Draft Scenic Landscape Strategy

Overview of the draft Strategy

The Tweed is a much visited and fast growing part of New South Wales, recognised for its beautiful natural environment and scenic landscape. It is therefore important to consider any potential visual impacts that land use and development activities may have on the Tweed’s scenic landscapes.

The draft Scenic Landscape Strategy aims to protect and enhance the scenic landscapes of the Tweed Shire by:

• exploring which views and landscapes are most valued by the community and why
• providing a framework and guidelines to support land use planning and development decisions
• offering an interactive mapping tool with mapping data to help applicants explore the important scenic views in the Tweed, and prepare a visual impact assessment for development applications.

The Strategy focuses on protecting and managing scenic landscapes seen from publicly accessible locations. It does not apply to views from private property.

Additional supporting documents on public exhibition

The Draft Scenic Landscape Strategy is supported by two related land use policies. These establish a coordinated and consistent approach for all owners, managers and developers of land to consider and apply design, construction and ongoing management measures to protect or enhance the Tweed’s scenic landscapes for the future.

View the documents and other resources Access the interactive mapping tool

1. Draft amendment to Tweed Development Control Plan (DCP) 2008
Section A1 Part A Preliminaries
Scenic Protection

The draft amendment aims to link the Tweed DCP 2008 Section A1 Part A to the draft Scenic Landscape Strategy in the following ways:

• Aims to address potential impacts of residential development on views from publicly accessible spaces;
• Introduces the principles of view-sharing; and
• Provides for the consideration of the broader impacts of development on surrounding landscape character and quality during the development assessment process.

The Tweed Development Control Plan 2008 is relevant to the following local environmental plans:

• Tweed Local Environmental Plan 2014
• Tweed City Centre Local Environmental Plan 2012;
• Tweed Local Environmental Plan 2000.

The draft DCP amendment is exhibited in accordance with Clause 18 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000.

2. Council Policy Statement
This policy statement explains Council’s position to preserve the scenic values of the Tweed, and to ensure this is taken into account at all levels of decision-making concerning the use, modification or development of land, whether carried out by the private or public sector.

The policy provides principles and an evaluation guideline that is consistent with the draft Scenic Landscape Strategy.

Strategic Land-use Planning: 
We want to work together to plan for the future so the Tweed grows and evolves in a sustainable way. We plan for sustainable development which balances economic, environmental and social considerations. We aim to promote good design in the built environment.