Sutherland Shire Planning Updates November 2026: State Takes Over Miranda and Sutherland-Kirrawee Rezonings, Cronulla Entertainment Precinct Live and LEP Housekeeping at Finalisation

In September and October 2026, the NSW Government took over the Miranda and Sutherland-Kirrawee rezonings from Sutherland Shire Council. Cronulla's Special Entertainment Precinct is now running as a 12-month trial with new DCP sound rules. Council's housekeeping amendments to Sutherland Shire LEP 2015 are with the Department for finalisation.

This update draws on Sutherland Shire Council's meeting papers and minutes from 13 July to 26 October 2026, the agenda for the council meeting on 9 November 2026, and the NSW Planning Portal record for each proposal. It explains what the changes mean for a development application (DA) in Miranda, Sutherland, Kirrawee, Caringbah, Cronulla, Sylvania, Engadine, Menai or Kurnell.

Status snapshot (November 2026)

Primary sources: Sutherland Shire Council meeting papers and minutes on the Council's public meetings portal: 13 July 2026, 3 August 2026, 24 August 2026, 14 September 2026, 12 October 2026, the 26 October 2026 Planning Committee and the 9 November 2026 agenda. NSW Planning Portal records for Miranda, Sutherland-Kirrawee, the Cronulla Special Entertainment Precinct and the housekeeping amendments.

Miranda and Sutherland-Kirrawee: why the State has taken over

Council endorsed draft Place Plans and planning proposals for Miranda in November 2025 and for Sutherland-Kirrawee in December 2025. Both were sent to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) for a Gateway determination in early 2026. Council officers then worked with DPHI for around nine months on matters including infrastructure, urban design, feasibility and housing delivery.

On 23 September 2026, Council was told that both centres had been selected to proceed as State-led rezonings under DPHI's State Significant Rezoning Policy. The Planning Portal now shows the Council-led proposals as "Not Proceeding", with Gateway decisions recorded on 12 October 2026 (Sutherland-Kirrawee) and 13 October 2026 (Miranda). DPHI is now responsible for progressing, exhibiting, assessing and determining the rezonings.

At its meeting on 12 October 2026, Council unanimously passed a mayoral minute expressing serious concern about the loss of local decision-making. It resolved to seek a meeting with the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, to ask for the decision to be reversed and to call for investment in roads, transport, open space and community facilities to match growth.

What it means for landowners

• Nothing has changed yet on the ground. Sutherland Shire LEP 2015 and DCP 2015 still apply in both centres. A DA lodged now is assessed under the current controls.
• Do not rely on Council's 2025 drafts. The State will prepare its own controls, and the adopted Sydney Plan asks for more housing capacity. Heights, floor space and affordable housing rates could all differ from what Council exhibited.
• Watch for a State exhibition. Under the State-led pathway, draft controls go on public exhibition before any decision. That is the time to test your site and make a submission.
• Consolidation and timing. If you are thinking about buying or amalgamating lots in either centre, factor in a longer and less certain timeline until the State's draft is released.

How does the Cronulla Special Entertainment Precinct work?

Cronulla is now NSW's first beachside Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP), and the 12th in the State. According to the NSW Government's 1 September 2026 announcement, it covers the bars, pubs, cafés, restaurants, clubs and shops between Gerrale Street and Wilbar Avenue. Council resolved on 13 July 2026 to ask the Department to amend the LEP, adopted a revised Precinct Management Plan and set up a 12-month trial. Council's SEP page says the trial runs from Friday 4 September 2026 to Saturday 4 September 2027, and an evaluation report is due by late 2027.

Under the Precinct Management Plan, businesses inside the precinct, licensed or not, can trade to these hours without needing new development consent:

Longer hours can still be sought through a DA under DCP Chapter 37 Late Night Trading. Liquor licence conditions remain a separate matter for Liquor & Gaming NSW, which also handles entertainment sound complaints about licensed venues. Sound limits are set by Sound Category Areas. After consultation, Council moved the Tonkin Street frontages facing Gunnamatta Bay to a different weekend category.

