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Website: narrabeenlagoon.au
Who are we and what is our mission?
We are a group of concerned individuals who live either locally or within the Sydney northern region who wish to see the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment properly and sustainably protected for the benefit of current and future generations, as well as the rights and needs of the ecosystems within the catchment.
We have come together to encourage the State Government and to support Northern Beaches Council (formerly Warringah and Pittwater Councils) in the conservation of crown lands and the sustainable protection of the bushland, creeks, landform and flora and fauna within the catchment, whether it be on private or public lands.
Many of us have been involved in community actions to protect areas with natural and cultural significance. We have significant links within the local community and elsewhere and we aim to inform and educate others about the importance of properly protecting and managing the Catchment.
What are our aims?
The Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment aim, through advocacy and education:
(a) To preserve the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment, its bushland, creeks, flora, fauna and cultural sites and to seek to reduce pollution and degradation of these.
(b) To help preserve, restore and improve bushland and wildlife corridors connecting the Catchment to Garigal National Park and other nearby bushland.
(c) To gather scientific and other information relating to the past and present condition of the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment.
(d) To support fund raising to achieve a sustainable natural environment in this region.
(e) To support the identification of all Aboriginal, cultural, ecological, historical and recreational artefacts, places, rock carvings, trails and other items consistent with the natural and social values of the Catchment.
(f) To use this information to consult and co-operate with all relevant authorities in all matters affecting the welfare and beauty of the catchment system and environs.
(g) To raise a greater public awareness of the need to maintain the Lagoon and bushland in a healthy state.
(h) To communicate with and seek affiliation with other environmental protection organisations.
(i) To seek rehabilitation and regeneration work in the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment.
Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment’s mission is to seek the permanent environmental protection of the remaining bushland in the Catchment area of Narrabeen Lagoon.
Garigal National Park is the only area in the catchment that has permanent environmental protection. This National Park is only 17% of the catchment area: most of the remaining land is privately owned including the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Only small areas are under the control of the NSW State Government or Northern Beaches Council.
This is a 2017 map of Narrabeen Lagoon State Park.
After years of lobbying: on 1/4/2014 the Narrabeen Lagoon State Park was declared and in May 2017 the Park was extended. This State Park includes the whole of the Narrabeen Lagoon and some small areas of land adjacent to the Lagoon.
Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment is an organisation dedicated to the permanent protection, conservation, and maintenance of the bushland in the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment.
Membership is open to all who support this objective.
Membership: from $5 to $20.
Your support enables us to carry out vital activities—such as preparing submissions to all levels of government to advocate for stronger protections of our local natural environment. Your contributions also help us organise informative forums that keep our community engaged and up to date, while deepening our understanding of the rich biodiversity, flora and fauna, and the ways we can live in harmony with nature.
Together, we are not only safeguarding the environment but also nurturing a healthier, more connected community – one that can truly enjoy the fruits of our collective efforts Please email us if you would like more information.
Annual membership options (year beginning 1st September):
- 1yr – $20 (unwaged/retired $10) (student $5).
- FREE! for students studying environmental science or land management.
Payment, via bank transfer, is required when an application to join has been approved.
To apply for membership, complete this form.
How can you contribute?
1. By joining the organisation
2. By participating in forums
3. By signing up to outdoor activities
4. By helping to write submissions
5. By taking photos to be used in our newsletters or on the website
6. By writing articles for the newsletter
7. By offering to join the committee
Contact: email@narrabeenlagoon.org.au
Our committee
We meet at least four times a year, and collaborate via email between meetings. At the Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment August 2026 Forum and AGM held on Thursday 20 August 2026, Ron Patton retired as President after serving the community and the FoNLC for several years.
The following members were elected to the Committee for 2026-2027
Jacqui Ralph, President
Kylie Bedwell, Vice President, Communication
Marcia Rackham, Vice President
Joanne Drewett, Treasurer
Ann Sharp, Secretary
Margaret Woods, Facebook
Conny Harris, Committee
Newly elected committee. Marcia Rackham, Margaret Woods Jacqui Ralph, Joanne Drewett, Ann Sharp - FoNLC committee Forum and AGM at CEC 20-8-2026. NB: Kylie Bedwell was unable to attend due to having the flu. Photo: Ian Ralph
Below run excerpts from Speakers at the August Forum.
