Planning for future land use

Please see the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage page for more detailed information.

The Rural Land Strategy(PDF, 82MB) was adopted by Council at the Planning Committee Meeting of 7 May 2020. For ease of access, the document has also been split into several sections as follows:

Rural Land Strategy Part 1(PDF, 4MB) : Introduction

Rural Land Strategy Part 2a(PDF, 7MB) : Policy directions and key actions

Rural Land Strategy Part 2b(PDF, 882KB) : Implementation Plan

Rural Land Strategy Part 3(PDF, 3MB) : Appendices

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 13MB) : Mapping - Maps 1-20

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 17MB) : Mapping - Maps 21-30 

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 13MB) : Mapping - Maps 31-40 

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 9MB) : Mapping - Map 41 

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 9MB) : Mapping - Map 42 

Rural Land Strategy Part 4(PDF, 7MB) : Mapping - Maps 43-55

Rural land in the Tweed serves a range of functions and values including farming, environmental protection, tourism, rural industries and rural housing. In recent decades, continual pressure to change land uses and develop rural land has seen a noticeable transition in how it is being used, leading to conflict and uncertainty about the future of rural land.

Council has prepared a Rural Land Strategy (RLS) to consider these changes and their impact on traditional farming, rural communities and associated industries, and to develop a strategy for the future of rural land in the Tweed. The strategy establishes a contemporary policy to guide the use and development of rural land, balancing its inherent capacity and suitability for specific uses, while considering economic, social, ecological and political outcomes.

The RLS is guided by nine Key Policy Directions and identifies a range of prioritised implementation actions.

The RLS was drafted in consultation with the community over a number of years. Historical documents relating to each stage of the development of this Strategy can be found on Your Say Tweed.

For further information, contact Council's Strategic Planning and Urban Design unit on 02 6670 2503. 

Rural Villages Strategy - 2016(PDF, 8MB)

The Rural Villages Strategy has been prepared by the Strategic Planning and Urban Design Unit to provide a vision for the rural settlements of the Tweed Shire and to establish a set of strategic goals, actions and activities aiming to deliver this vision. It has been adopted by Council at their Planning Committee meeting of 4 February 2016.

Key actions identified in the Strategy include:

1. Future development:

Location of any new development or the direction of future expansion of the villages will be identified in locality plans, prepared incrementally for individual villages. The Strategy also advocates for the regenerative development framework as a guiding principle for any future development in the villages.

The Strategy introduces Planning Principles prepared for "major rural villages" and "smaller rural villages" as identified on the Rural Settlement Map to prioritise implementation of the actions.

2.     Integrated Trail Network in context of the Rail Trail project:

Review of successful development of the tourist trails in other parts of Australia and overseas reveals that the trails may bring multiple opportunities to the local economy, including creation of jobs in tourism and retail industry, promotion of the region and flow-on benefits for the local producers and entrepreneurs. Successful development of both projects will take time and resources and will require co-operation between the key stakeholders as ultimately, the Rail Trail can become a spine of the Integrated Trail Network.

3.     Assistance to the local economy

The Strategy includes three groups of actions aiming to facilitate local economic resilience, collaboration and better integration with the broader regional economy:

• assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurship in the rural villages,
• actions aiming to attract creative professionals,
• actions to promote festivals, activities and events in the rural villages.

These actions are consistent with the actions provided under the Tweed Economic Development Strategy 2014.

Assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurship includes an action advocating for a review of the S7.11 contributions scheme for traffic-generating development, in order to provide additional incentive for entrepreneurships in the rural villages.

4.     Village-specific actions: Part 4 of the Strategy provides numerous actions responding to site-specific issues and ideas and includes separate chapters dedicated to each village.

Implementation of the Strategy will be based on an Implementation Plan, which is currently being finalised by Council’s Strategic Planning and Urban Design Unit.

Council is preparing a Locality Plan for Fingal Head. By adding your voice to the conversation you will help to influence decision making about your local area. Your contribution will help Council to develop the Fingal Head Locality Plan which will reflect the community’s vision for the future of Fingal Head.

A substantial amount of community feedback was collected during the Fingal Head Building Height Review (2016-2018). This is a great base for Council and the community to start the Locality Planning process as it provides a solid foundation to build on.

This community consultation aims to ask the community to identify and describe what they see as the specific elements that contribute to the character of Fingal Head. With this detail, we will work together to create a community vision for the future of Fingal Head.

Whether you have given feedback before or are new the process, now is your opportunity to have your say. Let’s get it right together!

For more information and to have your say online visit Your Say Tweed.

Stage 1 Consultation is now closed. Council will be providing a summary of the feedback to the community in the near future. Further opportunities for the community to participate in the development of the Fingal Head Locality Plan will also be available.

During 2016 and 2017 Council undertook the Fingal Head Building Height Review.

The wider community feedback supported establishing a two storey character design limit in the Tweed Development Control Plan 2008 and retaining the existing 9m building height limit under the Local Environmental Plan 2014.

The building height review was reported to Council in October 2017. Council resolved to amend the Development Control Plan 2008 and commence a Locality Plan.

The DCP amendment was endorsed by Council in February 2019 and became effective 20 February 2019.

Council is now commencing the Fingal Head Locality Plan.

The Kingscliff Locality Plan was adopted by Council on 7 May 2020. The Plan:

• Provides a clear strategic vision for Kingscliff and the surrounding locality
• Details land use and design strategies
• Identifies the need, coordination and delivery of necessary infrastructure
• Balances the needs and desires of the local community with state and local government requirements
• Identifies areas for protection from urban or other inappropriate development

For ease of access, the document has also been split into several sections as follows:

• Part A Section 1.0(PDF, 1MB) - Introduction
• Part A Section 2.0(PDF, 8MB) - Environmental Context
• Part A Section 3.0(PDF, 5MB) - Demographic and Community Context
• Part A Section 4.0(PDF, 4MB) - Urban Structure
• Part A Section 5.0(PDF, 3MB) - Economic and Retail Context
• Part A Section 6.0(PDF, 5MB) - Traffic Access and Movement
• Part A Section 7.0(PDF, 3MB) - Service Infrastructure
• Part B Section 8.1(PDF, 9MB) - Kingscliff Town Centre Precinct to 8.2 - Coastal Foreshore Precinct
• Part B Section 8.3(PDF, 5MB) - Turnock Street Precinct to 8.4 - Beachfront Precinct
• Part B Section 8.5(PDF, 5MB) - North Kingscliff Precinct to 8.6 - Business and Innovation Precinct
• Part B Section 8.7 - 8.12(PDF, 6MB)  

Further information about the development of the Plan, including supporting documents, is available on Council's online community engagement hub, Your Say Tweed.