Posted on August 30, 2011 by

Part 3A Repeal – State Significant Development and Infrastructure

On Thursday, 18 August 2011, a draft SEPP was placed on exhibition for public comment which identifies categories of development which will be state significant development (SSD) or state significant infrastructure (SSI) when the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 is amended to repeal Part 3A and include new provisions for SSD and SSI.

The draft State Environmental Planning Policy (State and Regional Development) 2011 (Draft SEPP) was foreshadowed by the policy statements released when the Environmental Planning & Assessment Amendment (Part 3A Repeal ) Act 2011 was enacted in June this year. The Draft SEPP is consistent with those policy statements in respect of the categories of development which will be SSD and SSI, with one additional category of development to be included as SSI, being certain development on land reserved under the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974.

The Draft SEPP will rename the State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Development) 2005 (Major Development SEPP), as the State Environmental Planning Policy (Transitional Major Development) 2005 , and will make significant amendments to the Major Development SEPP as a consequence of the repeal of Part 3A.

However, the Major Development SEPP will continue to identify state significant sites in Schedule 3, and to contain planning controls for those sites, although the controls for the sites will no longer specify that Part 3A applies to certain project on those sites.

Also, clause 8 of the Major Development SEPP is to be deleted. Clause 8 currently contains a process for the inclusion of further sites in Schedule 3 as state significant sites. Even with the deletion of clause 8 it would still be possible for the Major Development SEPP to be amended to include additional state significant sites, but the deletion of clause 8, and the renaming of the Major Development SEPP to include the word ‘transitional’ may indicate an intention by the government to not add any additional sites to Schedule 3, and to ultimately repeal the Major Development SEPP.

Public comment can be made on the Draft SEPP before 2 September 2011.

The Draft SEPP can be found here: http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=aShUfE6jXP8%3d&tabid=205&mid=1081&language=en-AU