The covenants name artificial turf, and they differ by village
Jordan Springs is a Lendlease community, registered as a suburb with the NSW Geographical Names Board in 2011, with 11,772 residents at the 2021 census and a projected 13,000 at completion. It is still actively selling land and house-and-land packages. It is also built in named villages, each with its own published Building and Siting Guidelines: Illoura, Northridge, Boronia, Melaleuca, The Avenue, Melaleuca Rise, Jordan Springs West (also called Secret Garden) and the Jordan Springs East Precinct. Design approvals are administered by Beveridge Williams through Lendlease's builder agent hub, and the guidelines direct that general customer queries about covenants go there, which confirms these are covenants rather than advisory suggestions.
The wording on artificial turf is not the same in every village, so here it is as published rather than summarised. The Northridge and The Avenue guidelines are identical to each other: a minimum of 50% of the lot's total landscaped area, meaning everything outside the building footprint, is to be soft or permeable surface, and then the note that artificial turf "is not considered a permeable surface and is not permitted as part of the soft or permeable landscaping works", followed by "artificial turf is not to be used where it is visible from the street". The Jordan Springs East Precinct and Secret Garden guidelines carry the same 50% soft or permeable requirement but put the turf restriction differently: it "is not to be used in front gardens, on council verge or where visible from the street". The Illoura guidelines, covering the oldest village, require the same 50% soft or permeable minimum and do not mention artificial turf anywhere.
Two things follow, and we want to be precise about both because the careless version of this is genuinely misleading. Jordan Springs does not ban artificial grass, and anyone telling you it does has not read the documents. What the documents restrict is artificial turf in the front garden, on the verge and in areas visible from the street. A backyard enclosed by the estate's standard 1.8 metre fencing is not visible from the street, and nothing in the guidelines we read restricts a synthetic lawn there.
The second point is narrower and only applies in Northridge and The Avenue. There, the guidelines say synthetic turf does not count toward the 50% soft or permeable share of the landscaped area. If you are planning a backyard that is mostly paving plus synthetic lawn on one of those lots, that arithmetic matters: the soft or permeable half has to come from planted beds and genuinely permeable surfaces, not from the turf. On the other village guidelines the turf restriction is about visibility and location rather than about the permeability calculation.
One honest limitation. These documents are written around the design approval and handover process, and we did not find anything establishing whether they are actively enforced against a landscaping change made years after occupation. We are not going to guess at that. If it matters to your plans, the covenant query path is the one the guidelines name.
A three month deadline out front, and a tree out back
New Jordan Springs owners are working to obligations that do not exist in an established suburb, and they land quickly. The guidelines state that "landscaping of your front and secondary frontage garden is to be completed within 3 months of the occupation of your home", with construction of the house, driveway and fencing to be completed within 24 months of settlement and design approval recommended within six months. There is a required planting strip of 300 to 500 millimetres between the driveway and the entry path, between the driveway and the side boundary, and along the front boundary. Plain concrete, driveway tracks, turfed and loose pebble or gravel driveways are all excluded, so the driveway is stencilled or coloured concrete or pavers. A landscape plan has to be provided at 1:100 on A3 by a qualified landscape designer, architect or horticulturist, with a full plant schedule, and homes must comply with BASIX.
Put that next to the turf restriction and the sequencing writes itself. The front garden has a hard three month clock and has to be met with planting and permitted surfaces rather than synthetic lawn. The backyard is a separate decision on a separate timeframe, and it is the one where synthetic grass is actually on the table. Owners who assume they can lay turf across the whole lot and be done tend to discover the problem at the wrong end of that three months.
Every village also requires a tree in the back yard. The East Precinct and Secret Garden guidelines call for one tree of mature height between 4 and 8 metres in both the front and back yard, with one of the two being an Australian native. Northridge words it as a tree of significant height between 4 and 8 metres. Illoura requires a minimum of two trees, one front and one rear, each reaching at least 4 metres at maturity. Most villages also require 70% of planting to be Australian natives or water wise species, with Illoura at 50%.
That mandated back yard tree is worth treating as an asset rather than an obligation. It is the only private shade most Jordan Springs backyards will have for a decade, and where it goes determines whether your synthetic lawn is usable at three in the afternoon in February. Site it over the part of the lawn people actually sit on, not in the corner where it is tidiest on a plan.