Angus Gordon - Former General Manager, Pittwater Council, Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board to the University of NSW’s Water Research Centre
Topic: Siltation of Middle Creek due to disturbance in the upper catchment.
Introduction by Ron Patton:
Angus has qualifications in engineering, both a Graduate degree and a Master's degree, and he's a fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia. He also received an OAM for his services to the environment, to planning, and the community.
Angus also helped the New South Wales Government draft the first Coastal Protection Act in 1978-79. And as you're probably aware, he served as General Manager at the previous Pittwater Council. So, please welcome Angus Gordon.
Angus Gordon OAM. Photo: Ian Ralph
Angus Gordon OAM:
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Clearly I did something terrible in a former life to end up being a General Manager of a council. It was sort of a funny mistake. My original employment was going to be for three years. After nine years, they wanted to renew it again, and I said no.
But the funny thing was, I was only going to do it for a short time, but enjoyed it so much and learnt so much from working with the community. I've lived in this area now for over 50 years, that I continue to.
Tonight, we're going to talk a little bit about settlement, and settlement in the catchment. Now, the funny thing is, I'm actually going to start near the bottom of the catchment, down near the lagoon. The reason I'm going to start down there, is because I'm going to start off by talking about Nareen Creek.
Now, how many of you know of Nareen Creek?
Nareen Creek’s outlet into the Narrabeen Lagoon is where the Northern Narrabeen Shops are - there's the 7-Eleven service station. Nareen Creek basically comes out right, you might say, under the service station.
It then stretches back in a north-westerly direction, until eventually it goes into Tatiara Crescent, and effectively just runs into vertical walls that lead up to the Elanora Escarpment, which is the best way of describing it. So, we've got this creek that runs to the escarpment and stops.
During heavy rain, there's two major waterfalls that occur there. One of them lands very nicely on top of one of the houses. The other one flows around another house. So, it's an intermittent sort of situation.
But what's so fascinating about Nareen Creek? Well, about halfway up Nareen Creek, there's a wetland, or a pond, or whatever you want to call it. And the area of it is about the same as the area of Dee Why Lagoon, to give you some idea of the physical size of it.
So, you have this area. It's a bit of a different shape, it's a more regular shape, but it's in the middle of the creek leading up. And that area, which, as I say now, is completely pretty well vegetated with all sorts of things.
If you go back to, say, the 1920s, the council has photographs of a rowing boat, for example, on a lagoon in that location. And, in fact, there's other information that is available through the council that we've picked up over time showing that there was a lagoon there from before the post-war period on.
On the Narrabeen Lagoon, AT MANLY.
The picture, shown on this page, is taken at one of the most picturesque spots on the lagoon. It is on the opposite side from Manly, close to the gasworks ; though it is sacrilege to name, the lagoon and gasworks in the same breath. The party in the boat wended their way pleasurably up one of the many pretty tributaries. The picturesquely-wooded foreshores, with their fretted rocky caves and mirror-like waters, form a surpassingly beautiful scene. Ferns, flowers, and grasses are plentiful. Shady nooks and bathing places easily found. The picture is quite an artistic creation, and does not belie the original. Regular bodily, exercise is worth a host of physicians. On the Narrabeen Lagoon-Manly. (See letterpress on this page.) On the Narrabeen Lagoon, (1892, March 19). Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), , p. 30. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71235518
View - Narrabeen Lakes, series, circa 1900-1910. Image No.: a116488h, courtesy State Library of NSW.
So, how come we have a situation where we've got this sort of wetland-filled-in area that's only really been there for less than 100 years? And the answer is very simple. It ties in very closely to the development of the catchment, particularly the development up on top of Elanora Heights. A lot of that was initially subdivided pre-war, but most of it was post-war.
What happened was that you had a lot of runoff coming from this, and that runoff, of course, was going through sandstone country. So what do you think it was carrying? Sand.
And so if you look at where that lagoon used to be, you find it's infilled with sand, but it does have some other sediments in it, of course, as you'd expect because it was a stilling pond.
