Related guide: Community engagement strategy: how to write one and put it into practice
A community participation plan (CPP) sets out how and when planning authorities in New South Wales engage the community on planning decisions, as required by Division 2.6 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW). Since 1 September 2026, a single statewide Community Participation Plan, prepared by the Planning Secretary, applies to every planning authority, including councils, and replaces more than 100 local plans. It sets community participation objectives and minimum public exhibition periods, while councils still choose their engagement methods through their community engagement strategies.
This guide is for council planners, engagement teams and project leads in NSW. It covers who the plan applies to, what it requires, how it fits with the council's engagement strategy, and how to make sure projects meet it. It is a general summary, not legal advice. Check current requirements with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure or your legal team before relying on them. For how other places handle this, see our guide to engagement documents required by law.
What is a community participation plan?
A community participation plan is the document that tells the community how and when they can take part in planning matters: strategic plans, planning proposals, development control plans, contributions plans, and development applications. It explains which matters are publicly exhibited, for how long, how to make a submission and how submissions are considered.
It is not a project engagement plan. The statewide plan describes requirements across all planning functions. Each strategic plan or significant proposal still needs its own community engagement plan that meets those requirements.
Who must prepare a community participation plan now?
Before September 2026, each council and each NSW agency with key planning functions prepared and exhibited its own CPP. The planning system reforms passed in 2025 moved that responsibility to the Planning Secretary, who prepared one statewide plan for all planning authorities. According to the Department:
From 1 September 2026, all planning authorities, including councils and NSW Government agencies with key planning approval functions, must use the statewide plan.
Existing council and relevant agency CPPs no longer apply. Standalone CPPs that do not set engagement methods are superseded.
Where a council combined its CPP with its engagement strategy, that document can continue to describe how the council engages, but the statewide plan's exhibition and consultation requirements apply. Councils are expected to update these documents at their next review cycle.
Development and modification applications lodged but not determined before 1 September 2026 remain subject to the requirements that applied before commencement. Draft regional or district plans and local strategic planning statements already exhibited are not invalidated by the new 60-day periods.
What is the legal basis?
The requirements come from the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW). The statewide plan states it was prepared by the Planning Secretary to set out mandatory community participation requirements under Division 2.6 of the Act. The Department says the plan's objectives were shaped by the community participation principles in section 2.23(2) and that the plan will be reviewed periodically under section 2.24(3). Minimum exhibition rules for several plan types are drawn from Schedule 1 of the Act, which also excludes the period from 20 December to 10 January (inclusive) when calculating exhibition periods.
What does the statewide plan include?
The statewide plan has two parts that matter most for practitioners: the community participation objectives and the minimum public exhibition periods.
Community participation objectives
The plan sets six objectives that planning authorities apply when engaging on planning matters:
Open and inclusive: keep the community informed, promote equitable participation, use culturally appropriate practices and engage in a safe environment.
Easy to access: tell people early how and when they can take part, using formats, channels, times and locations likely to reach those affected.
Relevant: be clear about what can be discussed, acknowledge previous input and tailor engagement to the context, scale and impacts of the proposal.
Timely: start as early as possible, give regular updates and allow reasonable time for submissions.
Proportionate: focus effort on the stages where community input can have the greatest influence, and be clear about what has already been decided.
Meaningful: explain how submissions influenced decisions, be upfront about what the community can shape, and genuinely consider all input.
Minimum public exhibition periods
The plan standardizes exhibition periods across NSW. Selected minimums from the statewide plan are below. Periods are calendar days and include weekends.
Planning function | Minimum exhibition period |
|---|---|
Draft local strategic planning statement | 60 days |
Draft regional or district strategic plan | 60 days |
Planning proposal for a local environmental plan (after gateway) | 28 days, or as set by the gateway determination (which may decide no exhibition is needed for minor proposals) |
Draft development control plan | 28 days |
Draft contributions plan | 28 days |
Draft community participation plan | 28 days |
Development application (general) | 14 days, unless excluded or in a category with a longer period |
Designated development, nominated integrated or threatened species development | 28 days |
Council-related development application | 28 days |
Most State significant development | 28 days (certain housing types have 14 days) |
Review of a determination | Same period as the original application |
The plan also lists lower-impact development types that do not require public exhibition where no variation to height or floor space ratio controls is sought, such as dwelling houses up to two storeys, secondary dwellings, pools, sheds and similar ancillary development, demolition and subdivisions creating no more than five lots. The Department notes these applications are still assessed on their merits. Consent authorities can exhibit for longer where an application is likely to generate significant public interest.
How does it relate to the council's community engagement strategy?
