This is the first blog in our LTL in Focus: Certifier Series. The Certifier Series will cover a range of questions, issues and changes affecting both private and local council certifiers. A key function of certifiers is to issue occupation…
Planning for Bushfire Protection 2019 (PBP) is often considered by consent authorities when dealing with development applications proposed on bush fire prone land, either by reason of section 4.14 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) or when…
Section 4.16(4) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) allows a consent authority to grant either total or partial consent to a development application, by granting development consent to either: the development for which the consent is sought,…
Authorised Council officers are given broad powers to enter and search premises under a range of legislation, including the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act), the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) and the Protection of the Environment…
A relevant enforcement authority (including a local council) can issue a development control order (DCO) in certain circumstances to require a person to do or refrain from doing things to ensure compliance with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979…
Before taking enforcement action, it is critical for the enforcement agency to identify the correct perpetrator. A failure to do so may result in the validity of the enforcement action being successfully challenged or defeated. This issue regularly arises in…
The power of a consent authority to modify a development consent is set out at sections 4.55 (for modification of consents generally) and 4.56 (for modification of consents granted by the Court) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979…
The Land and Environment Court recently handed down a decision dealing with the interrelation between the integrated development regime established under Div 4.8 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1975 (EP&A Act) and the regime for the provision of…
We previously blogged on the recent Court of Appeal decision in Ross v Lane [2022] NSWCA 235, in which the Court held that the application of SEPP 65 to a particular DA was not a “jurisdictional fact” capable of objective determination by…
The NSW Government has finalised a number of planning reforms to help facilitate tourism activities on existing commercial farms, intended to increase their financial resilience to natural disasters and other adverse events. The changes include a number of new exempt…
Local councils in New South Wales from time to time make development applications seeking consent to carry out development on land they own, occupy or otherwise control while at the same time being the consent authority responsible for determining the…
Many council’s local environmental plans (LEPs) include the model local clause 1.8A , which provides: 1.8A Savings provision relating to development applications [local] If a development application has been made before the commencement of this Plan in relation to land…