Why is this important? Because that is a classic example of what is happening in the rest of the catchment and what has happened in the rest of the catchment. If you have a look at something like Middle Creek or South Creek, you find that in the post-war period, those areas started to get heavy loads of sediment as a result of the development that was taking place in Belrose and in Frenchs Forest.
A lot of that area was subject to uncontrolled development, and the sand of the sandstone was being easily eroded. There were controls put in place from time to time, but if you know what controls are like for this sort of thing, you put in controls that will stop minor storms, minor flows, but when you get a major flow, it just flushes out and it comes straight down the creek.
Now, for those of you who've been looking at Middle Creek, from time to time, you would know that you can sometimes see sand waves actually sitting on top of the vegetation, and that's the sand still coming down into Middle Creek.
I did some rough calculations, and I believe there's around about 3 million cubic metres of sand have gone in there in the post-war period. So that gives you some idea of how big this problem is. And, of course, if you're going to develop the rest of the catchment, well, as I said, you can come up with these sort of flood alleviation and all sorts of things.
They don't stop it. They stop minor events. They don't stop major events.
When you have a major event, it just spills out. And if it's been caught somewhere, the floods love that because it makes it easier to pick it up and put it down through Middle Creek.
I can remember when I was about 12 years old, and in those days, you may remember that Roseville Bridge, for example, was one line either way.
At the time I was living in Roseville, and we used to come down on a Sunday, for example, to come to the beach. If we went to go home, it was impossible. You just sat in a car park for hours.
So the easiest thing to do was to take your meal with you and, after you'd enjoyed the beach and that, have your meal before you went home. But the interesting thing about that was that there were a number of little side roads that you could get into the creek at that time, Middle Creek. I'm now talking about the 1950s.
I can well recall going into some of these side roads at different times to have our meal. And what we used to do was, my father would get a bit of bread or a bit of cheese, put it on a hook, and I used to fish.
I used to fish in a place where today, the only fish that would be able to survive is the ones with feet. So I have personal experience of having that filled in. I think some of you may probably be fairly aware that we've had a number of reports, for example, of platypus being in the creek.
But it's gone. And it's gone because it's all been filled in. And it's been filled in because of the sediment coming from the catchment.
So, when you start to look at the catchment and the rest of that side, and when you start to talk about development, like the Lizard Rock development and those sorts of things, it doesn't matter what you do, they're going to release a lot more sand into Middle Creek. South Creek's already suffered that and is really clogged. The reason Deep Creek hasn't is because, really, it's only little small parts of the catchment that have been developed.
Most of it isn't developed. Except, of course, for Kimbriki. But Kimbriki, in fact, has a lot of controls for other reasons, and so the sediment doesn't get in. But the sediment certainly gets in from Middle Creek. So the thing that is really causing us a major problem is the clogging of Middle Creek with this sand.
It's a difficult one because it also has another effect; as the creek is clogged, it means you get more flooding. So when they talk about how they're going to fix the flooding and they're going to do this and do that, they're playing around.
They're not looking at the real problems, which, funnily enough, councils are pretty good at doing. I'm saying that as someone who was general manager of a council.
So, you've got the problem now of the flooding. You've got the problem of the creek being clogged. You've got the problem of what would normally be surviving around the waterways and using the waterways just naturally can't exist.
How do you fix that? Well, you've got to have much better controls over any new development that goes in, and they've got to be much better controls, not just tokenism. I mean, they talk about, oh, yes, well, ‘we'll put in traps and that will deal with the 1% flood or the 1 in 100-year flood’. A 1 in 100-year flood has 1% probability of occurring each year, and you can have several 1% floods in the same year. It's important that we understand that those criteria for flooding aren't particularly rigorous. They're not really capturing the potential of what can happen and what does the damage.
How can we do that? Well, as I said, we need a much better approach to how to manage any new development if it's going to occur in the catchment and a recognition that that's going to cost a lot of money to do that. If they want to develop the catchment, there's a lot of money that's got to be spent. But the other thing is, what can we do with Middle Creek?
There's been a fairly mass reaction against the environmental damage of, say, dredging the creek, and that's understandable, but what needs to be understood is that the environment that's there is artificial.
