Can a Crown lease condition be more restrictive than the Territory Plan?
Think of the Territory Plan as establishing what planning rules potentially allow for the area, while the Crown lease can place additional restrictions on the particular property.
For example, the Territory Plan might allow multi-unit housing on a block, but the Crown lease may contain wording limiting the block to one dwelling. In that situation, the Territory Plan allowance does not automatically remove the one-dwelling restriction in the Crown lease. The lease may need to be varied before the additional dwelling can proceed.
Reference: ACT Planning, Advisory Note 11 – Working out Crown lease maximum number of dwellings, particularly the examples of residential Crown lease purpose clauses limiting dwelling numbers –
Short Answer
Yes. A Crown lease can be more restrictive than what the Territory Plan would otherwise allow. The Territory Plan establishes the planning controls for the land, while the Crown lease can contain its own purpose clause and other lease conditions that limit how the particular block may be used or developed.
ACT Planning confirms that leased land and buildings can only be used for a purpose authorised by the Crown lease. Therefore, something being permissible under the Territory Plan does not automatically override a more restrictive lease condition.
Detailed Explanation
ACT Planning's Advisory Note 11 – Working out Crown lease maximum number of dwellings demonstrates this directly. It provides examples where the wording of an individual Crown lease limits the number of dwellings that can be developed, including purpose clauses permitting only a single dwelling or a maximum of two dwellings.
Where a Crown lease restriction needs to be changed, ACT Planning confirms that the lease can be varied by adding, removing or changing provisions, but a Crown lease variation requires development approval and all variations depend on Territory Plan requirements.
This effectively means that both sets of requirements need to be satisfied: the proposal must be permissible under the applicable Territory Plan controls and authorised by the Crown lease. If the Crown lease is more restrictive, a lease variation may be required rather than relying solely on what the Territory Plan permits.
No minimum block size does not remove the need for planning assessment.
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