The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has today published an update on the so-called Faster Assessments Incentive Program (FAIP) to accompany the Statement of Expectations Order 2026 (SOE Order) dated on 1 July 2026. The FAIP and the SOE…
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 continues to make significant changes to the development process in NSW. As of 1 September 2026, the reforms relating to community participation have commenced, and the statewide Community Participation Plan…
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…
In July 2026, the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning (Committee) published the report on its inquiry into Historical Development Consents (Report). The Report deals with the issues raised by so called “zombie developments”, which the Committee finds…
Protecting beachfront properties from exposure to coastal erosion and hazards is an ongoing problem across much of the NSW coast and made worse by climate change. Recently, the Land and Environment Court (Court) considered whether development consent should be granted…
In our article published on 22 June 2026 here, we discussed some of the reforms proposed in the Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill 2026 (Bill) in respect of prefabricated housing and amendments to the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979…
On 2 July 2026, the NSW Government released two consultation papers: the Improving Development Assessment Discussion Paper (DA Discussion Paper) and the Standard and Model Conditions of Consent: Explanation of Intended Effect (Conditions EIE). Each addresses a familiar aspect of…
The Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill 2026 was introduced into the NSW Parliament in May and proposes to consolidate provisions of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) and Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and Building and…
In two recent Commissioner decisions, the Land and Environment Court has again considered what constitutes a ‘building‘ for the purposes of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act). The EPA Act defines a ‘building‘ as including ‘part of a…
The NSW Government has taken the next step towards what it says will facilitate faster housing delivery by releasing two key papers for public consultation to provide for streamlined low-rise housing development assessments. Consultation both papers (linked at the bottom…
Part 7 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) which governs biodiversity assessment and approvals, prevails over the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) or any instrument made under the EPA Act, to the extent of any…
In Class 1, 2 and 3 appeals in the Land and Environment Court (LEC), it is common for parties to reach an agreement in a conciliation conference on the issues in dispute prior to the final hearing and enter into a…