And it's only occurred because of lack of control of what happened. Nevertheless, it's a viable environment. So how do you deal with that sort of thing? One thing I've had experience with in the past is that if you pick specific spots, and in those specific spots you actually dredge some material, what happens is the natural processes of the creek brings the rest of the sand down.
What happens is the creek, just as it's adjusted to being flooded with sand, will adjust to having that sand removed. The examples of this, and some of you may remember this, is that just at the bridge across Middle Creek near the Sports Centre, if you look in the area down there, there are a lot of sandbars in there. There's been several times when they've been removed.
Where has it come from? It's come from the creek, just naturally adjusting itself slowly to bring the sand down. So there is a way, without causing major disruption and letting the environment absorb and work with it, of actually taking it back to where it should be. And that's what needs to be understood.
It's where it should have been, because where it is now is because of that flow from the catchment, because of the development, and because we live in a sandstone country. And it's a steep sandstone country, which means that when we have rain, we get rapid runoff, and rapid runoff carries sand.
I might stop there, ladies and gentlemen, and let any questions or anything you'd like me to cover. So, Angus, ultimately, that sand will end up in the Irving Lagoon, I take it?
It does. That's the delta that is building all the time into Western Basin.
So is it possible to remove those deltas?
Yeah, it is. The thing that you have to consider, though, it's like with the creek. The reason I'm sort of talking about a softly, softly approach of dredging in specific spots is so the creek adjusts itself. The issue with the deltas is, of course, there's quite a lot of birdlife that depends on those deltas.
So, if you start to just dredge the deltas, you're going to cause other issues. And it's a matter of trying to look for the balance of how you can address what's happened in the past without causing significant damage, environmental damage, and that's really what you've got to look for. Of course, the funny thing is that the western basin is slowly infilling anyway.
There was a time, if some people might remember, when the water skiers used to be there. A lot of people were very happy that the water skiers went. And one of the reasons for the water skiers going was because of the turbidity that was being caused by the boats and ripping around.
The only problem was that after they got rid of the water skiers, there was still turbidity. And I was doing quite a lot of work with John Laxton, Dr John Laxton, who's very good. We were looking at what was causing this, and we realised it wasn't so much the water skiers that were causing it, it was actually the wind.
Because the lake was so shallow, the wind was causing waves that were stirring up the bottom, and then you were getting this. So what we would see is, for example, if it was wintertime, you went down there first thing in the morning, there'd been a westerly blowing all night, and you had turbidity. By lunchtime, the turbidity had almost gone.
In Summer, you had the exact opposite. You went down there first thing in the morning, it was very clear, and then you went back in the afternoon when the nor'easter had been blowing, and the wave action from the nor'easter had stirred up the bottom again. This simply tells you how the dynamics of the lagoon work and why it behaves the way it does.
It's important to understand the lagoon because that's how you get to understand the catchment, because in that western basin, of course, although you're getting some sand forming the deltas, and you're getting a lot of the finer organic sediments getting in there, and they're coming in again because of disturbance in the catchment. And so you find that if we've had a bushfire, a major bushfire like we did in 1994, the water quality in the lagoon changes for quite a long period of time because it's trying to adjust to what's coming out of the catchment. If you want to understand what's going on, you've got to see the catchment as a dynamic process that has a number of things playing on it and understand how they get affected.
You have to understand that if we disturb the catchment the lagoon pays a price.
Black Swans on Narrabeen Lagoon - Photo by Michael Mannington.
Audience member: Can I ask a question, Angus?
Yes, please.
Audience member: It’s my understanding that when... I don't know when exactly, but when they built the Wakehurst Parkway, they actually realigned the creek line, cut quite a bit off of it, and the area where it floods should be really following the southern escarpment, it's kind of a big basin area, that the water would normally flow around, which would give the opportunity, I suppose, for sand to be developing there. Do you think that they should be realigning the creek to the way it should be before they even look at doing anything?
Angus: Well, firstly, what you're saying is quite correct.
The area which floods the most and which has that little bundle on it is where the creek did actually turn south and hook right the way around. So it's cut off part of that, which means you're getting worse flooding because the water's getting there and it can't get away. It's got to come down through that slot.
So there is that problem. I don't think, though, necessarily going around the old course will help much, only because you increase the length of run, and that's the resistance anyway. So I'm not sure that that would necessarily help, but what you're saying is quite correct.
