NSW TOD Precincts Explained: the Transport Oriented Development controls

The Transport Oriented Development (TOD) program is one of the largest changes to NSW housing policy in a generation. It has two halves, and they work differently.

Around nominated stations, State planning controls lift what you may build within roughly 400 metres of the platform. Those controls sit in Chapter 5 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, inserted by the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) Amendment (Transport Oriented Development) 2024, which commenced 13 May 2024. People call it "the TOD SEPP"; it is not a standalone SEPP, and there has never been a "Transport Oriented Development SEPP 2023".

Separately, eight larger accelerated precincts have been rezoned by the State through amendments to the relevant local environmental plans.

A development application is still required. Chapter 5 makes residential flat buildings and shop top housing permissible with development consent. It creates no complying development pathway, no certifier route and no as-of-right approval. The council remains the consent authority, still applies section 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and can still refuse.

What problem the TOD controls are solving

NSW has committed to 377,000 new homes by 2029 under the National Housing Accord. Much of the land best served by existing rail was zoned for detached housing only, so the places with the most infrastructure had the least capacity. The TOD controls raise the permitted building envelope on that land, and make apartment forms permissible in zones where the LEP did not allow them.

DPHI frames the ambition as mid-rise rather than high-rise: the amendment aims to deliver more mid-rise residential flat buildings and shop-top housing around rail and metro stations.

What the TOD controls allow

Chapter 5

Permissible with consent — not complying development

Within a mapped TOD area, residential flat buildings become permissible in the R1, R2, R3, R4 and E1 Local Centre zones, and shop top housing in the E1 Local Centre and E2 Commercial Centre zones. In every case a development application to council is required.

22 m and 24 m, FSR 2.5:1 — and the LEP can still beat them

Section 155 allows a maximum building height of 22 m for a residential flat building and 24 m for a building containing shop top housing, with a maximum floor space ratio of 2.5:1 for both. These are floors, not ceilings: where the LEP already permits greater height or FSR, the LEP keeps applying. Note these are metres, not a storey count.

Lot width 21 m, and no minimum lot size

Section 159 sets a minimum lot width of 21 m, and section 158 removes any minimum lot size the LEP would otherwise impose. Section 160 requires active street frontages for residential flat buildings in local centre zones.

2% affordable housing, on site, in perpetuity

Section 156 requires developments with a total gross floor area of 2,000 m² or more to provide at least 2% of that floor area as affordable housing — delivered on site, held in perpetuity and managed by a registered community housing provider. Below 2,000 m² there is no TOD affordable housing requirement.

The two tiers

Tier 1 — the eight accelerated precincts

Bankstown, Bays West, Bella Vista, Crows Nest, Homebush, Hornsby, Kellyville and Macquarie Park. These cover land within roughly 1,200 metres of the station and were rezoned by the State through amendments to the relevant local environmental plans and their maps — not through Chapter 5. DPHI describes the rezonings as creating capacity for nearly 60,000 new homes over 15 years. The first seven commenced on 27 November 2024; Bays West has run on its own timetable and should be checked separately.

Consent is still required in accelerated precincts too. The rezonings changed the controls; they did not change the pathway.

Tier 2 — the station precincts

Nominated stations across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra. Chapter 5 applies to specified lots within a mapped area — generally land within about 400 m of the station. The controls commenced at the first 18 stations on 13 May 2024 and were rolled out from there.

Not every nominated station ended up under Chapter 5. For a number of precincts, council-prepared controls were accepted in place of the State ones and implemented through the local environmental plan instead. Which of the two applies to your site changes the numbers completely, so check the specific station before anything else.

There is a faster DA, but it is still a DA. Chapter 7 of the same SEPP offers a streamlined development application for mid-rise pattern book designs, and those patterns can be used on TOD land. It removes assessment of matters already settled by the pattern — but council still determines it. Only the low-rise patterns carry a complying development pathway, and they are not the TOD forms.

What the TOD controls do not reach

Excluded land — land containing a State or local heritage item, an Aboriginal object or place of heritage significance, or an archaeological site; Crown land including national parks; and conservation or recreation zones. They do apply inside heritage conservation areas.
Co-living — co-living housing is not a residential flat building, so the TOD controls do not reach it even on a TOD lot.
Applications already on foot — a DA made and not determined on or before 13 May 2024 is saved, as is a modification of a consent granted on or before that date.
Part-zoned lots — where only part of a lot carries a relevant zone, only that part gets the TOD controls.
Everything else in the assessment — bushfire, flooding, biodiversity, the Apartment Design Guide, parking, the council's DCP and its tree controls all continue to apply. Standards can be varied under clause 4.6 of the Standard Instrument LEP in the normal way.

TOD and planning proposals

TOD development is assessed by DA, so it does not generate a planning proposal by itself. Proposals cluster around TOD precincts for other reasons:

Exceeding the TOD standards — a proponent seeking more height or FSR than section 155 allows will look to amend the LEP.
Precinct masterplanning — councils in TOD areas prepare precinct plans, which need proposals for broader zone and control amendments.
Adjacent sites — landowners just outside a mapped boundary lodge proposals to extend or match the uplift.

What it means for reading planning activity

Boundaries matter enormously. Land inside a mapped TOD area and land 50 metres outside can carry very different development rights.
Check which scheme applies. A station under council-prepared controls behaves nothing like one under Chapter 5, and the station list alone will not tell you which is which.
The uplift is not a secret. It is available to every landowner in a mapped area, so the difference between sites is in their attributes and their constraints, not in access to the control.

This guide reflects the position as at September 2026 and is not legal or planning advice. The TOD controls have been amended repeatedly, and the mapped areas and station list change. Verify the current text of Chapter 5, the precinct maps and the relevant LEP on the NSW Legislation website and the NSW Planning Portal before relying on any of it for a site.

How Lodgd fits

Lodgd tracks every development application and planning proposal lodged with all 128 NSW councils, including those in and around TOD precincts from the NSW Planning Portal. The council pages are free to read and need no account.