Sensitive use
A sensitive use (housing, childcare, schools, hospitals) is the high-exposure use that triggers contamination assessment and audit before a site can be used.
Ask Chalkline about this →A sensitive use is a land use where people spend extended time and the exposure risk is highest: housing, childcare, schools, aged care, and hospitals. It is the category of use whose proposal triggers contamination assessment and, on a contaminated or audit-overlay site, an environmental audit before the land can be used.
The concept is the hinge of contaminated-land planning. The same piece of land can be perfectly fine for a car park or a warehouse but require full assessment and remediation for housing, because the exposure pathway is so much greater: children playing in the soil, long daily occupancy, vegetables grown in the backyard. So the decision turns on the use you propose, not just the land’s history.
It triggers a few things:
- A planning proposal for a sensitive use on land with a contamination history (or under an Environmental Audit Overlay, or on a contaminated land register) requires the contamination to be assessed and the land shown suitable, often through a formal audit, before consent or use.
- It is also the threshold concept for aircraft noise (AS 2021 treats residential as among the most noise-sensitive uses), odour, and major-hazard buffers.
For a builder the practical point is timing and budget. If you are changing a site to a sensitive use, an industrial-to-residential infill is the classic case, assume contamination assessment is on the critical path and budget for a Stage 1 and Stage 2 investigation plus any remediation and audit. Proposing the sensitive use is what raises the bar, so price that in before you commit to the land.
Also known as: Sensitive land use.
Category: Planning / Contaminated land.
Related
See also
References
- Contaminated land (Chalkline) (verified 2026-06-01)
Last updated: 2026-06-01. Verified: 2026-06-01. Quarterly review for currency.