New DCP Chapter 45: the agent of change

On 24 August 2026, Council adopted a new Chapter 45 Special Entertainment Precincts in Sutherland Shire DCP 2015, with related changes to other chapters, including Chapter 6 Residential Flat Buildings and Chapter 19 E2 Commercial Centre Cronulla. The key points are:

• Agent of change. Whoever introduces the change is responsible for managing noise. That covers a new or expanded venue, and it also covers a new apartment building next to an existing venue.
• Acoustic reports. The chapter sets out when an acoustic report is required, who can prepare it and what it must show. After exhibition, Council made clear that this applies to section 4.55 modification applications as well as new DAs.
• Internal sound criteria. The criteria for sensitive receivers such as bedrooms were clarified. This affects glazing, ventilation and façade design for apartments in and near the precinct.

If you are planning a residential flat building or shop-top housing in Cronulla, brief your acoustic consultant at concept stage. Our guide to acoustic reports for NSW DAs explains what a good report covers. Hornsby is taking a similar approach, described in our Hornsby update.

What will the housekeeping LEP changes fix?

Council's housekeeping planning proposal (PP-2025-2565) was exhibited from 16 March to 15 April 2026 and drew seven submissions. On 13 July 2026, Council resolved to proceed as exhibited. The Planning Portal shows it returned to the Department for LEP drafting on 8 September 2026. The changes are not in force until the amending LEP is published. They include:

• Shared driveways and rights of way. Every lot served by the shared area can exclude it when calculating the required landscaped area, not just one lot. This gives more consistent outcomes for battle-axe and shared-access sites.
• Bush fire and complying development. Complying development will be possible on the part of a lot that is not bush fire prone, even if another part is, in line with the State Codes SEPP.
• Industrial heights. The maximum building height in General Industrial zones rises from 16 m to 18 m, in line with State rules.
• Sports ovals. Grays Point and Heathcote Ovals move from national park zoning to RE1 Public Recreation. Loftus Oval keeps its zoning because of a future transport corridor, but recreation becomes an additional permitted use.

What does the Sydney Plan mean for Sutherland Shire?

The NSW Government adopted the Sydney Plan and the State Land Use Plan on 13 August 2026. Council's analysis went to its Planning Committee on 26 October 2026 and is on the 9 November council agenda. Points for project planning:

• Centres. Miranda is classified as an Activity Centre. Sutherland, Menai, Sylvania, Caringbah and Cronulla are Local Centres, and Sutherland sits within a housing growth corridor.
• Council actions. These include planning for 30 years of feasible housing capacity with a relative increase in attached housing, reviewing controls outside the low and mid-rise housing areas, reviewing E1 and E2 centre controls, and reviewing the affordable housing contribution scheme against the State's toolkit.
• Industrial land. The northern part of the Ampol site at Kurnell is State Significant. Most other industrial land is Regionally Significant, with smaller Locally Significant areas in Engadine, Sylvania and Kurnell Village. Alternative employment uses may be considered on Regionally and Locally Significant land, subject to criteria.
• Infrastructure. Council notes that the M6 extension beyond Stage 1 and the Miranda–Kogarah mass transit link were dropped from the adopted plan. About 5,000 dwellings are under assessment through separate Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) proposals.
• Timing. Council expects its statutory review of the Local Strategic Planning Statement to start in early to mid-2027.

Caringbah, Cronulla and Sylvania: what's next for these centres?

On 12 October 2026, Council endorsed draft principles for the Caringbah and Cronulla Place Plans, following early engagement from 18 May to 22 June 2026. For Caringbah, that engagement drew 275 survey responses and 26 written submissions. Council also asked for infrastructure, parking, traffic and active transport to be planned alongside growth. Draft Place Plans are expected to go on exhibition in early 2027, with changes to planning controls to follow once they are adopted.

On 3 August 2026, Council noted that the HDA had declared a redevelopment of Southgate Shopping Centre, Sylvania (114 and 124 Princes Highway and 1–17 Port Hacking Road), eligible for the State Significant Development pathway. Council resolved to tell the Minister it does not support the proposal going through that pathway. It also resolved to write separately opposing State-led intensification in Woolooware, Cronulla and Caringbah.

