Draft engineering requirements for land division - stage 2 consultation

The State Planning Commission is seeking feedback on the final draft engineering requirements for land division.

This is the second stage of consultation, following a comprehensive review of the initial draft engineering design standard and associated documents released for consultation in May 2025.

As a result of the feedback received during the initial consultation, substantial changes are proposed, including:

• streamlining the draft engineering design standard to only specify requirements for matters assessed during land division consent and removing references to the technical manual to make it clear whether design requirements have been met
• updating Practice Direction 12 – Conditions to introduce mandatory conditions to land division consents (where the design standard applies), to reduce the need for detailed information up-front and enable negotiation with councils at the detailed design phase
• introducing draft PDI (General) (Land Division Design Standard) Amendment Regulations to make the design standard’s role in land division assessment clearer, as well as amending land division requirements
• revising the draft technical manual and standard drawings, limiting their role in the assessment process to one of the ways to satisfy mandatory conditions and to provide best-practice guidance for land division design and construction.

Aspects such as climate resilient design and active transport have also been moved from the design standard and included in the technical manual to ensure updates can be made easily, in-line with contemporary best practice.

Visit the YourSAy consultation page to have your say on the draft engineering requirements for land division, including the draft engineering design standard, technical manual, standard drawings, regulations and practice direction. Consultation closes Thursday, 21 May 2026.