Posted on August 31, 2026 by Dimitrious Havadjia, Adriana Kleiss and Sinead Macauley 4

ALERT: Updates to native vegetation provisions from 31 August 2026

By 1 September 2026, two key changes will have been made to the implementation of the Local Land Services Act 2013 (the LLS Act), in particular with respect to the regulation of native vegetation clearing in certain non-urban areas of New South Wales.

Publication of Native Vegetation Regulatory Map

The first change is in respect of the system under which land is categorised under the LLS Act. Under the LLS Act, land is classified according to its environmental characteristics, with different clearing and permitting rules applying depending on the categorisation of that land. The LLS Act contemplates that these categories will be identified on a Native Vegetation Regulatory Map (NVR Map), on which landowners can rely in order to determine what approvals (if any) they need to obtain before clearing vegetation.

However, until now, no final NVR Map had been published. Instead, landowners had to rely on transitional provisions and draft maps, which often required complex mapping and historical data to be obtained before the category of land was able to be determined (and thus any approval requirements known).

This transitional period has now ended, as the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has published the final NVR Map on 31 August 2026.

The publication of the NVR Map will provide greater certainty for landholders about whether native vegetation clearing on their land is regulated under the LLS Act. In particular, the map identifies category 1-exempt land, where native vegetation can generally be cleared without approval from Local Land Services, and category 2-regulated land, where clearing may require authorisation and approval under the LLS Act.

The change is also relevant to the interaction between the native vegetation regime and planning legislation. Under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity and Conservation) 2021, a permit or approval to clear vegetation is generally not required where the clearing is authorised under the LLS Act, subject to specified exceptions (s2.7).

Despite the publication of the NVR Map, affected landowners can still seek review of the classification of their land, including by way of an appeal to the Land and Environment Court, in accordance with the LLS Act.

The NVR Map can be accessed here: Native Vegetation Regulatory Map. 

New LLS Regulations

The second change in connection with the LLS Act is that the Local Land Services Regulation 2026 will remake (and replace) the Local Land Services Regulation 2014 as of 1 September 2026. The remake largely preserves the existing regulatory framework, with the NSW Government describing the changes as minor and intended principally to update, clarify and modernise the Regulation.

Among the changes, the new Regulation removes provisions relating to the stock identification scheme, which has not been established, and updates the offences for which a penalty notice can be issued. Generally, the new Regulation has increased the amount of those penalties, some by over 300% as compared to what was in the previous regulation.

You can read the 2026 Regulation here: Local Land Services Regulation 2026.

If you have any questions about this article, please leave a comment below or contact Dimitrious Havadjia or Adriana Kleiss.