THE Department of Planning states that the Draft Centres Policy "provides a planning framework for the development of new and existing retail and commercial centres in NSW".

As outlined in the document, the policy is based on six planning principles:

• Retail and commercial activity should be located in centres to ensure the most efficient use of transport and other infrastructure, proximity to labour markets, and to improve the amenity and liveability of those centres.
• The planning system should be flexible enough to enable centres to grow, and new centres to form.
• The market is best placed to determine the need for retail and commercial development. The role of the planning system is to regulate the location and scale of development to accommodate market demand.
• The planning system should ensure that the supply of available floorspace always accommodates the market demand, to help facilitate new entrants into the market and promote competition.
• The planning system should support a wide range of retail and commercial premises in all centres and should contribute to ensuring a competitive retail and commercial market.
• Retail and commercial development should be well designed to ensure they contribute to the amenity, accessibility, urban context and sustainability of centres.

Public submissions are open until 11 May 2009.  More information can be found at the NSW Department of Planning website.