Low and Mid-Rise Housing in NSW: four things people keep getting wrong

Short answer: the Stage 2 catchment-based controls apply around 171 nominated town centres and stations across NSW, measured as 800 metres walking distance. Stage 1 is separate and statewide — it permits dual occupancies and semi-detached dwellings in R2 zones regardless of any catchment. Whether the Stage 2 controls reach a particular site turns on how that walking distance is actually measured, and on a list of exclusions.

Since Stage 2 commenced on 28 February 2025, a great deal has been published about what the policy allows. Much of it is wrong in the same four ways. Each of these errors changes the answer for a real site, so they are worth setting out plainly.

1. It is walking distance, not a radius — and the maps are indicative

Section 163 of the Housing SEPP defines a low and mid rise housing area by reference to 800 metres walking distance: from land identified as a town centre on the Town Centres Map, or from a public entrance to a station listed in Schedule 11. The inner area is within 400 metres, measured the same way.

The test is one of proximity — but proximity measured in a particular way. What counts is the shortest safely walkable route from the site to the mapped edge of the town centre, or to the relevant station entrance. A circle drawn on a map overstates the catchment almost everywhere, and badly wherever a rail line, a creek, a main road or a large landholding forces a detour.

The Department publishes catchment maps and they are a useful starting point, but they are indicative, not legislative. Where a site sits near the edge, the route governs, not the map. Two properties the same straight-line distance from a station can fall on opposite sides of the boundary.

A second limb cuts the other way. Where part of a site area falls within the catchment, the whole site area is treated as within it — so a large lot clipped at one corner is in, entirely.

2. The heritage exclusion covers items, not conservation areas

This is the one stated both ways round, sometimes in the same document. The exclusion in section 164(1)(d) applies to “land that is a heritage item or on which a heritage item is located”. The phrase “heritage conservation area” does not appear anywhere in the chapter.

So a listed item switches the policy off for that lot. Being inside a conservation area does not. What being inside a conservation area does do is leave clause 5.10 of the local environmental plan fully in force — consent is still required, and heritage impact remains a merit consideration that can be decisive.

In a local government area like Woollahra, with 15 conservation areas and around 735 listed items, the distinction decides whether there is any uplift to discuss at all.

3. Where TOD controls apply, this policy does not apply at all

Section 164(1)(c) excludes land to which Chapter 5 — the Transport Oriented Development provisions — applies. The two schemes do not stack and they do not blend. On TOD land the TOD standards govern, and the low and mid-rise standards are simply unavailable.

Bayside is the clearest illustration. Four station precincts there carry TOD controls and three low and mid-rise locations do not. The familiar inner-area figures apply cleanly at Arncliffe, Bexley North and Rockdale Plaza — and not at Turrella, Banksia, Rockdale or Kogarah, where a different and generally more generous set of standards applies instead.

4. The nominated lists are shorter than reported

There are 171 nominated areas statewide, and the per-council counts are smaller than much of the commentary suggests. Liverpool has exactly one — Liverpool station. Woollahra has three. Campbelltown has five. Bayside has seven, one of which the Department attributes to two councils at once.

We have seen widely shared summaries claim six nominated stations in Liverpool and thousands of newly unlocked lots. The published site-selection table does not support it. Where a number matters to a decision, it is worth going to the table rather than to somebody’s summary of the table.

The exclusions, in full

Beyond the catchment itself, section 164 excludes:

• bushfire prone land;
• coastal wetlands, littoral rainforest and coastal vulnerability areas;
• land in an ANEF contour of 25 or greater, or an ANEC contour of 20 or greater;
• land within 200 metres of a relevant pipeline;
• land within 800 metres of a station listed in Schedule 12 — currently Cockle Creek, Punchbowl and Wiley Park;
• land mapped as an Accelerated TOD Precinct;
• land to which Chapter 5 applies, as above;
• land that is, or contains, a heritage item;
• four named local government areas — Bathurst Regional, Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Wollondilly;
• the probable maximum flood in the Hawkesbury-Nepean, and in six named councils the probable maximum flood in the Georges River catchment;
• flood planning areas in 23 named councils;
• land mapped as an exclusion area on the Low and Mid Rise Housing Exclusion Map.

Several of those are mapped layers rather than tests you can apply from a description. The practical order is to confirm the catchment and whether it is inner or outer, run the exclusions, and only then test the standards against the site. Doing it in that order avoids designing to numbers that were never available.

The standards — and the zones they apply in

The figures most often quoted are the residential flat building and shop top housing standards. They apply in R3 and R4 zones:

• Inner area, 0 to 400 metres: floor space ratio 2.2:1; residential flat buildings 22 metres; shop top housing 24 metres; six storeys.
• Outer area, 400 to 800 metres: floor space ratio 1.5:1; 17.5 metres; four storeys.

In R1 and R2 zones, where the use is permitted, the relevant non-discretionary figures are generally a 500 square metre minimum lot, 12 metre width, floor space ratio 0.8:1 and 9.5 metres in height. Quoting the R3 and R4 figures on an R2 site is one of the more expensive mistakes available, and we see it often.

For the lower-scale forms:

• Dual occupancy: 450 square metre minimum lot, 12 metre width, floor space ratio 0.65:1, 9.5 metres.
• Multi dwelling housing: 600 square metre lot, 12 metre width, floor space ratio 0.7:1, 9.5 metres — or 500 square metres and 18 metres for terraces.

Several of these are non-discretionary development standards, which means a consent authority cannot insist on something more onerous. That is a genuine advantage where it applies, and no help whatever where the policy does not reach.

Sources: State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, Chapter 6, sections 162 to 180; the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure low and mid-rise housing frequently asked questions, summary of key provisions, site selection table and exclusions pages. Written 5 August 2026 — planning instruments change, so confirm the current position before relying on any figure here.

Dr George Greiss is the principal of Greiss Planning, a NSW town planning consultancy.