Planning Frameworks

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority's approach to sustainable design, development and best practice environmental management is aligned with a number of planning frameworks, which are summarised in this section.

Sydney Olympic Park Master Plan

The Sydney Olympic Park Master Plan looks to the future and defines the objectives, role and function for Sydney Olympic Park for the next 10 to 20 years. The vision for Sydney Olympic Park is to make it:

• Sydney's premier destination for entertainment, leisure, business, tourism, sport and lifestyle-oriented commercial and residential communities
• a highly sought after location for a variety of employment-generating activities, housing, recreation and other entertainment facilities, all of which will enhance the vitality and viability of the Greater Homebush area
• an outstanding example of sustainable urban development and natural asset management
• an icon in the hearts and minds of all Sydneysiders and the people of New South Wales.

The development objectives of the Master Plan include to:

• encourage a broad range of commercial, residential, recreational, leisure and public uses that maximise use of available facilities and infrastructure and add to the unique qualities of the precinct
• encourage innovation and high quality urban form that positively contributes to the public domain
• focus development around the Olympic Park Railway Station
• create a precinct that encourages repeat visitation and provides a unique and enjoyable experience for visitors
• establish workforce and residential populations that add to the vibrancy of the precinct and help sustain the viability of Sydney Olympic Park
• continue to be an outstanding example of sustainable urban design by implementing wherever possible the principles of ecologically sustainable development
• protect and enhance the historic, cultural and environmental significance of Sydney Olympic Park and maintain its functions
• provide development that will help relieve reliance on continued government funding
• encourage activities that reinforce Sydney Olympic Park's major sporting, entertainment and leisure focus 
• integrate Sydney Olympic Park with neighbouring communities through cultural, physical, social and economic interaction.

The Sydney Olympic Master Plan was formally adopted by the Minister for Planning in May 2002.

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Parklands 2020
The Sydney Olympic Parklands comprise approximately 425-hectares and include Bicentennial Park and its diverse wetland areas, the remnant forests of Newington Nature Reserve, parts of the former Royal Australian Navy Armaments Depot (RANAD), the Brickpit, Haslams Creek, and remediated waste mounds including Kronos Hill and Woo-la-ra. The land comprising the Parklands is vested in the Sydney Olympic Park Authority, with the exception of the 47-hectare Newington Nature Reserve, which is vested in the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and managed by the Authority.

The Parklands include previously modified landscapes and sensitive ecological areas such as woodland, saltmarsh, mangrove and inter-tidal wetlands. There are also culturally significant indigenous and non-indigenous areas, such as the buildings and grasslands of RANAD and the Brickpit.

The 1997 Concept Plan for Millennium Parklands established the basic management concept as providing a Place and a Program that is treasured by the community for the recreational, inspirational and educational experiences that will be derived from a diversity of distinctly Australian and natural settings.

Parklands 2020 is a revision of that original plan and projects well into the new century.  It takes into account the gradual maturing of the Parklands since 1997 and recognises that special features of the place invite the formulation of a program that includes events, educational and interpretive tours, activities, research and development.

The proposed programs will introduce all aspects of the Parklands to a wide variety of audiences including independent visitors, school groups, institutions and corporations.

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Plan of Management for the Parklands

In its role as 'place' and asset manager of the whole of the Parklands, the Authority has three functions:

• to protect and enhance the Parklands
• to manage the Parklands programs (including recreational, historical, scientific, educational and cultural activities)
• to exercise any other functions which are desirable to give effect to the Plan of Management for the Parklands.

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority Act (2001) requires the Authority to develop and implement a Plan of Management for the Parklands. This Plan will translate into operational terms the conceptual framework established by Parklands 2020 and the 1997 Concept Plan for Millennium Parklands and detail the scheme of operations for how the Parklands will be managed.

The Plan of Management was adopted by the Minister for Environment and the Minister for State Development on 28 January 2003. The Plan identifies the different places within the Parklands, categorise them, and assign appropriate management objectives. In outlining details of the scheme of operations for the different places the management objectives form a key reference point and establish the means by which these objectives will be met. 

To achieve this, the Plan of Management:

• identifies the range of appropriate uses and activities for Programs conceptualised in Parklands 2020 and the 1997 Concept Plan for Millennium Parklands
• defines the approved range of activities permitted under lease or licence 
• approves the nature and extent of any physical developments
• facilitates changes or continuation of use
• defines a performance monitoring regime including performance targets.