Ten metre lots, no side access, and a rainwater tank in the way
The Eastern Precinct guidelines publish the lot typologies: a Villa at 10 metres wide, a Premium Villa at 12.5 and a Courtyard at 15. Front setback is a minimum 4.5 metres with a one metre articulation zone forward of it, the garage sets back a minimum 5.5 metres, and the minimum building setback to the rear is 3 metres. The side setback is "0.9m and/or zero if applicable", rising to 1.2 or 1.35 metres where eaves overhang. Private open space has to be a minimum of 3 metres in both width and length, and comes in at 15% of the lot for a single storey home under 500 square metres, 20% for a double storey, and 20% on lots over 500 square metres or deeper than 30 metres.
Translate the side setback into a working site and the picture is clear. A 900 millimetre gap between the wall and the boundary fence, with a gas meter, a downpipe and possibly an air conditioning unit in it, is not a haulage route for base material. A zero setback is no route at all. Where that is the case every barrow of aggregate in and every barrow of spoil out goes through the house or over the fence by hand, and that is hours of labour that has nothing to do with which grass you chose. It is also the single most common reason two quotes for the same yard come back hundreds of dollars apart: one assumed machine access and the other walked the side path.
There is a second physical obstacle specific to this estate. The Eastern Precinct guidelines require rainwater tanks on all lots above 400 square metres. A tank, its pad and its overflow are real objects in a small backyard, and a lawn has to be built around them with water falling away from the tank pad rather than into it. Garden sheds are capped at 10 square metres and must sit at least 900 millimetres off any boundary and be concealed from public view, which puts another fixed object in the same small space. Internal fencing is 1.8 metre Lysaght Smartascreen, in Grey Ridge in the Eastern Precinct and Woodland Grey in Secret Garden, or equivalent.
The constructive part: the guidelines expressly permit pergola structures without a roof to the rear of the house outside the building envelope. In a backyard with one young tree and full afternoon sun, an unroofed pergola is usually the cheapest compliant route to shade over the usable part of a synthetic lawn. Worth designing in at the same time as the turf rather than two summers later.
Jordan Springs East: read your planning certificate first
This section applies to the Jordan Springs East precinct only, and we are going to quote Council rather than characterise anything ourselves.
Penrith City Council publishes a page on Jordan Springs East, published in February 2021 and last updated in May 2023. It states that Council "has amended notations to planning certificates for 818 properties in the Jordan Springs East precinct, following further legal and geotechnical advice from independent experts". It states that "the developer has not established, to the Council's satisfaction, that relevant lots contain fill that is controlled", and that this "means that earthworks in substantial parts of Jordan Springs East were not undertaken in accordance with the specified technical and control requirements, nor Council's engineering standards, as part of the DA consent conditions". It states that lots "with more than 400mm of fill will be treated by Council as Class P for planning purposes", requiring footing systems for future development to be designed to the relevant Australian Standards for Class P land. Council directs residents with concerns about potential subsidence to Lendlease, and publishes the independent geotechnical joint report dated December 2020.
Why that is on a turf page, and the reason is narrow. A synthetic lawn is a bedded surface: it sits on a compacted aggregate base, and a bedded surface over fill of uncertain compaction carries a settlement risk. Settlement under a lawn does not announce itself at handover. It shows up two to five years later as shallow dips, a seam that has opened, or a fall that no longer runs where it was built to run. That is a scope and warranty conversation to have before the base goes in, not a product one.
What we are not saying. We are not saying homes in Jordan Springs East are subsiding, that any lot is defective, or anything at all about the developer's conduct. Council's own wording is that the developer has not established a matter to Council's satisfaction, and that hedging is Council's, deliberately preserved. We are also not telling you that your lot is Class P. Council's wording is about lots with more than 400 millimetres of fill, treated as Class P for planning purposes.
The practical step is simple. Your section 10.7 planning certificate is the document that actually says what applies to your property, and it is the one to read before anyone quotes a base build. Council's page has not been updated since May 2023 and we could not verify whether the position has since changed, so confirm against a current certificate rather than against a web page, including ours. If the certificate carries a fill notation, say so when you ask for quotes and ask how the installer proposes to handle compaction and what the warranty says about settlement.
Mature parkland outside, full sun inside
Jordan Springs sits, in Lendlease's words, nestled in a recess on the western side of the 900 hectare Wianamatta Regional Park. The NSW plan of management for that park describes it as protecting Shale Plains Woodland and related Cumberland Plain communities, which it calls among the most poorly conserved and threatened ecosystems in Australia because so much of that landscape was converted to farmland. The estate itself carries 17 hectares of parks and open space, two lakes including a three hectare lake at the centre, walking and cycling trails, sports ovals and a basketball hardcourt, and the suburb was extended east to South Creek in 2019.
