Georges River Planning Updates November 2026: Low Density DCP Rewrite Heads to Exhibition, Mortdale Rezoning Shelved and Beverly Hills Faces a State-Led 22-Storey Plan

Georges River Council is about to exhibit a broad rewrite of its homeowner DA controls. Draft DCP Amendment No. 8 changes setbacks, solar access, private open space and heritage controls. Meanwhile, the Mortdale rezoning has stalled, Riverwood's master plan is close to adoption and the State is deciding the largest projects in Hurstville and Beverly Hills.

This update draws on Georges River Council's committee and council minutes and business papers from 27 July to 9 November 2026, its Your Say exhibition pages, its register of LEP amendments and the relevant NSW Planning Portal and NSW Government pages. It explains what the changes mean for a new house, knockdown-rebuild, granny flat, dual occupancy or small development in Hurstville, Kogarah, Mortdale, Penshurst, Beverly Hills, Riverwood, Oatley or Blakehurst.

Status snapshot (November 2026)

Primary sources: Georges River Council minutes and business papers on InfoCouncil, including the 9 November 2026 Environment and Planning Committee agenda and minutes, the 24 August and 26 October 2026 council minutes and the 10 August 2026 extraordinary meeting. Also Council's register of amendments to Georges River LEP 2021 and the NSW Planning Portal record for Beverly Hills Town Centre (West).

What is changing in the low density DCP?

Most DAs Council assesses are small residential projects: alterations and additions, new houses, granny flats and dual occupancies. Council's committee report says Part 6.1 Low Density Residential has been reviewed to cut duplication and interpretation disputes. The review comes from Council's March 2025 action plan to cut DA assessment times, prepared after the State introduced council performance benchmarks and a league table in 2024.

The proposed changes include several adjustments that will matter on real sites:

Dual occupancy controls are folded into the dwelling house section. The separate subdivision section is removed because it repeats the LEP.

In practice, the wider solar window makes it easier to show three hours of winter sun when a neighbour's fence shades a living room early in the morning. You will still need accurate shadow diagrams. The ban on above-ground OSD basins in landscaped areas means stormwater has to be planned early. On tight lots, that usually means below-ground tanks or a basin under a driveway. Our OSD guide explains the options.

From suburb statements to character areas

Part 5 of the DCP currently describes each suburb. Amendment No. 8 replaces those statements with mapped character areas across all residential land outside the heritage conservation areas. The areas are Garden Suburban Traditional, Garden Suburban Naturalistic, Garden Court, Bush Suburban, High Density, Emerging Contemporary and Small Lot Housing. The narrow-lot rules for the Bellevue and Kemps estates move into the Small Lot Housing area.

Each area has an existing character description, a preferred future character statement and design guidelines. A DA must comply with both Part 5 and Part 6.1, and Part 5 prevails if they conflict. Council's example is that in the Garden Suburban Naturalistic area, the front setback must include a tree planting area of at least 5 m × 5 m, while Part 6.1 sets no dimension. That will affect driveway and front fence layouts, so a landscape plan becomes part of the early design rather than an afterthought. The River Edge character areas already sit in Part 6.5 Foreshore Localities through Amendment No. 7, which Council adopted on 22 June 2026.

A standalone heritage chapter

Heritage controls are currently spread across Part 3.7 and two appendices. Amendment No. 8 brings them together in a new Part 11 Heritage. It follows a review of Georges River's three heritage conservation areas: Penshurst (McRaes Estate), Hurstville (O'Brien's Estate) and Kogarah South. The review found that all three still meet the NSW heritage criteria at the local level.

The new chapter adds:

• a Statement of Significance for each conservation area
• updated maps showing whether each building is contributory, neutral or intrusive
• interior controls, so heritage items are considered as a whole rather than as a façade
• controls for subdivision, lot consolidation and boundary adjustments.

If you own a house in one of these areas, check the new contribution map once the draft is exhibited. A change from neutral to contributory affects how much of the original fabric you can remove, and what your Heritage Impact Statement must justify. See also renovating in a heritage conservation area.

