History of the scheduled lands
The Scheduled lands were originally subdivided in the late 19th century in a terrace style grid pattern following the establishment of the railway line to Richmond. Each lot is about 550sqm, about 9 metres wide and 61 metres deep.
The area was subdivided to support the Riverstone meatworks. Until the gazettal of the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme on June, 1951, there were no planning controls applicable to the area. Under the County of Cumberland Planning Scheme the land was zoned for Rural use with a minimum area of 5 acres (2 ha) required for the construction of a dwelling.
In 1968 the Scheduled Lands were included in the Blacktown Planning Scheme. The Blacktown Planning Scheme continued the rural zoning conditions but included ‘hardship’ clauses which allowed a dwelling to be built on land with less than the minimum area required. Many of the existing houses in the Scheduled Lands were built under this provision.
On May 14 2010, the Department of Planning rezoned the Scheduled Lands from a rural zoning to allow a range of residential and light industrial uses. However, while the land has been rezoned this still did not mean that owners can build on their land.
A number of issues need to be resolved before development can occur:
- Water, sewer, electricity and roads need are needed to service each new lot. This is the responsibility of landowners.
- There are a large number of landowners in the Scheduled lands. This makes co-ordinating the delivery of services difficult. Your neighbour might not want to develop when you do or might not be able to afford to.
Given the challenges to development it is unlikely that development will occur in the Scheduled Lands unless a large number of landholders work together.
This map shows the area of rezoned land that relates to Landcom's work
Landcom’s Involvement
The NSW Government recognise the development challenges that landowners face in the Scheduled Lands. As the Government’s land development agency, Landcom has been asked by the Minister for Planning to find a way to help owners develop their land in the area.
In 2005 Landcom started working with Blacktown City Council (BCC), the Department of planning and infrasture providers to find a way to help landowners overcome the obstacles to development. We also engaged in ongoing consultations with local landowners group Vineyard Riverstone Marsden Park Development Inc (VRMPD) to better understand the needs on landowners. The result is a development model which has the potential to enable effective, co-ordinated and viable development of the Scheduled Lands. The model relates to land zoned low density R2.
In 2009, the model was presented to around two thirds of the owners of land in the Scheduled Lands. Approximately 80% of those survey resolved in principle to continue working with Landcom.
Since that time Landcom has continued to work with BCC, landholders and infrastructure providers such as Sydney Water to finalise our work. We plan to test a finalised development model with landholders late in 2011.
