As Northern Beaches Council moves towards developing a single planning system for our whole Council area, as required by the NSW Government, an important step in the process is the review of our current conservation zones.

Conservation zones are applied to land with significant environmental values or where there are significant hazards such as bushfire or flood.

The zones determine what you can and can't do on your property. For example if your property is in a high conservation zone because it has bushfire risk, you can still build a house but you may not be able to build a childcare centre.

At the moment, conservation zones are applied differently in each of the former Council areas. The aim of this review is not just to deliver consistency across our area but to make sure we apply the right zoning to the right areas using the best available knowledge. 

This is a complex process, involving a number of technical studies, maps and reports which are available for the community to review.

Ultimately this is about protecting the precious environment that makes our area special, and also keep our community safe from hazards like flood and bushfire.

Have your say

The community is invited to have their say on our proposed new conservation zones and technical studies.

To help you explore and understand the process we have applied in developing the zones we've created a suite of tools including:

• Address look up tool so you can see how your individual property is affected
• Frequently asked questions
• Webinars
• Snapshots
• Document libraries
• Quick links

It’s important we hear from our community. Learn more and have your say.