Bush fire mapping: check before relying on low and mid-rise housing

Sutherland Shire's current Bush Fire Prone Land Map was certified on 16 February 2021. Council is now reviewing the RFS's fourth revised draft of a new map, which will replace the 2021 map once certified. This matters because the State's low and mid-rise housing provisions do not apply to land that is wholly or partly bush fire prone, according to Council's answer to a question on notice on 12 October 2026. A change to the map could therefore bring a lot into or out of those provisions.

The RFS also exhibited a draft Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2026 from 6 August to 3 September 2026. Council's submission sought clearer firebreak rules, documentation proportionate to risk and more flexibility on asset protection zones. PBP 2019 still applies until the new version is published and legislated. Our guide to bushfire assessment reports explains how this works at DA stage.

Who gets notified about a DA now?

The NSW Community Participation Plan 2026 started on 1 September 2026 and is now the statutory plan for Council's planning functions. On 14 September 2026, Council decided not to re-adopt its own planning notification appendix. It asked for a report on which development types will no longer need exhibition or neighbour notification, and which extra local methods, such as letters and site notices, it will keep using. Our guide to the statewide Community Participation Plan covers the general rules.

Other items to watch

• Affordable housing contributions. A notice of motion on the 9 November 2026 agenda notes that Council's scheme requires affordable housing to be held in perpetuity and has not yet been applied to any site. It asks for a report in April 2027 on allowing a 15-year minimum instead.
• Jannali planning agreement. On 14 September 2026, Council supported exhibiting a planning agreement for 544–550 Box Road, Jannali, covering public domain works and dedication of land for a laneway.
• Kurnell. The State-assessed Kurnell Peninsula rezoning (PP-2023-2828, about 4,300 homes) is post-exhibition. DPHI says it expects to finalise it in 2026. Separately, Council has been told that owners of industrial land near the Kurnell pipeline will not lodge rezoning proposals to C4 Environmental Living unless the application fees are waived.
• Biodiversity. Council adopted its revised Biodiversity Strategy on 12 October 2026 and will ask the State to bring the Shire under the koala provisions of the Biodiversity and Conservation SEPP.

Practical next steps

1. Confirm which controls apply. Check your zone, height and floor space under Sutherland Shire LEP 2015. Check whether the lot is in a low and mid-rise housing area, in the Cronulla SEP or on bush fire prone land.
2. In Miranda or Sutherland-Kirrawee, lodge under the current controls if your project works today. Otherwise, wait for the State's exhibition before committing to an uplift-based design.
3. In Cronulla, treat acoustics as a design driver, whether you are fitting out a venue or designing apartments near one.
4. On industrial land, you can plan for the 18 m General Industrial height, but lodge under the current 16 m limit until the amending LEP is made.
5. Write a strong Statement of Environmental Effects that deals with each relevant DCP chapter. Our SEE guide shows how.

Related giantA resources

• Architectural services and all giantA services
• Ku-ring-gai planning updates, November 2026
• Dual occupancy vs duplex in NSW

FAQs

Can I still lodge a DA in Miranda or Sutherland under the current controls?

Yes. Sutherland Shire LEP 2015 and DCP 2015 still apply. The State-led rezonings have not been exhibited or made, so a DA lodged now is assessed under the existing controls.

Does my Cronulla café need a DA to open later?

Not if it is inside the SEP and trades within the Precinct Management Plan hours: up to midnight indoors from Sunday to Thursday, 2 am indoors on Friday and Saturday, and 11 pm outdoors. Longer hours need a DA, and liquor licence hours are a separate approval from Liquor & Gaming NSW.

Is the 18 m industrial height limit in force?

Not yet. The housekeeping proposal has been with the Department for LEP drafting since 8 September 2026. The 16 m limit applies until the amending LEP is published.

How do I know whether the low and mid-rise housing rules apply to my lot?

Check whether the lot is in a mapped low and mid-rise housing area and whether any part of it is bush fire prone. The provisions do not apply to land that is wholly or partly bush fire prone, and the Shire's bush fire map is being reviewed.

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