concrete batching plants. They are located near and have accessibility to major transport routes, intermodals and portals and include regional airports. They support a broad range of industries and employment opportunities and exclude residential or retail uses that are ordinarily located in a centre.
3. Locally significant & other industrial lands – have smaller local catchments that serve the local area but do not necessarily have a critical mass. These areas are designated locally significant if they are not identifies as being state or regionally significant. This category includes areas with the potential to transition to alternative uses or allow additional non-industrial uses based on a strategic assessment, as endorsed by the Department.

Criteria will be defined for categorising industrial lands, with the categories then implemented through updates to regional plans. The Plan states that initial focus will be on Greater Sydney in consultation with councils, agencies and industry.

Action 2: Investigate Planning Policy Interventions

The Plan outlines 4 steps that will occur in 2025 and ongoing to support this action:

• Review Codes SEPP provisions for industrial lands to ensure they are fit for purpose, for example, that they enable modern warehouse construction
• Once industrial lands have been categorised, investigate whether state or regionally significant industrial lands require amended planning controls to appropriately maximise the use of the land (this will focus on intensifying existing industrial lands, such as changes to height and floor space ratio controls)
• Identify industrial land precincts that may require earlier targeted policy intervention such as precinct-specific planning controls to support a sustainable pipeline of serviced industrial land available for development
• Investigate opportunities to streamline and bring consistency to design requirements for industrial land uses

Action 3: State-wide Approach for an Industrial Lands Supply Pipeline

To apply a statewide approach to the supply of industrial lands, the Plan outlines that the NSW Government will:

• Audit of zoned industrial lands across NSW to understand supply (serviced and un-serviced)
• Determine the assumed take-up rate (ha/year) to support the pipeline policy for NSW underway
• Release a statewide approach for an industrial lands supply pipeline

The Plan states that: Defining and monitoring the pipeline will not only provide direction to government in future rezoning decisions, it will also provide greater certainty for industry and government to support investment in NSW.

Action 4: Employment Land Development Program

Finally, DPHI is establishing an ‘Employment Land Development Program’ to help improve the supply of industrial lands in NSW.

The actions identified to implement that program are:

• Targeted discussion with key stakeholders to understand development and servicing constraints in priority employment areas
• Shortlisting priority employment areas across NSW and associated infrastructure requirements
• Identify funding sources and develop an investment framework for infrastructure to secure a 10+ year industrial land supply pipeline
• Publish the priority employment areas selection rationale and infrastructure investment timeline
• Track the supply pipeline and emerging trends to position government to make timely investment decisions

You can read the Industrial Lands Action Plan here.

If you have any questions regarding this article, please leave a comment below or contact Taylor Finnegan on 8235 9723 or Katie Mortimer on 8235 9716.