Sydney councils have seized on a shake-up of the planning system to fight back against high-rise development, as they attempt to prevent apartment blocks encroaching into established suburbs.

But developer groups are pushing for a more radical break with the status quo, urging councils to use a new planning policy to rethink the shape and form of development in their suburbs.

New plans being prepared for the first time by local councils will help shape Sydney's suburbs over the next two decades. Credit:Wolter Peeters

For the first time, Planning and Public Spaces Minister Rob Stokes is requiring each NSW council to prepare a local strategic planning statement that will guide development for the next two decades.

The plans must elaborate on the council's "20-year vision for land use in the local area, the special character and values that are to be preserved and how change will be managed into the future".