You need to understand it was that loop that was cut off when the Wakehurst Parkway was built. I said the other night to people I was talking to, ‘who would build a road in a creek?’ [LAUGHTER]
Engineers. And that's the thing to understand, as that's what it is; it's a road in a creek. Just on that Wakehurst Parkway, what do you think is going to happen with all this road widening and trying to stop the flooding on the Wakehurst Parkway?
Audience member 1: It seems like we're sending the water into Middle Creek. It will come down here even faster. Hundreds of trees have been destroyed. We've sacked up a lot of the water.
Audience member 2: They're sort of doing an engineering solution that looks like they're pumping it into Middle Creek. In the next big rain event, it's going to come charging down over Oxford Falls and down here. As far as I can see, just from looking at it, yeah.
Angus: What they're doing is making it a much more efficient system to create larger and faster floods. It's the sort of thing that, as an engineer, I just shake my head when I look at that.
Audience member: So, Angus, would the solution be, if they want to keep the road there, it should be a long, wide bridge over everything? That's the way this sort of problem has been dealt with elsewhere.
Angus: Yes, that's right. It's a very expensive solution, but it means that you don't damage a lot of things either side. Because if you just want to build the road up, the bunding for the road takes out quite a lot of vegetation.
Even when you do that, I think there's one thing worth bearing in mind, and that is the 1% flood... In fact, the flood level is around the centreline of the main road through here, Pittwater Road. So, no matter what you do, that road is going to flood. But what you can do is to reduce how often that occurs.
So the 1% flood just happens to be... It really means most of the lower part of Wakehurst Parkway, including the part through North Narrabeen, becomes unpassable. You know where it floods. The road goes over a big pipe. And so water gets stuck on the other side of the pipe, and then there's a dirty big sand hill that blocks that pipe.
Audience member: Can Council do anything about it? Who would be in charge of fixing that?
I think that's a really good question because the council put their hand up, and so they've got themselves involved in the thing. In fact, it's a state road. The state should be far more involved. The state's enjoying just giving a bit of money to the Council and saying, oh, look, it's up to the Council. Well, it's up to the state as it is a state road, and they could do a lot more to reduce how often it floods.
Audience member: So if they cleared that pipe out, and had a better road there, would that lessen the flooding?
Angus: There's an area of about probably 500 or 600 metres of road that is just basically too low. And then all that vegetation build-up on the north side, if that was cleared up, would that help with the flood? Don't forget, quite a bit of that's artificial. It's very difficult to manage a catchment like that when you've got the water and the volumes coming down from the upper catchment, because it'll bring any weeds or any growth with it.
I mean, people used to dump a lot of stuff along the way, but that's not so much the problem. I think the problem is that weeds are temporarily carried down, and the more you've got a good-flowing creek and places for them to land, the more you'll get that.
Audience member: Angus, I understand the fishery scene. I think that the lagoon is quite helpful, because it grows a lot of seagrass. If you remember, seagrass was the reason we didn't get to dredge the lagoon in the end. And seagrass is expanding in the lagoon. I sail there, so I go there quite often. Any comments on that?
Angus: If you look over the history, the seagrass does come and go, the coverage, depending on the climate at the time, whether the water's warm, whether it's been a good Winter, a good Summer. You know that when the water levels are low in the lagoon, quite a lot of the seagrass gets exposed, and it will then die back.
Now, the funny thing is that a lot of people don't understand why the water level gets so low in the lagoon. What people don't realise is that the air pressure is actually quite important. So, if we have a high over Sydney, it will actually push down the water levels, and it's about one centimetre for every degree of pressure. So, it's quite a bit. And, of course, if you have a period where the lagoon's open, and it depends what the tides are doing, because if you have large tides, then the lagoon tends to flush.
But if you have a period of neap tides that are quite small, what happens is the lagoon tends to keep it at a lower level. If you then get high-pressure systems across, it pushes that down even further, and that's when you see sometimes in Summer, for example, large areas of seagrass exposed. If it's been exposed or near-exposed for a period of time, it will die back.
