At the meeting on 19 December 2023, Council resolved:
- to note the outcomes of the public exhibition of Chapter 3.3 of the Frenchs Forest Town Centre Contributions Plan which amended the methodology for indexation of land costs, and
- adopt the Frenchs Forest Town Centre Contributions Plan 2023.
There were no recommended amendments to Chapter 3.3 as a result of consultation. This resolution means the Contributions Plan 2022 is now repealed.
- View the Council minutes (Item 12.1, page 13).
- View the adopted Contributions Plan 2023.
- View the updated Contribution Rates for Frenchs Forest Town Centre.
Chronology of the Contributions Plan
The Contributions Plan 2022 was adopted by Council on 24 May 2022 and came into force on 1 June 2022. View the repealed Contributions Plan 2022.
In accordance with the NSW Government’s Ministerial Direction, residential contribution rates are capped at $20,000 per dwelling until the Contributions Plan has been reviewed by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) and approved by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.
IPART completed its review of the Contributions Plan 2022 and provided their final assessment report to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces on 4 July 2023. IPART’s final assessment report contained eight recommendations in relation to the Contributions Plan 2022.
On 6 October 2023, the Minister’s nominee instructed Council to implement IPART’s recommended amendments to the Contributions Plan 2022 and to publicly exhibit the proposed Land Value Index methodology and consider any feedback provided. There were no changes to the methodology, further review was not required. The Minister's letter and Council's response can be found here.
The NSW Government finalised the Frenchs Forest 2041 Place Strategy (the Place Strategy) in December 2021. The Place Strategy will deliver approximately 2,000 dwellings and 47,000 square metres of retail/commercial floor space as Phase 1 of the Northern Beaches Hospital Precinct Structure Plan.
To facilitate the delivery of infrastructure to support this development, Council prepared and exhibited a draft Frenchs Forest Town Centre Section 7.11 Contributions Plan (Section 7.11 plan). The Section 7.11 plan will collect contributions from new developments in the catchment to fund the provision of essential infrastructure.
The planning controls to facilitate development come into force on 1 June 2022. Landowners should consider the exhibited draft Section 7.11 plan when investigating future development costs.
The Northern Beaches Section 7.12 Contributions Plan (Section 7.12 plan) currently applies to land within the Place Strategy. Council prepared and exhibited an amendment to the Section 7.12 plan to ensure that only the new Section 7.11 plan will apply to this land. This will ensure that sufficient contributions are collected to fund the required infrastructure.
All submissions were considered and changes were made to the Section 7.11 plan. The outcomes of the public exhibition and the updated Section 7.11 plan were reported to Council for consideration.
On 24 May Council adopted the Section 7.11 plan as amended after community consultation. Following adoption by Council, the Section 7.11 plan will be reviewed by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART). IPART are required to review all contributions plans seeking to levy a contribution rate above the $20,000 per dwelling/lot threshold set by the NSW Government.
Following a review of the Section 7.11 plan by IPART, any required amendments will be made to the Section 7.11 Plan and those amendments will come into force.
The Section 7.11 plan applies to land within the Place Strategy (identified as Phase 1 in the Northern Beaches Hospital Precinct Structure Plan) shown in the map below. The Section 7.11 plan will deliver up to $104 million to support future residents and workers in this area.
An amendment to the existing Section 7.12 plan is also proposed to exclude this land so that only the Section 7.11 plan applies.
Read about the technical studies that inform the infrastructure inclusions in the plan.
On 24 May 2022, Council adopted the Frenchs Forest Town Centre Contributions Plan 2022 (the 2022 Plan). It was the first plan prepared for the land under the Frenchs Forest Place Strategy.
The 2022 Plan came into force on 1 June 2022. Residential contribution rates under the plan were capped at $20,000 in accordance with the NSW Government's Ministerial Direction.
The 2022 Plan is not the same plan as what Council placed on public exhibition, as the changes made post-exhibition predominantly related to the removal of traffic infrastructure that is the responsibility of the NSW Government to provide.
On 5 August 2022, the 2022 Plan was forwarded to IPART for review. Council sought exemption from the Ministerial Direction, to enable the capping of residential contribution rates to be removed.
