Place Plans
Our town centres play a vital everyday role as places where our community lives, shops, works, relaxes and connects.
We want to build on what makes our town centres special today, while improving them for the future.
That’s why we’re preparing Place Plans, to capture what our community values in each centre and what could make them more liveable.
Across 2026 and 2027, together with the community, we’ll be creating Place Plans for Miranda, Sutherland-Kirrawee, Engadine, Cronulla, Caringbah, Menai–Illawong and Jannali.
We’ll be looking at a range of improvements, including providing greater housing choice, supporting a vibrant business environment, refreshing the streetscape and better transport options.
These plans will work best when they reflect your needs and ideas so we’ll be inviting your input to help our plans take shape.
To keep up-to-date with opportunities to have your say, you can subscribe to our Join the Conversation monthly email update.
Business and stakeholder workshops to help shape the Cronulla and Caringbah Place Plans
During July 2026, we will be holding evening workshops with businesses and stakeholders to help us develop the draft Cronulla and Caringbah Place Plans. This follows extensive community engagement during May and June.
Below are the links to register for the business and stakeholder workshops:
On 22 June 2026, we completed opt-in community engagement for these two centres. Find out more below.
General questions about Place Plans
Place Plans are an opportunity to develop a vision for our town centres and how they are going to change over time, informed by a range of Council strategies, evidence-based planning and community feedback.
They will introduce new planning controls, particularly to support new housing and employment activities close to existing infrastructure and amenities, and to acquire new open space.
They will also include infrastructure improvements, including open space, streetscape, road, active transport and community facility upgrades.
Place Plans build on the Local Housing Strategy and the Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme adopted in July 2025.
Councils, such as the Sutherland Shire, are responsible for planning for the growth and needs of the local community.
In mid-2025, Council endorsed a Local Housing Strategy, which identified the community’s diverse housing needs. The preparation of Place Plans is consistent with this Strategy.
In addition, by supporting an increased population and infrastructure improvements within town centres, the Place Plans will create a stronger business environment and help improve street-level vibrancy and safety.
The Place Plans will identify areas where an overall increase in density can be achieved. They will also highlight where improved infrastructure can best support growth.
Increased density is best located close to shops, services, train stations and high amenity areas. Housing our community close to shops and amenities also helps to activate, and improve the economic viability of, each centre.
Place Plans are expected to deliver taller mixed-use development within town centres and some new residential apartment areas near these centres.
This approach will work alongside other new housing delivery measures within the Sutherland Shire, including dual occupancy development in low density areas and NSW Government reforms to allow an increased range of housing projects within 800m of selected town centres.
Detailed development controls will ensure that new development retains solar access to public spaces, integrates with and improves the streetscape, delivers a quality living environment to future occupants and contributes towards local infrastructure.
The intention of Place Planning is to support locally-appropriate development outcomes which help fund and contribute to street-level vibrancy and activity as well as necessary infrastructure upgrades and additional open spaces.
This is expected to involve the introduction of taller apartment buildings within the centre.
In addition, focussing change in and around centres will help maintain the landscape character of low density residential neighbourhoods further away from centres and minimise impacts on areas of scenic quality and environmental sensitivity.
Place Plans will be supported by more detailed planning guidelines against which development applications will be assessed.
New development will be required to reflect and complement the scale, materials, and design language of the centre in which they are located.
Place Plans will identify infrastructure needs to support the growth of centres.
This may include:
- New and embellished open space
- Road and intersection improvements for pedestrian access and safety
- Public domain upgrades
- Improved pedestrian and cycle paths
- New or improved community facilities
- Public art
- Better lighting
- Street tree planting
Some of this infrastructure will be partly or fully funded by new development. Other infrastructure may be funded by government grants or Council’s general revenue.
In some instances, the Place Plans will advocate for the delivery of improved regional or State infrastructure by other levels of government.
More detailed information about improvements to streets, footpaths and plaza areas will be identified in Public Domain Plans.