So you do see quite a bit of change occurring with the seagrasses. One thing we found which was interesting was after some of the dredging had been done, in fact, the seagrass was much healthier on the dredge slope. And that's because it was getting cleaner water, clearer water, and plenty of nutrients going past it.
So a structured dredging is not necessarily a bad thing. But, again, you need to understand the processes and the systems because it's too easy to make mistakes.
Audience member: Angus, in the Irrawong area, there's a whole lot of sand come through.
Angus: Yes. And I know that because I go there all the time. But I never used to be there when I first took the kids there. They're now in their 20s. And it's totally silted up, the creek that comes down from the waterfall, so from the beach. I know it was called the beach, but it only had a little beach. Now it's a big beach, and the beach extends back to all the trees, and through all of the trees. So there's been so much siltation that goes through that whole area of water. There are massive waterfalls further back as well, but they're all silted up, right from there and of course it's a Mullet creek by the time it gets to the bottom.
Audience member: you're quite right about that sand building up. I just thought if anybody wants to see one in action and it's accessible, you can go to Irrawong and you'll see the sand there. It's certainly increased by so much more.
GreenHill Falls, Narrabeen-Collaroy, Image no: a106059h, courtesy the State Library of New South Wales.
Photo; 1928 of Narrabeen Lagoon aerial, from album Milton Kent aerial views of Bondi, Cronulla, Granville, Haberfield, Middle Harbour, Narrabeen in 1928, Mascot, Sydney, Sydney Harbour, Tempe, between 1926-1938, Item: c111660015, courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales - and sections from to show details; NB - no Bridge from Ocean street across Lagoon present, and old Nth. NSLSC still on beach - so pre-1927 and showing the larger section now reclaimed where Wimbledon Avenue will be formed:
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Striking Aerial Views : Newcastle and Narrabeen
NARRABEEN, BETWEEN OCEAN AND LAKE. This fine strip of ocean beach runs from North Narrabeen through South Narrabeen to Collaroy (on the left). Narrabeen proper is situated on the peninsula in the centre of the picture. The main road from Manly to Newport, Avalon, and Palm Beach runs through the upper portion of Narrabeen, crossing the lake by the bridge, beyond which is seen a portion of low -lying land now being reclaimed. Striking Aerial Views : Newcastle and Narrabeen (1928, August 22). Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), p. 17. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158401835
Narrabeen Lagoon, General View showing Lagoon and Ocean and Looking Towards Barrenjoey, From Narrabeen circa 1926/28, from Album 'Samuel Wood - postcard photonegatives of Narrabeen,' - Items a1470096h, a1470091h, courtesy State Library of NSW
Narrabeen- shows Wimbledon Reserve, Wimbledon Island and streets being reclaimed at Narrabeen. Macpherson St. at the bottom of the photo. Aerial view taken by Milton Kent. circa. 1937 to 1940 (but more likely 1930-32), courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales -
Historic photos from PON History features on Narrabeen Lagoon, its buildings, developments, Wakehurst Parkway build and Narrabeen floods, coloured images by AJG/PON
Outgoing FoNLC President Ron Patton, Speaks on NBC LEP and DCP
Ron has been President of Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment for several years, and at aged 85, has stepped down this year. His professional background as a Civil Engineer, Highway Engineer and Town Planner make him uniquely suited to advocating for the needs of the Catchment of Narrabeen Lagoon.
At the August 2026 Forum and AGM, he spoke to the changes to the Local Environment Plan (LEP) for the Northern Beaches local government area and their impact the bushland of the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment.
Ron Patton at the 2026 FoNLC August Forum and AGM
An LEP is called a Local Environment Plan, it is a statutory document that gets signed off by the Minister. It has all the zonings in it and also all the land uses. The DCP, Development Control Plan, which doesn't have so much weight if you go into the Land and Environment Court, because it's not like a statutory document, has all the planning controls like side setbacks, front setbacks, height of buildings and for the first time, they've introduced into this Development Control Plan character statements.
Now, they mentioned about this being deferred land. It's called deferred land because when they set up the LEP for Warringah, it came and was implemented in 2011. All this land, plus over at Belrose North, was deferred from being put into that plan. And so the controls under that deferred land is still under an older LEP, which was formulated in the year 2000.
