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UPDATE: Court of Appeal overturns LEC decision on ‘single proposed development’
In April 2024 we wrote about a decision in the Land and Environment Court concerning a challenge to a development consent for an open cut silver, lead and zinc mine, which was State significant development (SSD). The consent was challenged…
Penalty Notices Q & A #1
Introduction This is the first in a series of posts about penalty notices and fines. Most compliance officers have the power to issue penalty infringement notices (PINs) under a number of different pieces of legislation. As any compliance officer will…
ALERT: Bill to reform the biodiversity offsets scheme introduced to NSW Parliament
A Bill to reform the biodiversity offsets scheme (BOS) established by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) was introduced to NSW Parliament today. The Bill is the NSW Government’s first step in delivering the NSW Plan for Nature, which acknowledged that…
LTL: Introducing Jennifer Coburn
It is with great pleasure that I introduce the newest member of LTL: Jennifer Coburn, who has joined us as Special Counsel. Well known to many of our state government readers, Jennifer was admitted to practice in 2001 and has…
Proposed changes to streamline development assessment in TOD Accelerated Precincts
The NSW Government recently identified 8 ‘Transport Oriented Development accelerated precincts’, being priority high growth areas for accelerated rezoning. Draft rezoning proposals are presently being publicly exhibited for 7 of the 8 precincts with rezoning expected to be finalised by…
REMINDER: Changes to Defamation Law Have Commenced
At the end of last year, we wrote about changes to NSW defamation laws that introduced new exemptions and defences for potentially defamatory content posted online. Our article discusses these changes in detail: Changes to Defamation Law: New Exemptions and…
ALERT – NSW Government announces significant amendments to biodiversity legislation to make NSW contribute to ‘nature positive’
The NSW Government has released its response to the statutory reviews of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) and native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act 2013 (LLS Act): the ‘NSW plan for nature’ (Response). Significant legislative…
Changes to strategic planning for bush fire – public exhibition of a Draft Bush Fire Prone Land Package
The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) in partnership with the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), is publicly exhibiting a draft Bush Fire Prone Land Package (Draft Package). When finalised, the Draft Package would require consideration of new policy…
ALERT – Permissibility of Dual Occupancies and Semi-detached Dwellings in Zone R2
The State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) Amendment (Dual Occupancies and Semi-detached Dwellings) 2024 (Amendment SEPP), which seeks to encourage development for the purposes of dual occupancies and semi-detached dwellings in Zone R2 R2 Low Density Residential, has been published. The…
The principle of standing in environmental litigation – a recent development
The common law principle of “standing” determines whether a person is entitled to commence proceedings in a particular forum or in respect to a particular issue. Demonstrating a “special interest” in the subject matter of proceedings has generally been sufficient…
Secondary dwelling converted to a dual occupancy caused a fuss
An objector argued that a consent granted by the Lake Macquarie City Council was invalid because the proposed change of use of an existing ‘secondary dwelling’ to a dwelling house to create a ‘dual occupancy’ involved no ‘development’. The Land…
Local government ‘Senior Staff’ positions to be abolished
The employment conditions of most employees of local councils are set out in the relevant local government award (Relevant Award). For most councils, the Relevant Award is the Local Government State Award 2023. Prior to the changes discussed below, the…
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