All of which makes for a genuinely green place to live and changes nothing about your lawn. The mature canopy is public: park, reserves and street trees. Inside your boundary the canopy is one required tree at 4 to 8 metres mature height, and on a young lot it is a stick. So an individual Jordan Springs backyard is mostly full sun, in the hottest part of the Sydney basin, and the shade has to be planned rather than borrowed.
On the numbers: Penrith Lakes, the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station, averages a January maximum of 30.8°C against 26.0°C at Sydney's Observatory Hill, and it holds the Sydney basin record of about 48.9°C from January 2020. Rainfall runs 756.3 millimetres a year across 73.4 rain days at Penrith Lakes against 1211.1 millimetres across 99.5 days at Observatory Hill, so the area receives roughly 62% of the harbour's rain. Those are published station normals over different record lengths rather than a matched comparison, and Penrith Lakes is the nearest station rather than one in the estate. The combination is still the plain reason synthetic lawn sells here: natural grass is being asked to survive on three fifths of the rain in materially more heat, under Sydney Water rules that permanently limit drinking-water lawn irrigation to before 10am and after 4pm with a $220 fine for an individual. There is no artificial turf rebate anywhere in Australia and we will not suggest otherwise. Surface temperature is covered honestly in our guide to how hot a synthetic lawn gets in full Australian sun, and what a proper base build involves covers the layers.
Related reading
- Artificial grass across the wider Penrith area
- Synthetic turf price tiers, and what separates them
- Verge rules council by council across Sydney
- How long a synthetic lawn lasts before replacement
- Synthetic lawn for households with dogs
- Artificial grass in Caddens, a decade older and on Council controls
- Turf on the blank-slate lots at Marsden Park
Artificial grass in Jordan Springs: questions locals ask
Is artificial grass allowed in Jordan Springs?
In the backyard, yes. In the front garden or anywhere visible from the street, the developer's own design guidelines restrict it, and the wording differs by village. The Northridge and The Avenue guidelines state that a minimum of 50% of the lot's total landscaped area is to be soft or permeable surface, that artificial turf "is not considered a permeable surface and is not permitted as part of the soft or permeable landscaping works", and that it "is not to be used where it is visible from the street". The Jordan Springs East Precinct and Jordan Springs West (Secret Garden) guidelines put it differently: artificial turf "is not to be used in front gardens, on council verge or where visible from the street". The Illoura guidelines, the oldest village, do not mention artificial turf at all. So this is not an estate-wide ban and we are not going to describe it as one. The practical position is that a rear yard behind a 1.8 metre fence is not visible from the street, which is why synthetic lawn in Jordan Springs is a backyard product. Check your own village's guidelines, and note that design queries about covenants are directed to Beveridge Williams via the Lendlease builder agent hub.
Which village am I in, and does it change the rules?
It can, which is why a single answer for the whole estate is not much use. Jordan Springs is built in named villages, each published with its own Building and Siting Guidelines: Illoura, Northridge, Boronia, Melaleuca, The Avenue, Melaleuca Rise, Jordan Springs West (Secret Garden) and the Jordan Springs East Precinct. On artificial turf, Northridge and The Avenue are the strictest as written, because they additionally state that it does not count toward the 50% soft or permeable minimum. East Precinct and Secret Garden restrict front gardens, the council verge and street-visible areas. Illoura is silent. The native planting share also differs: 70% Australian native or water wise planting in most villages, 50% in Illoura. Find your village's document on Lendlease's design guidelines page before you plan a front garden.
Does the 3 month landscaping deadline apply to a synthetic lawn?
It applies to the front and secondary frontage garden, which is exactly where the turf restriction bites, so the two interact. The guidelines state that "landscaping of your front and secondary frontage garden is to be completed within 3 months of the occupation of your home", alongside a requirement to complete the house, driveway and fencing within 24 months of settlement. Since artificial turf is restricted in street-visible areas across most villages, that front-garden deadline has to be met with planting and permitted surfaces rather than synthetic lawn. The backyard is not on that clock in the same way. The useful sequencing for a new Jordan Springs owner is therefore to treat the front garden as a planting job with a hard deadline, and the backyard as a separate decision you can take at your own pace.
I am in Jordan Springs East. Is there anything I should check before getting a base quote?
Yes, and it is a five minute job. Penrith City Council published a page on Jordan Springs East, last updated in May 2023, stating that it "has amended notations to planning certificates for 818 properties in the Jordan Springs East precinct, following further legal and geotechnical advice from independent experts", that "the developer has not established, to the Council's satisfaction, that relevant lots contain fill that is controlled", and that lots "with more than 400mm of fill will be treated by Council as Class P for planning purposes". We are quoting Council rather than making a finding of our own, and we are not telling you your lot is affected. The reason it belongs on a turf page is narrow and practical: a synthetic lawn is a bedded surface laid over compacted aggregate, and fill of uncertain compaction is a settlement risk under any bedded surface, showing up years later as dips and opened seams. The document that actually tells you where you stand is your own section 10.7 planning certificate, not a council web page, and we would confirm the current position against a fresh certificate since Council's page has not been updated since 2023. Council directs residents with subsidence concerns to Lendlease.