Mortdale: rezoning shelved, DCP route instead

On 24 August 2026, Council unanimously reaffirmed the adopted Mortdale Local Centre Master Plan. It voted to keep pursuing the planning proposal and to look for grant funding for the extra technical studies DPHI had requested. Council's 9 November report says DPHI then advised on 30 September that the proposal cannot proceed to Gateway in its current form. Any new proposal would need more strategic and technical work.

In a letter dated 19 October, DPHI added that a future proposal should test greater housing and employment capacity under the Sydney Plan. It said no State funding is currently available, although opportunities may come with local strategic planning statement reviews from mid-2027. On 9 November, the committee voted 13–1 to note that the proposal will not proceed. It recommended exhibiting revised Mortdale precinct DCP controls with Amendment No. 8 to keep the centre's "village" character. Separately, the Mortdale RSL site is listed on Council's State Significant Development page as a Housing Delivery Authority project with a concurrent State rezoning for 175 dwellings.

Riverwood master plan: close to adoption

The draft Riverwood Local Centre Master Plan was exhibited from 11 May to 17 June 2026. Council received 83 survey responses and 31 submissions, including from Transport for NSW, Sydney Water and Homes NSW. The committee recommended adopting it with changes:

• a proposed through-site link over Homes NSW land on Hardwicke Street is under review
• clearer guidance on built form transitions
• stronger Connecting with Country content
• an infrastructure works schedule.

Council says the changes do not alter the development capacity or built form framework. Next steps would be a planning proposal to amend Georges River LEP 2021, precinct DCP controls and an infrastructure funding plan, each subject to budget and a separate Council decision.

Beverly Hills: two plans running in parallel

DPHI's State Assessed Rezoning Proposal for Beverly Hills Town Centre (West) covers about 1.7 hectares at 407–511 King Georges Road. It proposes:

• around 800 homes in buildings of 15 to 22 storeys
• an affordable housing contribution of 2%
• about 190 jobs.

Council's exhibition page says the land would be rezoned from E1 Local Centre to MU1 Mixed Use, with floor space ratios of up to 7:1. The Minister's 24 July 2026 release gave a closing date of 21 August. The Planning Portal now lists the exhibition as 24 July to 10 September 2026 and the proposal as post-exhibition.

At an extraordinary meeting on 10 August, Council resolved to make a submission, which it lodged on 7 September. It also put its own revised draft Beverly Hills Master Plan on exhibition from 11 August to 27 September. The master plan covers about 16 hectares along King Georges Road and Warrawee Place. It was updated for the latest pipeline hazard analysis, flood risk work and the State's low and mid-rise housing policy. On 26 October, Council asked that the post-exhibition report cover net additional dwellings, the feasibility of strata renewal and lot amalgamation, and a staged approach to economic feasibility testing.

The Housing Delivery Authority wave and the State's role

A Council report received on 24 August counted 17 Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) proposals declared State Significant Development in the area as at July 2026, totalling 4,367 dwellings. DPHI assesses these projects, not Council. They are exhibited for 14 days, and applicants must lodge an environmental impact statement within nine months of receiving assessment requirements or lose the declaration. One Beverly Hills site has already lost its declaration.

The first approval arrived on 21 August 2026. A 187-unit project at 105 Forest Road and 1A Hill Street, Hurstville was approved, and LEP Amendment 14 was made the same day. It sets a 75 m height and 6.4:1 floor space ratio, and requires at least 1,674 m² of affordable housing for 15 years. Council's answer to a question on 26 October listed 1,940 units in HDA projects in the Hurstville City Centre and Forest Road corridor. It added that its 2021 contributions plan did not anticipate growth at this scale and will need review. Council has written to the Minister asking for cumulative infrastructure impacts to be considered in the State process. For background on how local levies work, see our development contributions guide.

