FAQs

A Development Control Plan (DCP) is one of the suite of planning documents used to guide development in Orange.

The DCP supports the Orange Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2011 by providing detailed design guidance and performance criteria for new development in Orange.

While the LEP operates at the ‘zoning’ level, providing the legal framework for how land within Orange can be developed and used, the DCP provides more detailed design guidance for individual buildings and infrastructure.

Council is required to consider both the LEP and DCP when assessing a development application.

Orange has changed considerably since the adoption of Council’s current DCP in 2004.  

Not only has the city grown significantly since this time, its character has become more diverse and richer. The new DCP will aim to respond to these changes by more closely linking development controls to the desired future character for individual neighbourhoods and precincts.  

The new DCP will update design controls for different development types, including residential, commercial, industrial and rural development.

Among other things, these will include controls for:

• Building design and amenity
• Land subdivision
• Landscaping and tree preservation
• Heritage conservation
• Car parking
• Planning for floods and natural hazards.

The DCP will also set overall design principles to guide how Orange will develop into the future. These will reflect expectations of how the city will grow and change over the coming decades, along with important challenges that the city will continue to face such as long-term climate change.

Importantly, the new DCP will adopt a place-based approach to development control. This will ensure controls are tailored to support desired future character objectives for individual neighbourhoods and precincts. 

The DCP sets out the local design controls for new development requiring a development consent.   All development applications are assessed in accordance with the DCP’s controls.

Depending on the circumstances, a DCP’s controls can apply to all developments in general, to specific types of development or to individual sites or precincts.

Among other things, these include controls for:

• Building design and amenity
• Land subdivision
• Landscaping and tree preservation
• Heritage conservation
• Car parking
• Planning for floods and natural hazards.

Council is intending to have a draft version of the new DCP available for public exhibition in early 2023.

In the meantime, we need your help in understanding the priorities for future development in your neighbourhood. 

Please read this information to learn how you can assist Council in understanding how best to tailor controls to each locality and neighbourhood.

Desired future character is the intended look and feel of a residential neighbourhood. 

A location’s character is what makes it distinctive – it encompasses the combination of qualities that give each place its unique identity. Understanding local character typically involves consideration of the following features. 

These include:

• Topography and natural features,
• Waterways and habitat areas
• Building types and architectural styles
• Historic streetscapes 
• Views and visual landmarks
• Significant trees and vegetation
• Parks and open spaces
• Fences and gardens
• Local facilities

To help with understanding the priorities for local character within Orange, we have identified a number of 'local character precincts' on a map of Orange.  

These include the city’s existing Heritage Conservation Areas as well as other residential neighbourhoods and villages.  

The DCP will set desired future character objectives for each character precinct as a way of measuring how new development can best fit in with existing neighbourhoods and streets.

You can help by completing the Neighbourhood Character Survey.  

Your responses will help to inform Council about what is most important about the character of your neighbourhood.  

When completing the survey, remember to first find the number of your neighbourhood/locality on the Character Precinct Map.