Posted on April 16, 2025 by Dimitrious Havadjia and Stuart Simington
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ALERT – New Planning Circular regarding Consultation on Conditions of Consent
On 7 April 2025, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (Department) issued a new Planning Circular (PS 25-001) titled ‘Best practice consultation of draft conditions of consent prior to determination’ (Conditions Circular).
The Conditions Circular has been prepared following the establishment of the Housing Taskforce, which was designed to expedite the assessment and determination of housing development in NSW.
The Conditions Circular advises that, as best practice, if a development application will result in 30 or more new dwellings:
- councils should provide draft conditions of consent to an applicant before the application is finally determined,
- applicants should be given 7 days to review the draft conditions of consent,
- councils are to consider that feedback before determining the application, and
- to avoid delays, councils should consult on draft conditions concurrently with the assessment of the application, rather than starting the consultation after assessment and before determination.
The Department has also reiterated that it has prepared standard conditions of consent and notices of determination to ‘speed up assessment timeframes, provide greater consistency and certainty and make development consents easier to navigate.’
Whether the Conditions Circular impacts the timeframes for determination remains to be seen. In our experience, it is often the substantive assessment that is the most time-consuming and not the preparation of conditions. Additionally, as part of the assessment process is considering relevant conditions, the point in time at which a council has reached an appropriate stage of assessment so as to be able to meaningfully consult on conditions is likely to vary significantly depending on the nature of the development application. For complex applications, it may not be possible for conditions to be provided before the assessment has been virtually completed.
You can read the Conditions Circular here: Planning circular – PS-25-001 – Best practice consultation of draft conditions of consent prior to determination.
If you have any questions regarding the above, please leave a comment below or contact Dimitrious Havadjia or Stuart Simington.
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