FAQs

A development contribution or levy is a monetary contribution payable to Council by a developer to help fund local infrastructure (roads, parks, community facilities, etc.).

There are two types of contributions:

• Section 7.11 contributions are monetary contributions apportioned to development.  There must be a relationship (nexus) between anticipated development and the demand for new or additional infrastructure generated by that development.
• Section 7.12 levies are calculated as a percentage of the estimate cost of development. 

New development often requires the provision of, or results in an increase in the demand for public amenities and services. 

Council levies new development a monetary contribution to ensure that the development pays a fair share towards the cost of the infrastructure needed to support that development. 

A contributions plan is a planning document which permits a Council to impose contributions on development to fund additional or improved local infrastructure. The Plan is made under Sections 7.11 and 7.12 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

The Shoalhaven Local Government Area (LGA) is anticipated to grow by an additional 24,530 people by 2046.  Resulting development will generate a demand for a range of local community infrastructure items. 

The draft Shoalhaven Contributions Plan 2026 (the draft Plan) allows Council to impose contributions on development to wholly or partially fund local infrastructure projects. It is important that new development contributes towards the infrastructure demand it creates, rather than existing ratepayers. 

The draft Plan is a result of a comprehensive review of Council’s development contributions framework.  The draft Plan consists of a contemporary works schedule that focusses on:

• Projects that meet the needs of development over the next 20 years.
• Achievable delivery timeframes.
• An awareness of Council’s current financial position.  

The draft Plan is a hybrid section 7.11 and 7.12 plan that allows Council to better capture development contributions based on the development trends anticipated and spatial distribution of development across the LGA. This ensures that development pays a fair share towards the cost of the infrastructure required to support new development. 

The draft Plan applies to the City of Shoalhaven LGA.

The following development is subject to a Section 7.11 contribution:

• Residential accommodation that will result in an increase in the number of dwellings on the development site. 
• A subdivision of land that creates a lot for the purpose of a dwelling. 

For clarity, the first dwelling on a vacant lot that paid contributions at the subdivision stage is not considered to result in a net increase in the number of dwellings on the development site. 

The following development is subject to a Section 7.12 contribution:

• Residential accommodation that will not result in an increase in the number of dwellings on the development site (e.g., alterations and additions to an existing dwelling or the rebuilding of an existing dwelling).
• Other residential development that is not defined as residential accommodation (e.g., boarding houses, co-living housing, group homes, hostels, residential care facilities). 
• All types of non-residential. 

Contributions apply to both complying development and development applications. 

Yes, the following development is excluded from paying contributions under the draft Plan:

• Development by or on behalf of the State Government/Crown or the Council, that in the opinion of the Council, does not increase the demand for community infrastructure works addressed by this Plan.   
• Public housing within the meaning of the Housing Act 2001. 
• Senior's housing and/or affordable housing carried out by or on behalf of a social housing provider.  
• Development excluded from section 7.11 contributions or section 7.12 levies by way of a direction made by the Minister for Planning.
• Development that is not likely to increase the demand for local infrastructure, in relation to section 7.11 contributions.
• Development that has a cost of $100,000 or less, in relation to section 7.12 levies.

Contributions must be paid at the time specified in the approval (consent) for the development, which is to be consistent with Section 3.5 of the draft Plan. Contributions for complying development must be paid prior to commencement of any work.

Council may consider an offer to provide a material public benefit in part or full satisfaction of or instead of a paying a monetary contribution or levy that has been imposed.  This could include the carrying out of work or providing another kind of material public benefit.  

Refer to the draft Works in Kind Agreement and Planning Agreement Policies, for details. These draft polices form part of the public exhibition documentation. 

The Shoalhaven LGA covers a large area of 4,660 square kilometres and development across the LGA is not uniform.  A tailored analysis of anticipated future development across the LGA has been undertaken to more accurately predict the resulting demand for local infrastructure in different areas and the resulting contribution rates for development within those different areas. 

These different areas are referred to as ‘catchments’ in the draft Plan.  There are three different types of catchments: 

• Citywide: The Citywide catchment applies to the whole LGA.  Development across the entire LGA generates a demand for the new infrastructure in this catchment. 
• Planning area: The Planning Area catchments align with the five district level planning areas across the LGA.  Development within a smaller district area generates a demand for the new infrastructure (many localities but not the whole LGA).
• Individual benefiting areas: The draft Plan allows for seven smaller individual benefiting areas.  Development in these discrete areas generate a demand for the new infrastructure. 

