E5 Heavy Industrial zoning in NSW

Employment zones in the NSW Standard Instrument LEP. Checked 26 September 2026.

E5 Heavy Industrial is for industries that need to be separated from other land uses. That phrase is its first objective, and the others are efficient use of industrial land, minimising the effect of industry on other uses, and employment. The Standard Instrument mandates heavy industries, general industries, hazardous storage establishments, offensive storage establishments, data centres, freight transport facilities, depots, industrial training facilities and warehouse or distribution centres with consent.

E5 replaced IN3 Heavy Industrial on 26 April 2023. It is the only zone that mandates data centres, and the only one whose mandatory list includes hazardous and offensive storage. Nothing that serves the general public, not even a neighbourhood shop, is mandated here.

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What the Standard Instrument says

The objectives and uses every council LEP must carry for this zone, quoted from the Land Use Table. Blank items are left to the LEP.

Standard Instrument Land Use Table

Zone E5 Heavy Industrial

Industry that needs to be kept apart from other uses: heavy industries, hazardous and offensive storage, data centres and freight facilities.

1 Objectives of zone

To provide areas for industries that need to be separated from other land uses.
To ensure the efficient and viable use of land for industrial uses.
To minimise any adverse effect of industry on other land uses.
To encourage employment opportunities.

Direction: the LEP must permit, with or without consent

Building identification signs
Business identification signs
Roads

2 Permitted without consent

Left to the council's LEP.

3 Permitted only with consent

Data centres
Depots
Freight transport facilities
General industries
Hazardous storage establishments
Heavy industries
Industrial training facilities
Offensive storage establishments
Oyster aquaculture
Tank-based aquaculture
Warehouse or distribution centres

4 Prohibited

Left to the council's LEP.

A council LEP adopts this entry and adds its own objectives, permitted uses and prohibited uses under the Land Use Table directions, so the LEP land use table for the land is the one that applies. Schedule 1 of the LEP, the Housing SEPP and the Codes SEPP can permit development the table does not.

What it means in practice

Where the common questions land, and which instrument decides each of them.

Heavy and hazardous industry

Heavy industries, hazardous industries and offensive industries are the uses the zone exists for, and hazardous and offensive storage establishments are mandated. Chapter 3 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 adds its own assessment requirements for potentially hazardous and offensive development.

Data centres

Data centres are mandated with consent in E5 and in no other zone, so E5 is the default location for them unless a council adds the use elsewhere.

Retail, offices and housing

None are mandated. Take away food and drink premises and neighbourhood shops appear in E4's list but not E5's, so a cafe for workers in E5 depends on the council's LEP. Residential uses are normally prohibited.

Buffers

Because the zone's purpose is separation, councils often surround E5 land with E4, RU6 Transition or C3 land and set setback and landscaping controls in the DCP.

Former zone names

Before 26 April 2023 this land was generally zoned IN3 Heavy Industrial, which Schedule 1 of the Standard Instrument lists as a former zone. The mapping from IN3 to E5 follows the Department of Planning's employment zone reform guidance rather than the Standard Instrument text. The savings period for former-zone permissibility ended on 26 April 2025.

Frequently asked questions

What is E5 Heavy Industrial zoning?

The Standard Instrument zone for industries that need to be separated from other land uses. It replaced IN3 Heavy Industrial in 2023 and mandates heavy and general industries, hazardous and offensive storage, data centres, freight facilities, depots and warehouses with consent.

Which zone allows data centres in NSW?

E5 Heavy Industrial is the only Standard Instrument zone that mandates data centres with consent. A council can add data centres to other zones in its LEP, and some have added them to E4 or E3.

Can I open a shop or cafe on E5 land?

Neither neighbourhood shops nor take away food and drink premises are mandated in E5, unlike E4. Either is permissible only where the council's LEP adds it to the E5 table.

What was IN3 zoning?

IN3 Heavy Industrial was the pre-2023 Standard Instrument zone for heavy industry. Schedule 1 of the Standard Instrument now lists it as a former zone, and under the Department's guidance IN3 land was generally translated to E5.

Sources

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.

Other instruments

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. The translation of the former B and IN zones to the employment zones follows NSW Department of Planning guidance rather than the Standard Instrument text.

Other zones

How to read zoning, height and FSR maps in NSW

Know the zone.
Then read everything that sits over it.

Plynth answers site questions with every control linked to its source: the zone, the LEP land use table, the SEPPs that add to it and the standards on the other maps.

See planning due diligence in Plynth Back to the zoning explainer