Free. Addresses are looked up with NSW Government planning services; nothing is stored by Plynth. How to read the maps
Search an address to read every zone on the lot, or choose a zone to see what it means and what the Standard Instrument mandates for it.
The zone is a starting point. Permissibility follows the council LEP land use table and any SEPP that applies; nothing here says a use is allowed on a site.
The zone comes from the NSW Planning Portal's Land Zoning layer and is explained from the Standard Instrument LEP, which fixes each zone's core content. Each council LEP adds its own permitted and prohibited uses, Schedule 1 can permit extra uses on particular land, and the Housing SEPP, Codes SEPP and other State policies can permit development the table does not, so nothing here says a use is allowed on a specific site. Read the LEP land use table linked for the site and the applicable SEPPs, and treat a mapped zone as a starting point for a planning assessment. Addresses go to NSW planning services through Plynth's server and are not stored.
Zoning is the first question in NSW planning. Clause 2.2 of the Standard Instrument LEP provides that land is within the zones shown on the council's Land Zoning Map, and clause 2.3 says the land use table then specifies, for each zone, the objectives, the development permitted without consent, the development permitted only with consent and the development that is prohibited. The consent authority must have regard to the objectives when it decides an application.
The Standard Instrument fixes the 32 zone names and, for each, a core of objectives and uses that every council LEP must carry. The council adds its own objectives and uses on top, Schedule 1 of its LEP can permit extra uses on particular land, and State policies such as the Housing SEPP and the Codes SEPP can permit development the LEP does not. Reading the zone is the start of the permissibility question, not the end of it.
Search the address here, or open the Land Zoning Map in the LEP through the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer. Note every zone on the lot; a road-widening strip or a rear drainage reserve is often zoned differently from the rest.
Open the zone's entry in the council LEP, not the Standard Instrument. The LEP carries the mandated content plus the council's additions, and it is the table a consent authority applies.
Schedule 1 of the LEP lists additional permitted uses for particular land. The Housing SEPP, the Codes SEPP and the Transport and Infrastructure SEPP can permit development in a zone regardless of the table.
Permissibility is separate from the height, floor space ratio and lot size controls on the other LEP maps and from the DCP. A use can be permitted in a zone and still not fit on the lot.
How to read zoning, height and FSR maps explains the map layers and their written provisions.
Every council LEP draws its zones from this list (clause 2.1). Each link opens the zone's objectives, mandated uses and what it means in practice.
Search the address in this explainer: it reads the Land Zoning layer from the NSW Planning Portal for the property and names the LEP. Otherwise open the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer, search the address and read the Land Zoning Map layer, or look at the Land Zoning Map in the council LEP on the NSW legislation website. A section 10.7 planning certificate from the council is the formal source.
The letters give the group and the number the zone within it. RU zones are rural, R residential, E employment, MU1 mixed use, SP special purpose, RE recreation, C conservation and W waterway. R2 Low Density Residential is the detached-house zone, R3 medium density, R4 high density; RU1 is primary production; E1 a local centre and E4 general industrial. Each code links to its own explanation below.
Only in part. The zone's entry in the council LEP land use table lists what is permitted without consent, with consent and prohibited, and the Standard Instrument fixes the core of that list. Schedule 1 of the LEP and State policies such as the Housing SEPP can permit more. Whether a permitted use fits on a particular lot then depends on the height, floor space ratio and lot size maps, the DCP and the site's constraints.
Split zoning is common. A strip along the frontage may be SP2 Infrastructure for road widening, a rear portion may be RE1 or C2 for a creek or bushland, or a zone boundary may run through a large lot. Each part follows its own zone, and clause 4.5(4) of the Standard Instrument excludes from the site area any land on which the proposed development is prohibited.
Two things. In December 2021 the old environmental zones E1 to E4 were renamed C1 to C4. Then on 26 April 2023 the business and industrial zones (B1 to B8, IN1 to IN4) were replaced by the employment zones E1 to E5, MU1 Mixed Use, SP4 Enterprise, SP5 Metropolitan Centre and W4 Working Waterfront. An old document that says E2 may mean either Environmental Conservation or Commercial Centre depending on its date.
The Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006 is the template every council LEP must follow. It fixes the zone names, each zone's core objectives and the uses each LEP must permit or prohibit. The council LEP adopts that content and adds local objectives and uses, so the LEP table is always longer than the Standard Instrument entry and is the one that applies.
Yes, through another instrument. Schedule 1 of the LEP can list additional permitted uses for particular land under clause 2.5. The Housing SEPP permits secondary dwellings and, in its low and mid rise housing areas, denser housing in R2 and R3. The Transport and Infrastructure SEPP permits infrastructure across zones. Existing use rights under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 protect lawful uses that a later zone would prohibit.
From NSW Government services. The NSW Planning Portal's address search finds the property and its planning-layer query returns the mapped zone, the LEP that applies and the height and floor space ratio for context. Plynth's server relays each request and caches the answer for about a day; the address is not stored or logged. Contains NSW Government data, CC BY 4.0.
Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006, current version for 1 July 2026 to date. Read on the NSW legislation website on 26 September 2026. Council LEPs adopt the Land Use Table entries with their own objectives and uses.
State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, current version for 11 September 2026 to date; State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, current version for 11 September 2026 to date. Read on 26 September 2026.
Contains NSW Government data from the NSW Planning Portal and NSW Spatial Services, CC BY 4.0. Plynth's server relays each lookup and caches the answer for about a day; addresses are not stored or logged.
Plynth answers site questions with every control linked to its source: the zone, the LEP table that applies to it, the SEPPs that sit over it and the standards on the other maps.