All development across the LGA will contribute towards the cost of the Citywide catchment local infrastructure works. All development will also contribute to the cost of local infrastructure works in the planning area catchment where the development is located. If the development is also located within one of the discrete benefiting areas catchments, development in that area will contribute towards local infrastructure in that catchment as well. 

The Individual Benefiting Areas are identified in Section 3.2 of the Plan. If land is not within an Individual Benefiting area, the relevant Planning Area contribution will be applied.  

It is anticipated that a public facing online mapping layer will be in place upon commencement of the new Plan to assist the community to identify which catchment and rate applies to a site. 

The section 7.11 contribution rate payable for residential accommodation and subdivision in each of the catchments to which this Plan applies is outlined below.  

*an increase to the $20,000 cap for the Mundamia URA is currently being sought. 

The section 7.12 contribution is calculated by multiplying the proposed development cost by the applicable percentage contribution rate in the following table. 

 A development can only be charged one type of local infrastructure contribution, either a section 7.11 contribution or a section 7.12 levy, not both.   In the case of a mixed use development (that is, a development comprising two or more different development types), the contribution type applied will be the one that yields the highest contribution amount.

Unlike the current Shoalhaven Contributions Plan 2019, the draft Plan does not enable the collection of a monetary contribution for deficit non-residential parking spaces.  

The new framework allows for the collection of a monetary contribution through a planning agreement mechanism and the development assessment process. Refer to draft Chapter G21: Car Parking and Traffic of the Shoalhaven Development Control Plan 2014 and the draft Planning Agreement Policy, which form part of this public exhibition package. 

To adjust for inflation, indexation will be undertaken quarterly under the draft Plan. Indexing helps to ensure that sufficient funds will be available to deliver the required infrastructure at the time of delivery. 

Contributions levied on a consent will be adjusted for inflation to reflect the rates at the date of payment.

The draft Plan funds 40 local infrastructure projects in the following categories:

• Access, servicing and public domain.
• Open space and recreation.
• Community and cultural. 

Shoalhaven’s future infrastructure needs have been informed by a range of current and emerging plans, strategies and policies prepared by both the NSW Government and Council.

The total infrastructure cost across the section 7.11 and 7.12 works schedules is $247 million.

Some projects are fully funded by new development whilst others require a Council contribution in recognition that the demand is partially generated by the existing community.  

Water and sewer charges are levied separately by Council and are not included in the draft Plan. 

The money collected is held in trust for the projects that the money is collected for. Upon collection of all required funds, construction can commence in-line with Council’s Capital Works Program delivery schedule.  

Money collected as a development contribution can only be used for delivering local infrastructure projects in the draft Plan. There needs to be a direct link or ‘nexus’ between the development and the infrastructure to be funded under the section 7.11 component of the draft Plan.  

The draft Plan allows for the pooling of section 7.11 works schedule project funds to enable a section 7.11 project to be completed prior to all contributions for that project being collected.

The draft Plan allows for monetary contributions collected under section 7.12 to be applied towards meeting the development apportioned costs of any of the projects on the section 7.11 or section 7.12 works schedule. 

When Council will spend the money collected depends on the individual projects in the works schedule. Some projects are triggered by development occurring and some are aligned with Council’s budget and works program, particularly where Council is responsible for funding part of the project.  

An indicative priority (delivery timeframe) has been provided for each local infrastructure item in the draft Plan. Refer to the Work Schedules at Appendix E and F of the draft Plan. 

All projects were carefully considered and reviewed against a range of criteria, including whether Council has received all funds for recoupment projects, project viability, ability to fund or deliver via other pathways, nexus to development and ability for Council to make a co-contribution considering Council’s current financial position.  

Some projects are complete; others will not proceed (or be completed) or will proceed via development consent conditions or other funding pathways rather than via development contributions.   

You can find a list of projects from the 2019 Contributions Plan that have not been carried into the draft Plan in the document library of this Get Involved Page.

Submissions received during the public exhibition period will be collected and summarised. The draft Plan and submission summary will then be presented to the elected Council, seeking its endorsement to proceed to finalisation. Changes may be made to the draft Plan following submission feedback.