And the one in 2000 didn't actually have zones like we have now. Like R2 is low density zoning. You heard about C2, which is an environmental conservation zone, and C3, which is environmental management where you can put a house, and C4, environmental living.
There is also RU4, which is for primary production. So they all get put into the LEP. And so they're trying to transfer from this old LEP in 2000 to put zones in.
A lot of the property owners are objecting because they consider that their land is being down-valued. In the old LEP 2000, for each locality, like Oxford Falls and Belrose North, you would have desired future character statements.
Developments came in three categories.
Category 1 said that it complied with the desired future character statement. Category 2 said it may comply. And Category 3 said that it doesn't.
With those developments, you could still put an application in and try to justify that it did meet the desired future character statement. And if there was a development that wasn't listed in Category 3 or Category 1, it was assumed it was Category 2. So a lot of them fell into that. Thank goodness in this new one, they've done away with that.
The main thing I see as a problem, these ones here have been defined as RU4- primary production. If you read the desired future character statement, it says about protecting the bushland and the ridge and the rock formation and all that.
But then you look in the land use, and you can have intense agricultural development. You can even have turf farming. You can have dairy farms.
Before this was put on exhibition, I remember going down to the planners and we talked to them about it. I said, this is crazy, you know. Putting RU4 among C3, which has got quite good environmental controls in it.
These ones here, if they do get passed as part of this, will contaminate the other land. They'll stop wildlife corridors. And it's just not the right zoning to go on there.
What I was going to say was, it started out with that local strategic planning statement. And within that, it said that it should be reviewed every five years. Well, guess what? People are aware that the review is on exhibition at the moment.
I only found out through default about a week ago. And because I'm spending so much time developing a submission on the LEP and the DCP, I just haven't got time, because the closing date is the 23rd of August. So that's next Sunday.
NOTE SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE 11:59pm SUNDAY 30 AUGUST 2026
Address your submissions to: https://yoursay.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/LEP-DCP#Submissionform
Note : Anonymous correspondence will not be counted as a submission.
General Framework & References
• Document References: Requests that the Towards 2040 Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) relevant background studies, and references to the DCP be explicitly included in Section 1 and/or Appendices of the LEP to guide development assessments and appeals.
• Cumulative Impacts: Demands specific controls in the LEP to define and assess the cumulative environmental impacts of developments (LSPS supporting Aim (a)(v)), particularly in the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment Deferred Lands.
• Desired Future Character: Calls for LSPS Aim (c)(iii) to explicitly reference character definitions set out in the DCP for each specific locality, rather than using a broad, undefined whole-LGA character standard.
Please select from the following points for your submission
Zoning Concerns in Deferred Lands
• Rejection of RU4 Zoning: Strongly oppose introducing RU4 Primary Production Small Lots in Belrose North/Oxford Falls Valley. Argue that permitted agricultural uses, intensity, and potential clearing conflict with C3 zones and disrupt wildlife corridors. Requests these areas be rezoned to C3. Existing developments be zoned C3/C2 split with C2 being the zoning on the remaining bushland
• Rejection of R5 Zoning: Opposes R5 Large Lot Residential in Cromer, Narraweena, and along Forest Way, stating it promotes incremental urbanization and conflicts with adjacent C3 land. Recommends rezoning R5 land to C3. Existing developments be zoned C3/C2 split with C2 being the zoning on the remaining bushland
• Rejection of R2 Zoning: Opposes R2 Low Density Residential on former Seniors Housing sites as it allows total site development and destruction of mandated bushland. Recommends C3 zoning or split zoning (with C2 over bushland).
• C3 vs. C2 Conservation: Recommends applying C2 Environmental Conservation zoning to high-value bushland and using split zonings (C2/C3) on properties.
• Unauthorised Clearing Clause: Calls for a protective clause stating that any rezoning applications involving unapproved land clearing since the Draft LEP exhibition start date will be automatically refused.
Specific Planning Controls & Land Uses
• Definition of "Low Intensity": Object to the undefined phrase "low intensity" (used in R5 and RU4 objectives), past Land and Environment Court approvals (e.g., an 80-room boarding house at 14–16 Wyatt Avenue) that contradicted local character. Demands a clear, quantifiable definition (e.g., footprint, occupancy, traffic limits, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT).
