Draft Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report

Overview

Earlier this year we asked for feedback from the community about which streets, buildings and places within the Newcastle City Centre and Newcastle East areas have heritage significance and contribute to Newcastle's cultural identity.

Your feedback helped us investigate how and where land use protections for this area could best be applied, so that revitalisation of the Newcastle City Centre continues, whilst ensuring our rich and diverse cultural heritage remains protected and conserved.

This feedback has been considered and addressed within the Draft Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report which is now on public exhibition. We invite you to have your say on the Draft Report.

To find out more about what we heard from Phase 1 early engagement, visit the Have Your Say webpage.

Key Recommendations

The Draft Report makes a range of recommendations including:

A review of the Heritage Conservation Area boundaries, recommending that the Newcastle City Centre HCA be replaced with a range of smaller HCAs based on shared development history and/or built character.
Further adjustment of boundaries to remove land within the original study area that does not contribute to heritage significance.
Amendments to planning controls to reflect heritage conservation best practice, consistent with our approach for other HCAs across Newcastle.

Thanks for having your say!

Thank you to everyone who provided a submission. Feedback closed 5pm Monday 18 December 2023.

We're currently reviewing your feedback and will report back soon.

Document Library

Draft Report (open for feedback)

Draft Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report
PDF (13.18 MB)

Frequently Asked Questions

The Draft Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report (Draft Report) recommends ways to conserve and protect the cultural heritage in the Newcastle City Centre. It incorporates the findings from CN's engagement with the community (Phase 1) from 17 April 2023 to 29 May 2023.

We invite your feedback on the Draft Report during this second phase of engagement.

The Draft Report's study area includes two existing HCAs within the Newcastle City Centre Local Environmental Plan boundary. As their boundaries touch adjoining HCAs it includes the following HCAs:

Newcastle City Centre
Newcastle East
The Hill (small part of due to a shared boundary)
Cooks Hill (small part of due to a shared boundary)

A HCA is an area of land recognised and valued for the collective nature of buildings and elements in that area that contribute to an overall heritage significance worth protecting. It can include a group of buildings, landscape or whole suburbs with heritage values that give it a distinct identity. The heritage values can include historical origins, subdivision patterns, and consistency of building materials or the common age of its building stock.

The Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP 2012) lists and maps CN's eight existing HCAs. This is supported by a written clause which applies strategic planning objectives and associated provisions to conserve their heritage significance.

Visit the Heritage and Development Frequently Asked Questions page on our website for more information on HCAs and heritage items, including how they are identified and their implications for developments.

CN's existing Heritage Conservation Areas and the Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary

A heritage item is a place identified as having heritage significance. It can be a building, work, place, relic, tree, object or archaeological site including private houses, public buildings, churches and schools, public gardens, trees, shops, bridges, natural areas and memorials.

The Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP 2012) lists and maps CN's heritage items. This is supported by a written clause which applies strategic planning objectives and associated provisions to conserve their heritage significance.

Visit the Heritage and Development Frequently Asked Questions page on our website for further information on HCAs and heritage items, including how they are identified and their implications for developments.

Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012 (LEP 2012) identifies the 'Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary' as a mapped area supported by Part 7 Additional local provisions – Newcastle City Centre. This part aims to strengthen the regional position of the Newcastle City Centre, promote its revitalisation, and facilitate the development of building design excellence appropriate to its regional city status.

The Draft Report examines the Newcastle City Centre LEP objectives and boundary to ensure its objectives and associated provisions are responsive to facilitate the preservation ideals and management of the HCAs located in the current Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary.

CN's existing Heritage Conservation Areas and the Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary

The Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012, provides planning tools including HOB and FSR. These are supported by maps and a written clause to apply strategic planning objectives. They provide some certainty to the community and landowners about the acceptable bulk and scale of development.

HOB and FSR help establish primary building envelopes for development including gross floor areas for commercial and residential activities. CN's Development Control Plan supports the HOB and FSR with additional built form provisions, such as building setbacks and design standards. For clarity, we use a consistent approach for HOB and FSR development standards for development and community interests.

HOB and FSR development standards are not applied to residential zoned land in HCAs outside the Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary, such as residential zoned land in Cooks Hill, The Hill, Hamilton South and Hamilton Residential Precinct HCAs. Not applying HOB and FSR development standards to land in HCAs enables a merit assessment approach to development and is best practice and a common approach across NSW. This includes The Rocks and the Millers Point HCA in City of Sydney, and the HCAs in the commercial centres of Maitland and Morpeth, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Singleton, Armidale, and Albury.

The Draft Report examines the intent of HOB and FSR development standards to ensure their application, along with the objectives and associated provisions, is compatible with maintaining and conserving the heritage significance of the heritage conservation areas in the Newcastle City Centre LEP boundary.

No. The Draft Report recommends but does not instigate changes to HCA boundaries or heritage listings. Such changes would be subject to separate and strict legal processes to change the Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012 and/or the Newcastle Development Control Plan 2012.

The Heritage and Development Frequently Asked Questions page on our website provides comprehensive information and advice on heritage items and heritage conservation areas, how to sensitively develop and maintain your heritage property, and the approval pathways required.

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Community Engagement (Phase 1)

17 April – 29 May 2023

Seek community feedback to identify buildings and places of heritage value in the Newcastle City Centre and Newcastle East heritage conservation areas.
Timeline item 2 - complete

Review and Recommendations

June – October 2023

Review all community feedback and prepare a Draft Report outlining recommendations for the Heritage Conservation Areas in the study area.
Timeline item 3 - complete

Public Exhibition (Phase 2)

November – December 2023

Seek community feedback on the Draft Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report.
Timeline item 4 - active

Review and Report to Council

Early 2024

Review all community feedback on the Draft Report. Prepare Final Recommendations Report for Council.

Contact Us

Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name	Strategic Planning Team
Phone	02 4974 2000
Email	planning@ncc.nsw.gov.au

Protecting Your Privacy

City of Newcastle is committed to protecting your privacy. We take reasonable steps to comply with relevant legislation and Council policy.

Purpose of collecting personal details: Council is collecting this information to determine the local community’s views and opinions on the proposal outlined.
Intended recipients: information provided as part of the consultation will be used as part of the review, and may be included in future reports on the issue.
Storage and security: information provided will be stored on Council's database and will be subject to Council’s information and privacy policies.
Access: individuals can access data to check accuracy by contacting Council.

Phone	02 4974 2000
Website	newcastle.nsw.gov.au
In writing	12 Stewart Avenue PO Box 489 Newcastle NSW 2300

02 4974 2000

newcastle.nsw.gov.au

12 Stewart Avenue
PO Box 489
Newcastle NSW 2300