Other LEP changes to know

• Moore Park, Beverley Park (Amendment 13, 21 Aug 2026). A small part of the park was reclassified from community to operational land so it can be sold to improve access to a neighbouring club's car park.
• Hurstville Golf Course clubhouse, Mortdale. Council's project page says an LEP amendment published on 9 October 2026 allows a function centre at 57 Lorraine Street, subject to development approval.
• Biodiversity, character and foreshore. The planning proposal was sent for finalisation on 24 June 2026. DPHI has finished its assessment, and the legal drafting is with Parliamentary Counsel. Council was told a preliminary draft may arrive before the end of 2026, but there is no confirmed date and no guarantee of finalisation before the March 2027 State election.
• Pipeline buffer. The pipeline planning proposal would map a 200 m buffer along the Moomba to Sydney pipeline, which now carries natural gas, and add two sensitive uses to clause 6.16. DAs for uses such as childcare centres, schools, health services and seniors housing within the buffer could not be approved until the NSW Planning Secretary has been consulted. Existing homes are not affected.

Sydney Plan and the new notification rules

Council's 12 October report on the Sydney Plan, which commenced on 13 August 2026, notes that Kogarah is now one of two Emerging Major Centres in Sydney and Hurstville is an Activity Centre. Councils must also show 30 years of feasible housing capacity. Council expects to review its local strategic planning statement between 2027 and 2029 and to make LEP changes from 2028 onwards. Planning proposals from the Kogarah, Mortdale and Riverwood master plans must be consistent with the new plan. Exhibitions of the draft Kogarah Strategic Centre Master Plan and the Commercial Centres Strategy Part 2 closed on 9 September and 9 October.

The Statewide Community Participation Plan has applied since 1 September 2026 and replaces Council's own notification practices. Neighbour notification is no longer required for many common projects if they do not vary the height or floor space standards, including:

• houses and dual occupancies up to two storeys
• granny flats
• multi dwelling housing of up to five dwellings
• pools and other ancillary works
• demolition.

Master plans now need at least 42 days' exhibition.

Practical next steps

1. Lodge under the current DCP if your design already works. Amendment No. 8 is not in force. Where the draft would help, such as the 900 mm side setback or the 8 am to 4 pm solar test, raise it with Council at a pre-DA meeting. Do not assume it applies.
2. Find your character area on the exhibited maps and test the front setback, tree planting and driveway layout early.
3. Plan stormwater before the landscape design, because above-ground OSD in landscaped areas is set to be prohibited.
4. Check flood affectation first on low-lying lots near Salt Pan Creek or the foreshore, because the 1 m floor level cap has a flood exception. See flood planning levels.
5. If you are near the foreshore, expect stricter biodiversity and scenic protection controls once the LEP amendment is made.
6. Write a strong Statement of Environmental Effects that addresses both Part 5 and Part 6.1 once the new DCP applies. Our SEE guide explains what councils expect.

Related giantA resources

• Architectural services
• NSW granny flat approval process and dual occupancy vs duplex in NSW
• Neighbouring councils: Sutherland Shire, November 2026 and Canterbury-Bankstown, October 2026

FAQs

Is Georges River DCP Amendment No. 8 in force?

No. On 9 November 2026, the Environment and Planning Committee recommended exhibiting it for at least 28 days. Full Council still has to endorse that, and a post-exhibition report must come back before adoption. Until then, Georges River DCP 2021 applies as it stands.

Will the side setback for a new house drop to 900 mm?

Under the draft, the ground floor side setback would fall from 1.2 m to 900 mm for sites outside the foreshore localities, matching complying development. Foreshore sites keep their own controls. The change only applies once the amendment is adopted.

Can I still get a rezoning for Mortdale town centre?

Not through the current proposal. DPHI advised on 30 September 2026 that it cannot proceed to Gateway in its current form. Any future proposal would need new studies and would be tested against the Sydney Plan. Existing Georges River LEP 2021 controls continue to apply.

Who decides the Beverly Hills and Hurstville high-rise proposals?

The NSW Government. DPHI runs the Beverly Hills Town Centre (West) rezoning and assesses Housing Delivery Authority projects as State Significant Development. Council makes submissions but is not the consent authority.

Do my neighbours still get notified of my DA?

Often not. Under the Statewide Community Participation Plan, houses and dual occupancies up to two storeys, granny flats, pools and demolition are exempt from neighbour notification unless the DA varies the height or floor space standard.

Next step: Request a Georges River DA design review with giantA. We provide architectural services and approvals documentation for homes and small developments across Greater Sydney.