A council-led move to tightly restrict non-industrial development across the Austral Light Industrial Precinct has been reshaped by NSW planning department.
Liverpool City Council initiated the planning proposal after approving and assessing several mixed-use industrial applications along Gurner Avenue and Fifteenth Avenue that included childcare, gyms, fast food and service stations alongside warehouse and light industrial floorspace.
Council sought to introduce a local provision into the Western Parkland City SEPP that would effectively cap all non-industrial development to a maximum 0.05:1 FSR and 5 per cent site coverage across the precinct.
The Department rejected that approach, finding the proposed controls overly restrictive and inconsistent with current employment zone policy, particularly the shift away from “open” industrial zones to more structured permissibility models.
Instead, the department’s supports a narrower intervention. The IN2 Light Industrial land use table will be amended to prohibit food and drink premises as a group term while retaining take-away food premises, restaurants and cafes as permitted uses. Hotel and motel accommodation will also be removed.
The department has also endorsed the introduction of local provisions to cap the maximum floor space of ancillary uses, with the intent that limits apply to a parent lot rather than individual tenancies. Exact caps are yet to be defined and must be justified before exhibition.
Childcare has emerged as a central pressure point. While the department does not consider childcare incompatible with light industrial zones, it has directed council to investigate importing conflict-mitigation provisions similar to clause 3.24 of the Transport and Infrastructure SEPP.
The precinct spans approximately 40 hectares and sits about 300 metres west of the planned Gurner Avenue Town Centre, with Fifteenth Avenue flagged for future rapid transit linking Liverpool to the Western Sydney International Airport.
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