• Lot Consolidation: Requests that for 2ha dwelling provisions on 20ha minimum lot size lands, adjacent/adjoining lots under the same ownership (as of 8 March 1974) must be consolidated to prevent multiple dwellings.
• Equine Activities: Request strict land-use controls on horses and a prohibition on equestrian facilities/events in the Deferred Lands due to environmental degradation.
• Wildlife Corridors: Request that land on the north and adjacent to the Mona Vale Road East fauna bridge and underpass in Ingleside be rezoned from C3 to C2 to protect the wildlife corridor.
• Hazards: Fire and Flooding e.g. Hazards have not been considered at a fundamental level for this LEP. The bushfire risk has greatly increased with climate change: residents nearly lost homes at Beacon Hill and Cromer Heights when a simple hazard reduction went wrong.
• Passive recreation: Demand for passive recreation will increase exponentially with the proposed redevelopments of Frenchs Forest and Brookvale. Thousands of new residents living in apartments will need a green outlet.
• Wildlife corridors and connectivity need to be specifically included in the LEP otherwise they carry no weight in the Land and Environment Court
• Health and wellbeing: Bushland and biodiversity create appealing places and contributes to health and well-being(Reference: Towards 2024 Local Strategic Planning Statement). The bushland in Oxford Falls and Belrose are highly valued by bushwalkers, mountain bikers, dog walkers and nature lovers. This is why the Deferred lands in the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment should be zoned C2 not C3.
• Green infrastructure: Bushland is a form of green infrastructure which provides for the conservation of biodiversity. It also provides clean water and habitat for plants, animals and microorganisms. (Reference: Towards 2024 Local Strategic Planning Statement) This is why the Deferred lands in the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment should be zoned C2 not C3 Priority 2 is protected and enhanced bushland and biodiversity (Reference: Towards 2024 Local Strategic Planning Statement)This is why the Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment which is largely untouched bushland should be zoned C2
• Land use is relevant and the protection of natural areas and bushland is essential to protect Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment and its waterways.
Note: Most of the Narrabeen Lagoon catchment is to be zoned C3 which allows one dwelling house to be built per block subject to size limits
There are several types of conservation zoning:
- Zone C1 – National Parks and Nature Reserves
- Zone C2 – Environmental Conservation
- Zone C3 – Environmental Management -Allows houses
C2 Zoning for Environmental Conservation
Under the NSW Standard Instrument Local Environmental Plan, designating land with high ecological, scientific, cultural, or aesthetic value that requires strict protection.
Key Objectives
- Protect natural values: Safeguard areas with significant biodiversity, native vegetation, and sensitive natural features.
- Prevent damage: Stop any development that could harm the ecosystem or cultural features.
- Restore habitats: Manage and improve habitats for native plants and animals.
C3 Zoning (Environmental Management)
- Purpose: Protects land with special ecological values that need careful oversight rather than total lockup.
- Development: More flexible than C2. It permits limited rural use or a single dwelling, provided the design respects the surrounding environmental constraints
RU2: Rural Landscape
- Primary Purpose: Applied to rural land used for commercial primary production that coexists with scenic, topographic, or ecological landscape values
- Lot Sizes: Generally, features much larger minimum lot sizes compared to RU4, often reflecting broader agricultural potential or tighter environmental constraints.
- Allowed Uses: Supports extensive agriculture (like grazing) and some intensive plant agriculture but uses are often more constrained by landscape features than heavier production zones.
RU4: Primary Production Small Lots
• Primary Purpose: Intended for smaller rural properties, hobby farms, lifestyle living, and smallscale or intensive agricultural production.
• Lot Sizes: Designed specifically for smaller lot sizes where smaller-scale farming or rural residential lifestyles are already anticipated.]
• Allowed Uses: Frequently accommodates horticulture, viticulture, small animal husbandry, and boutique primary production
• Development Rules: While more flexible for smaller footprints, it still enforces strict planning controls, and a smaller zoning code does not guarantee permission to further subdivide the land.
See www.zoningnswreports.com.au
IT IS THE COUNCIL’S RESPONSIBILITY TO ENFORCE PLANNING CONTROLS
