Posted on March 30, 2022 by Katie Mortimer and Sue Puckeridge

End of COVID Extension for Class 1 Appeals – Appeal Rights Revert to 6 Months

In May 2020, as an emergency measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, section 8.10 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) was amended to insert provisions that allowed 12 months for an appeal to be commenced in the Land and Environment Court in relation to an application for development consent, or modification of development consent.

The provisions applied if a decision being appealed against was made between 25 September 2019 – 25 March 2022. See our earlier post on the extension here.

From last Friday, 25 March 2022 those provisions ended. Appeals may only be commenced within 6 months of the date that an application is actually refused or deemed to be refused.

As we revert to the 6 month appeal period, appeal rights will need to be carefully calculated. If a DA was deemed refused before 25 March 2022, a proponent will still have 12 months to make an appeal. If the deemed refusal date was 26 March 2022 or following, the appeal period will be 6 months.

If you have any questions regarding this post please contact Katie Mortimer on 8235 9716 or Sue Puckeridge on 8235 9702.