Uralla Shire Council has endorsed a new bush fire prone land map prepared by the NSW Rural
Fire Service, and once the RFS Commissioner certifies it, almost the whole shire will be
mapped as bush fire prone. The council's own report says the classification now
encompasses essentially all lands within the LGA except those lands zoned urban that are
actively developed and are not located within buffer zones to adjoining vegetation
categories
. The map it replaces was certified in 2009.
Why so much more land
The change is grass. The report says The most significant update to the current BFPL map
is the inclusion of Vegetation Category 3 grasslands
, which were recognised under the
bushfire building standard AS3959 in 2009 and added to the RFS mapping guide in 2015. Under
that standard the category includes dense sown pasture, sown pasture
and open tussock.
The council is clear that this is a change in what the map counts, not in how dangerous the
shire has become. In its release the Mayor, Cr Robert Bell, said This does not mean the risk
of bushfire has suddenly increased, but rather that the mapping now recognises a broader range
of vegetation types that can carry fire, including grasslands.
The report also notes that
bush fire prone land maps are not bush fire risk maps
: they decide when a bushfire
assessment is triggered, not what it will find.
What it changes for buyers
Most property sales come with a planning certificate under section 10.7 of the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, and bush fire prone status is one of the matters it
must state. The report says the new status will be noted on future 10.7 planning
certificates
. So once the map is certified, a certificate for land newly inside it would carry
that notation, including land that has never been mapped as bush fire prone before.
What it changes for builders
For development on bush fire prone land, section 4.14 of the Act requires the consent
authority to be satisfied that the proposal complies with Planning for Bush Fire Protection, the
RFS's planning rules. Residential and rural-residential subdivisions, and buildings the law
calls special fire protection purposes, such as schools, childcare centres, seniors housing and
tourist accommodation, need a Bush Fire Safety Authority from the RFS Commissioner. The report's
own summary of the effect: These requirements will now apply to a much larger area of land
within the Uralla Shire under the new mapping.
What a particular owner has to do is not set by the map. The report says the specific
protection measures will depend on the nature, location and design of the proposal and is
determined through site specific assessment
.
Seventeen years, and no exhibition
The report states that each council's map is to be reviewed every 5 years
, and that
Uralla's mapping is therefore outdated
. The update was prepared and paid for by the RFS.
Councillors endorsed it 9 to 0 on 22 September.
Residents will hear about it afterwards. The report says there is no requirement for public
exhibition
of the map, and proposes community education once it is certified, through the
council newsletter, media releases and social media.
Our view
Mapping grassland follows the national standard and, by the report's account, what other inland councils already do, and a map from 2009 was overdue for replacement. But a change that will appear on the planning certificate for most rural land in the shire deserves notice before it takes effect, not after. The draft map is already public: it is Attachment 1 to item 13.6, on page 154 of the council's 22 September attachments, linked below. Telling owners now that it is there, and how to find their property on it, would cost the council a newsletter item it plans to write anyway.
What to watch
Certification by the RFS Commissioner, which is when the map takes effect, and the council's community education after it. Until then the 2009 map applies.
Sources
- Uralla Shire Council, Business paper, Ordinary Council Meeting, 22 September 2026 (PDF, read 3 October 2026), item 13.6: the extent of the new mapping, the grassland change and its history, the 2009 certification and five-year review, the planning certificate, section 4.14 and Bush Fire Safety Authority effects, the special fire protection purposes, that maps are not risk maps, site-specific assessment, that the RFS prepared and funded the map, and that no public exhibition is required.
- Uralla Shire Council, Minutes, Ordinary Council Meeting, 22 September 2026 (PDF, read 3 October 2026): the resolution and the 9 to 0 vote.
- Uralla Shire Council, Attachments, Ordinary Council Meeting, 22 September 2026 (PDF, 168 pages, read 3 October 2026): the draft Bush Fire Prone Land Map, Attachment 1 to item 13.6, page 154.
- Uralla Shire Council, Council endorses updated bushfire prone land mapping (media release, 24 September 2026, read 3 October 2026): the Mayor's statement on what the change does and does not mean.
How we did this
Every quoted passage is from the council's business paper, minutes or media release. We describe what the report says the map triggers; we have not assessed any individual property, and what an owner must do is set by site-specific assessment. We have not counted the number of lots newly mapped, which the report does not state. We did not contact the council or the RFS for this piece. The “our view” paragraph is opinion based on the documents quoted.