A recent case indicates that councils which are also water supply authorities may require development servicing charges (DS Charges) to be paid as a fee for services under s608 of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) as an alternative to requiring them to…
The Department of Planning and Environment has released the second stage of its draft Integrated Mining Policy (‘IMP‘) for public consultation. Among the documents that are available for review and comment is the ‘Planning Agreement Guidelines for State Significant Mining…
The tenth anniversary of the introduction of the formalised system of voluntary planning agreements (‘VPAs’) in New South Wales under s93F of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (‘EPA Act’) occurred on 8 July 2015. This is the first…
The Department of Planning’s Development Contributions Practice Notes – Planning Agreements (July 2005), and many local councils’ planning agreements policies provide that benefits provided under planning agreements should not be used to justify a contravention of development standards. In the…
The NSW Court of Appeal has held that a contractual clause purporting to levy a rate “in accordance with the Local Government Act 1993” (the Act) impermissibly fettered the discretion of the Council from undertaking its statutory duty of assessing…
Non-metropolitan councils can require developers to make contributions for water supply, sewerage and stormwater headworks in respect of development. However, the legislative basis for the imposition of such charges is not straightforward, and is worthwhile reviewing.
The NSW State Budget for 2014-2015 released on 17 June 2014 indicates that $60 million has been allocated for the Local Infrastructure Growth Scheme (‘LIGS‘), down from $99 million in 2013-2014. Given the purpose for which the LIGS was established, it…
A Marrickville councillor who was suspended for two months by the Director-General of the Division of Local Government (DG) for engaging in misconduct has succeeded in having the suspension overturned in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal).
In a recent s94 case, Pepper J addressed the following questions: Proposed retention of a heritage item – Whether there is a material public benefit involved that should be taken into account under s94(6) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment…
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) published a draft report in November 2013 titled ‘Local Infrastructure Benchmark Costs’. The report responds to a request by the NSW Government for IPART to develop benchmark costs that will be used to inform…
This post outlines the framework for the transition to the new planning system under the Planing Bill 2013 (Bill). The framework seems designed to enable the Bill to be commenced quite quickly utilising the existing planning framework where necessary. In particular …
The Planning Bill 2013 was introduced into the NSW Parliament yesterday. The Bill varies in some significant respects from the exposure draft. Here are our initial observations.