Can I get a wheelbarrow down the side of a Jordan Springs house?
On a Villa lot, often not, and this is the most commonly underquoted part of the job here. The Eastern Precinct guidelines set lot widths at 10 metres for a Villa, 12.5 for a Premium Villa and 15 for a Courtyard, with a side setback of "0.9m and/or zero if applicable". A 900 millimetre side path with a gas meter and a downpipe in it is not a haulage route, and a zero setback is no route at all. Where that is the case, every barrow of base material and every barrow of spoil goes through the house or over the fence, and that is labour rather than product. There is a second obstacle worth mentioning: the guidelines require rainwater tanks on all lots above 400 square metres, and a tank, its pad and its overflow are physical objects a lawn has to be built around and fall water away from. Tell an installer about both when you ask for a price, and ask whether the quote assumes machine or hand haulage.
Is a new-build lot in Jordan Springs cheaper to turf than an established backyard?
Often, though for reasons of scope rather than rate. A new lot at handover typically has no established lawn to strip and cart away, no mature garden beds to work around and no old paving to break out, so the demolition and disposal part of the job largely disappears. New estate yards also tend to be smaller than an older block, so the total square metre count is lower even where the per-metre rate is identical. Working the other way, the side access problem above pushes material onto barrows and adds labour, and a required rainwater tank takes up part of the yard. The net is usually a cheaper job overall rather than a cheaper rate.
Jordan Springs backs onto a big reserve. Does that mean my yard is shaded?
Almost certainly not, and this is worth separating out. The estate sits in a recess on the western side of the 900 hectare Wianamatta Regional Park, which protects heritage-listed Cumberland Plain Woodland, and Lendlease planned 17 hectares of open space with parks preserving existing stands of native trees. So there is genuinely mature vegetation around Jordan Springs. It is almost all public: the park, the reserves and the street trees. Inside your own boundary the canopy is whatever has grown from the one tree the guidelines require, at a mature height of 4 to 8 metres depending on village. A borrowed landscape is lovely to look at and casts no shade on your lawn. Plan private shade separately, and note the guidelines expressly permit an unroofed pergola to the rear of the house outside the building envelope, which is usually the cheapest compliant way to get shade over the part of the lawn people actually use.
Can I put artificial turf on my nature strip in Jordan Springs?
This is the one place in Sydney where two separate rules point the same way, and the answer is effectively no. Penrith City Council requires a formal Deed of Agreement, with a fee, to install artificial turf on the Council road reserve, which Penrith defines as including nature strips. Separately, the Jordan Springs East Precinct and Secret Garden design guidelines state that artificial turf "is not to be used in front gardens, on council verge or where visible from the street". So a resident in those villages faces a chargeable Council process on one side and a developer covenant on the other. Every village also requires the landscape plan to note that existing street trees and verge planting are to be protected during construction. Our council-by-council guide covers how other Sydney councils treat the same question. None of it applies inside your own boundary.
What does the ground under Jordan Springs look like for a turf base?
Less is publicly knowable than you will be told, and we would rather say so. There is no soil landscape mapping published at estate level, and the NSW dataset is drawn at 1:100,000 and reported by suburb, so it cannot resolve a single lot. What is documented is the surrounding land: the NSW plan of management for the adjoining Wianamatta Regional Park names four soil landscape groups occurring in the park, including the Blacktown and Luddenham shale units and the South Creek alluvium, with the geology given as Quaternary sediments, Londonderry Clay and Bringelly Shale. That is the park, not your block, and we are not going to transfer it. The more useful point is that land in any new subdivision is bulk-earthworked, cut and filled and recompacted before homes go up, so the top half metre of a Jordan Springs yard is often engineered fill rather than a natural landscape. Your own soil report or slab classification from the build tells you more than any map, and it is worth digging out of the paperwork before you get quotes.
Get a straight answer for your Jordan Springs yard
Tell us which village you are in, roughly how big the backyard is, whether there is a rainwater tank in it, and what the side access looks like. We pass it to the one vetted local installer we work with for a site visit and a fixed quote. If you are in Jordan Springs East, dig out your section 10.7 planning certificate first and mention any fill notation, because it changes the base conversation. We are a quotes and information service rather than the installer, and asking costs nothing.
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