We have previously written about the amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 – see our earlier articles here and here. One key feature of the amendments was…
A recent decision of the NSW Supreme Court provides a timely example of the operation of clause 1.9A – a clause contained in many LEPs which can operate to suspend or override restrictive covenants. Relevantly, clause 19.A(1) provides: (1) For…
The passing of the Environment Protection Reform Bill by the Commonwealth has introduced major changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act). As discussed in our earlier post here, these reforms include a new power…
ALERT: Some Planning System Reforms Commence
19 Dec, 2025
On 15 December 2025, amendments to the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Act 2025 (Planning System Reforms Act) commenced. Transitional and saving arrangements have also come into effect under the Environmental…
Under the Roads Act 1993, the procedures for dedicating land as a public, or identifying land historically created as a public road, are clear and relatively simple. However, it was not always so. In particular, before the creation of the…
The Minister for Environment and Heritage has published a renewed list of activities that are exempt from requiring approval from the Heritage Council of NSW. In particular, this includes the installation of energy saving and sustainable technologies such as solar…
Yesterday, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 (Bill) was passed by the New South Wales Parliament. Since the first text of the Bill was released, a number of amendments have been made to the text of the…
Certifier Series: Issues that arise where building work has been commenced without a Construction Certificate
29 Oct, 2025
This blog is part of our LTL in Focus: Certifier Series. The Certifier Series deals with questions, issues and changes affecting both private and local council certifiers. In this blog we discuss the issues that arise when building work is…
Painters Lane Developments sought declaratory relief that the deferred commencement conditions in a development consent for a 20-storey mixed-use development in Gosford had been satisfied and the consent had not lapsed. The deferred commencement condition 1.1(b) required: “Written permission and…
UPDATE – Significant reforms proposed to the EPA Act
18 Sep, 2025
The full text of the state government’s proposed Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 has now been released. In our “Alert” blog about the announcement of the Bill, we noted that the government had announced what appeared…
ALERT: Bill to reform the NSW planning system and amend the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act
17 Sep, 2025
This morning, the New South Wales government announced a potentially sweeping set of changes to the existing planning system. The ministerial press release came ahead of the first print and indicated that the proposed NSW Planning System Reforms Bill 2025…
It has been long accepted that the integrated development provisions in Division 4.8 of Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) are ‘beneficial and facultative’, enacted to overcome duplication where, in addition to a development…