What’s being proposed.
The NSW Government has released the draft Illawarra Shoalhaven Plan, a strategic land use plan that will guide growth across the region for the next 20 years. It replaces the Illawarra Shoalhaven Regional Plan 2041 and, for the first time, brings Wingecarribee into the same regional planning framework as Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven.
The Plan sets out where and how the region should grow to 2046, covering housing, jobs, industrial land, transport, energy and environmental protection. By 2046, it aims to support 161,000 more people, 117,000 more homes and 101,850 more jobs across the region.
For an area growing as quickly as ours, with a population already over 500,000 and projected to pass 677,000 by 2046, this Plan matters. It sets the ground rules for where development will and won’t be supported over the next two decades.
The Urban Growth Area: where future housing can happen.
The centrepiece of the Plan is a new Urban Growth Area (UGA). It’s a mapped boundary that identifies all the land considered suitable for urban development across the region, made up of three categories.
- Existing urban areas. Land already built out, including infill and renewal opportunities around centres and train stations such as Corrimal, North Wollongong and Dapto.
- Rezoned greenfield areas. Land already zoned for future urban development but at different stages of delivery, such as West Dapto and Nowra Bomaderry.
- Investigation areas. Land identified for further assessment to determine whether it’s suitable for future housing or employment growth.
Land outside the Urban Growth Area is not considered suitable for a future urban purpose, and new rezoning proposals in these locations, including new rural residential development, are not supported under the Plan. Over the life of the Plan, the long term goal is for 80 per cent of new homes to be built within existing urban areas, with the remaining 20 per cent in greenfield areas.
Priority housing, centres and infrastructure.
Several of the Plan’s responses focus directly on where and how new housing gets delivered.
- Minimum density targets will be set for priority areas within the UGA, expanding the reach of the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and Transport Oriented Development program around centres such as Nowra and Mittagong, in addition to existing sites at Corrimal, North Wollongong and Dapto.
- State-led rezonings are already underway to unlock housing supply, including around the Wollongong Health Precinct, Shellharbour Hospital and Shellharbour City Centre, plus a dedicated structure plan for the West Kiama Urban Release Area.
- Infrastructure sequencing will determine timing. Development in priority, well-serviced locations will be supported first. Out-of-sequence development can still proceed, but only where it comes at no cost to the government.
- Wollongong remains the region’s principal CBD, with a target to grow from around 33,000 to almost 58,000 jobs by 2046, while Nowra Bomaderry and the Southern Highlands are recognised as growing centre clusters in their own right.
Industrial land and the energy transition.
The Plan sets a supply target of 20 hectares of development-ready industrial land per year, with investigation areas identified at Kembla Grange, Southern Highlands Innovation Park, Shellharbour Airport and South Nowra. It also plans for the transition of former mining land to new employment uses as coal mines in the region wind down.
A standout initiative is the Illawarra Urban Renewable Energy Zone, proposed to be the first urban renewable energy zone in Australia. It aims to build local energy generation, storage and network capacity directly into urban development, using existing infrastructure such as rooftops, community batteries and former industrial land at Port Kembla.
Environmental protections tighten.
The Plan places a strong emphasis on protecting biodiversity corridors, sensitive water catchments and high environmental value land.
Some areas are specifically ruled out for future intensification, including parts of the Lake Wollumboola catchment in the Shoalhaven, which the Plan states should not be more intensely developed or expanded beyond the existing urban area.
Councils will be expected to apply a consistent, region-wide approach to identifying and protecting these areas, rather than assessing them site by site.
For developers, this means environmental constraints are likely to become clearer and more consistently applied, but also less negotiable in sensitive locations.
What this means for developers.
For builders and developers working across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and now the Southern Highlands, several aspects of this Plan are worth factoring into your project planning.
- Location inside or outside the Urban Growth Area will be the first test for any new site. Land outside the UGA should not be assumed to have a future urban planning pathway.
- Infrastructure timing matters more than ever. A site in a prioritised, serviced location will have a clearer path to approval than one relying on future infrastructure upgrades.
- New density targets and expanded Low and Mid-Rise and Transport Oriented Development policies open up opportunities for diverse housing types in centres that previously had limited planning capacity, particularly around Nowra and the Southern Highlands.
- Wingecarribee’s inclusion in the Urban Development Program and Employment Lands Development Program is a genuine shift for Southern Highlands developers, bringing that LGA into the same evidence base and coordination processes as the rest of the region for the first time.
- Industrial and employment land opportunities are concentrated in specific investigation areas, so early engagement on sites like Kembla Grange, Shellharbour Airport and South Nowra is worthwhile.
- Environmental due diligence should happen earlier. With biodiversity corridors and sensitive catchments mapped at a regional scale, understanding a site’s environmental constraints before committing to a project will be more important than ever.
Have your say and what’s next.
The draft Illawarra Shoalhaven Plan is on public exhibition now. The NSW Government wants to hear from communities, councils, industry, businesses and stakeholders across the region, with submissions closing at 5pm on Monday 28 September 2026.
Once finalised, implementation will be led by the Department and councils, with most actions targeted for delivery between 2026 and 2030. The Plan will be reviewed at least every five years to ensure it stays relevant as the region continues to grow.
You can read the full draft Plan on the NSW Planning website.
For questions about the Planning System Reforms Act 2025, the Department can be contacted at planningsystemreform@dphi.nsw.gov.au.
