Section 4.16(3) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) allows a consent authority to grant a ‘deferred commencement consent’. The subsection provides: ‘A development consent may be granted subject to a condition that the consent is not to…
Landowner’s consent is required for the making of a development application. It must be provided by the time a consent authority determines whether to grant development consent. It is also a recognised principle that when a consent authority grants development…
Justice Preston, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, recently issued judgment against the Sydney Water Corporation (Sydney Water) in proceedings brought by JK Williams Staff Pty Ltd (Williams) for the significant erosion of the…
On 7 April 2021, the NSW Government announced a major review of the Heritage Act 1977 (‘the Act‘). This review is the first since 2007. Major reforms to the Act have not been made since 1999.
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has released a discussion paper on proposed amendments to clause 4.6 of the Standard Instrument – Principal Local Environment Plan (Standard Instrument LEP). Clause 4.6 of the Standard Instrument LEP sets out…
UPDATE 14 April 2021 – Following its receipt of significant feedback from key stakeholders, including local Councils, regarding the timeline for the introduction of the new regulatory framework for short-term rental accommodation discussed in this post, the State government has…
In recent years, biosecurity has been a salient topic among policymakers and practitioners. The global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the accelerated biodiversity loss attributed to the arrival and spread of new species, have only served to highlight the importance…
On 12 February 2021, the Planning Secretary issued a new Planning Agreements Practice Note (VPA Practice Note). On the same day, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Development Contributions) Regulation 2021 (Amendment Regulation) made a number of amendments to the…
The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment is currently exhibiting a package of proposed reforms to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 (NSW) (‘EPA Regulation’) described as the ‘Rapid Assessment Framework Package’ for state significant projects.
Update: This decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 13 August 2021. See our new post here. A judge of the Land and Environment Court has ruled that the corridors in a self-storage development are not within the…
With the commencement of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning Portal) Regulation 2020 on 1 July 2020, the NSW planning portal became the central platform for the making of development applications (and other applications) with a consent authority. To…
On 3 December 2020, the NSW Productivity Commission released its final report on its review of the infrastructure contributions system in NSW (Review), entitled Review of Infrastructure Contributions in New South Wales – Final Report (Final Report). Following on from the…