In March 2026, a Public Domain Plan was finalised for the Jannali town centre. Additional Public Domain Plans will be prepared following finalisation of Place Plans for the Sutherland-Kirrawee, Miranda, Caringbah and Engadine town Centres.
Council has an adopted Open Space Land Acquisition Policy and does not compulsorily acquire any property. Owners of properties identified for acquisition by Council can choose when a property is acquired and have a right to claim proper compensation. Generally, land is valued at market values at the time, based on independent valuations.
The Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (known as Just Terms Act) is the statutory process for authorities to acquire any land for a public purpose.
The Place Plan program will amend planning controls to make it easier to build new homes, which meet the needs of Sutherland Shire community members.
Research has found that additional housing supply makes it easier for people to find places to live.
Additional housing also helps to keep families together in the local area, including supporting young people leaving home to stay close to their parents and over 50s to find downsizing-friendly accommodation near their children.
Most new homes delivered through the Place Plan program will be apartments, which recent research has found are typically more affordable than houses.
The Cotality Housing Affordability Report, published in November 2025, found that it takes around half the time for a typical Sutherland Shire resident to save for a deposit to buy an apartment, compared to a house.
Meanwhile, the percentage of median income required to meet debt repayments for, or rent, an apartment is also around 30-40% lower than a house.
Place Plans will also indicate the percentage of affordable rental housing that will be required within new developments, or an equivalent monetary contribution that the developer will need to make towards the production of new affordable housing within the Sutherland Shire.
This type of housing will generally have rentals below market rates and be managed by community housing providers.
The delivery of new affordable housing will be required where the subject site is receiving a significant increase in density and residential capacity, in line with Council’s Affordable Housing Scheme.
Place Plans will facilitate smart and sustainable planning by identifying strategic locations for additional housing – and therefore more people – in areas well-serviced by public transport and offering local services and amenities.
By doing this, residents will be more likely to walk or cycle to their destinations which helps create a healthy community and reduces congestion on local roads.
Prioritising pedestrians, active transport, and places for people in centres, is the focus of the Place Plans, rather than prioritising cars. This allows for greater street activation, which benefits local businesses and, in turn, the resilience and wellbeing of the local community.
At the same time, it is acknowledged that some new residents will want to drive.
To cater for this, and to reduce on-street parking impacts on surrounding streets, all new developments will be required to provide parking in accordance with Council’s requirements. In addition, the Place Plans will identify broader road infrastructure and corridor upgrades, most of which will need to be supported and implemented by the NSW Government.
Place Plans align with Council’s Climate Strategy to protect and maintain Sutherland Shire’s natural environment and green character.
A Tree Planting Plan will be developed for each centre.
Across 2026 and 2027, draft Place Plans will progressively be considered by Council in draft form, and then exhibited for community feedback, before being finalised and adopted by Council.
In late 2025, Council endorsed seeking approval, from the NSW Government, to exhibit the Miranda and Sutherland-Kirrawee Place Plans. These two plans are a priority as Miranda and Sutherland-Kirrawee are the Sutherland Shire’s strategic centres.
Further, Place Plans will be exhibited for the Engadine, Cronulla, Caringbah, Menai & Illawong and Jannali centres.
After a Place Plan has been adopted for each centre, we will support the plan by preparing centre-specific actions including:
- Detailed public domain, tree planting and other plans to help implement the relevant infrastructure improvements; and
- Changes to Council’s Development Control Plan, to provide the detailed planning guidelines against which development applications will be assessed.
In addition, a Special Entertainment Precinct will be established in Cronulla to support after-hours vibrancy and activity.
Council is also preparing an updated infrastructure contributions framework, which over time will outline the projects to receive funding from developer contributions in each centre.
We will provide multiple ways for our community to provide feedback, ask questions and share ideas. Our Join the Conversation website will be the key place for information about these consultations.
To keep up-to-date with opportunities to have your say, you can subscribe to our Join the Conversation monthly email update.