Unique IDFN-0011Description*** This function applies only to Sydney City Council ***
Other municipal Councils absorbed by the City were not affected by town planning legislation. However further research may lead to a revision of this view. The Archives holds records of a draft planning scheme developed for the Municipality of Redfern, probably pursuant to the 1945 Act.
This function also includes major Council initiatives and programs intended to plan for the future of Sydney, such as the Sydney 2030 plan produced in 2008.
The creation and implementation of plans for the design and use of the City as a human environment, including land use planning, and public spaces planning. This function is sometimes also known as 'zoning'. It excludes but is closely related to the function of 'Building and development regulation' (CF 10).
A role in 'beautification' of the City had been sought by the Council (or proposed by those interested in the emerging subject of town planning) since the later nineteenth century. Council acquired associated responsibilities including regulation of building construction and the power to resume land to demolish slum housing and make alterations to land uses, including street realignments. It was in this way that Martin Place was pushed through to Macquarie Street during 1926-1932. In the inter-war period public interest in 'town planning' matters was further increased, by the growth of motor-traffic in Sydney. Council passed a town planning bylaw in 1935, principally for the processing of applications to subdivide land. A City Planning and Improvement Committee was established in 1936, and a Town Planning Assistant appointed to Council's staff in 1938.
It was only with the passing of the 1945 legislation that Council acquired an autonomous town planning role. The Act created the Cumberland County Council, which was given a responsibility to produce a broad county plan, and to oversee planning schemes to be prepared by municipal governments. The absorption of surrounding suburban areas into Sydney from January 1949 also meant that the Sydney plan would cover a much larger area than the Central Business District. A Town Planning Branch was created in the City Engineer's Department in October 1948. The City of Sydney Planning Scheme developed within this framework was adopted by the City Council on 15 December 1958, though it was not to be approved by the Minister for Local Government, after numerous amendments, until 1971. On 15 December 1969, the City Council formally resolved to commission a 'strategic master plan' for Sydney which was published in 1971. The Strategic Plan had the dual status of being produced pursuant to a legislative requirement, and also being itself the mandate for Council's exercise of the responsibility.
Paul Ashton: The Accidental City: Planning Sydney Since 1788 (Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1993).
Paul Ashton: Nine Planners Remember (Sydney, the Council, 1993).CreationSydney Corporation Amendment Act 1935 (inserted as Part XIX of Sydney Corporation Act 1932). Clarified Council's power to regulate the subdivision of land, including opening public ways.
RoC 18 May 1936: creation of CA 122, City Planning and Improvement Committee, 1936-1969.
Local Government (Town and Country Planning) Amendment Act 1945
County of Cumberland Act 1951
Local Government Act 1993, s8(1). A Council's charter includes responsibility for environmental management). s68(2) lists building and related activities which require Council approval, which taken as a whole give a Council a responsibility to set town planning schemes.
This function is affected by mandates given to local government by other State (and possibly Commonwealth) legislation, such as the Environmental Planning & Assessment Acts 1979 and 1997. Further research is needed to identify such historical and current legislation and the extent of the mandate.
For municipalities other than the City of Sydney (to 1949): Refer to the function CF 29.