Under section 402A of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), every council must establish and implement a community engagement strategy for engaging the local community when developing its plans, policies and programs and determining its activities. The Office of Local Government's Integrated Planning and Reporting Guidelines say the strategy must be based on social justice principles, must at a minimum identify stakeholder groups and the methods for engaging each, and must be reviewed within three months of local government elections. The guidelines also ask councils to integrate engagement requirements from other legislation into the strategy where practical.
The division of labor is now clear. The statewide plan sets the objectives and the minimum exhibition periods. The council's engagement strategy sets the methods and tools it uses with its own communities, including how it reaches groups that are often missed. The statewide plan states that an engagement strategy must not specify timeframes for public exhibition of planning functions.
How to review your council's engagement documents
Councils no longer write their own CPP, but most will need to review the documents that used to contain one. A practical sequence:
Find every place your old CPP lives. It may be a standalone plan, a chapter in the engagement strategy, or exhibition periods copied into procedures, templates and web pages.
Retire or replace timeframes. Remove local exhibition periods that conflict with the statewide plan and point to the statewide plan instead.
Keep and strengthen the methods. Your engagement strategy is now where local practice lives. Make sure it says how you will engage on strategic plans and development, not just the Community Strategic Plan.
Map methods to significance. Describe what you do for low, medium and high impact matters so staff do not default to the minimum. A consistent project assessment helps.
Check reach. Name the groups your planning engagement tends to miss and how you will reach them. Our guide to stakeholder analysis can help.
Set out how people hear back. The meaningful objective expects you to explain how submissions influenced decisions, so specify how and when you will report.
Schedule the update. Fold changes into the next review of the engagement strategy, which the guidelines tie to the post-election review.
Here is a suggested outline for the planning section of a council engagement strategy that sits under the statewide plan:
Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
Purpose and scope | Which planning functions the section covers and that the statewide CPP sets minimum exhibition periods |
Principles | How the council applies the six statewide objectives and its own social justice principles |
Who we engage | Stakeholder groups for planning matters, including those that are harder to reach |
Scaling engagement | How the council decides the level of engagement for strategic plans, planning proposals and development |
Methods | The methods and tools used at each level, from notification letters to workshops and reference groups |
Submissions and feedback | How submissions are recorded and considered, and how the council reports back |
Roles | Who plans, approves and delivers engagement on planning matters |
Monitoring and review | How the council checks that projects met the strategy and when it is reviewed |
Common gaps between the plan and practice
The plan says one thing, projects do another. Commitments in the engagement strategy are not reflected in project plans, so engagement depends on who happens to run the project.
Minimums treated as the target. A 28-day exhibition is the floor, not the definition of good engagement. The proportionate objective expects more effort where input can have the most influence.
Exhibition without engagement. Placing documents online and inviting submissions meets the minimum, but rarely reaches people who do not already follow planning matters.
Late engagement. The timely objective asks for participation as early as possible, yet many projects first engage at exhibition, when options have narrowed.
No report back. Submissions are considered but people never hear how. A community engagement report closes that gap.
Outdated documents. Old CPP timeframes linger in procedures, templates and web pages after 1 September 2026.
Applying it on every project
The statewide plan makes the minimums consistent across NSW, but it cannot make every project meet the objectives. That depends on whether project teams plan engagement early, scale it to the decision, record what they hear and report back. Practical steps: check the relevant exhibition period when you set the engagement timeline, plan methods from your engagement strategy rather than from scratch, and build reporting into the project from the start.
CE Canvas helps councils do this by turning their engagement strategy and framework into the way every project is planned, delivered and reported, so commitments are built into each project rather than left to memory. See how it works for teams with an established engagement practice.
Frequently asked questions
Do NSW councils still need their own community participation plan?
No. From 1 September 2026, a single statewide Community Participation Plan applies to all planning authorities, including councils, and existing council CPPs no longer apply. Councils still set their engagement methods in their community engagement strategy under the Local Government Act 1993. Check the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure's website for current requirements.
What is the minimum exhibition period for a development application in NSW?
Under the statewide plan, the general minimum is 14 days, with longer periods for some categories (for example 28 days for designated development and council-related applications) and no exhibition for listed lower-impact development types that meet height and floor space ratio controls. Applications lodged before 1 September 2026 follow the previous requirements. Confirm the period for a specific application with the consent authority.
Does the Christmas period count toward exhibition?
No. The statewide plan notes that the period from 20 December to 10 January (inclusive) is excluded when calculating a public exhibition period, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
What is the difference between a community participation plan and a community engagement strategy?
The community participation plan, now statewide, sets objectives and minimum exhibition periods for planning functions under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. A council's community engagement strategy, required by section 402A of the Local Government Act 1993, sets out how the council engages its community on all its plans, policies, programs and activities, including the methods it uses.
Is this article legal advice?
No. It is a general summary as of October 2026. Requirements change, and transitional rules apply to some applications and plans, so confirm current requirements with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, the Office of Local Government or your legal team.