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Release of the 5-year Review of the Biodiversity Assessment Method
The Minister for Environment has released the Biodiversity Assessment Method 5-year review report (Report). The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) requires a review as soon as possible, 5 years after the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) was first established. The…
ALERT: Housing SEPP transitional provisions corrected to apply ADG to former SEPP65 pending DAs
The Government has amended State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (Housing SEPP) to correct an oversight which had meant that neither Chapter 4 of the Housing SEPP nor the former SEPP 65 applied to relevant residential apartment DAs made prior…
ALERT – NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the ability of local government to fund infrastructure and services
The NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on State Development recently announced an inquiry into the ability of local government to fund infrastructure and services. When announcing the inquiry, the Chair of the Committee, Emily Suvaal MLC, noted that: ‘Councils are…
ALERT – Bill Increasing Penalties for POEO Act Offences & Giving Additional Powers to EPA Passed by Parliament
On 21 March 2024, the Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation and Penalties) Bill 2024 (Bill) was passed by NSW Parliament without amendment. The Bill is now awaiting assent and will commence on a date to be proclaimed. The Minister for…
Inquiry into ‘Zombie Developments’ in NSW & Call for Submissions
Yesterday, the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning announced a call for submissions as part of the Committee’s inquiry into historical development consents in New South Wales (Inquiry). Historical development consents have recently been termed ‘zombie developments’ and…
Bill to Increase Penalties for POEO Act Offences & Give Additional Powers to the EPA Introduced into NSW Parliament
Yesterday, the NSW Government introduced the Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation and Penalties) Bill 2024 (Bill). The Bill proposes the most significant amendment to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) since its commencement. The Bill is intended…
NCAT Affirms decision of the Commissioner for Fair Trading to disqualify a Registered Certifier for 10 years
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently affirmed a decision by the Commissioner for Fair Trading (Commissioner) to cancel a certifier’s accreditation and disqualify him for being registered for a period of 10 years. The Commissioner’s decision followed several instances…
ALERT: Reforms to Clause 4.6 Exceptions to Development Standards – commencing 1 November 2023
On 15 September 2023, the NSW Government published a package of amendments that will change the operation of clause 4.6 across all local environmental plans. The changes will commence on 1 November 2023 and follow consultation in 2021 by the…
Findings of the Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016
On 24 August 2023, an Independent Review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) was tabled in Parliament (Review) and significantly, found that the BC Act: is not meeting its primary purpose of maintaining a healthy, productive and resilient…
The Importance of BDARs: Biodiversity Assessment under the BC Act
Two development applications were recently refused by the Land and Environment Court due to unacceptable impacts on biodiversity values and deficiencies in a proponent’s biodiversity development assessment report (BDAR). The poor appreciation of proponents’ obligations under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016…
Biodiversity Assessment Method Review & Monitoring of the Biodiversity Credits Market by IPART
Public consultation is occurring in connection with a review of the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) by the Minister administering the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the monitoring of the biodiversity credits market by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART)….
The LEC finds a Local Planning Panel determination valid, despite the Panel being incorrectly constituted
Last week the Land and Environment Court determined that a Local Planning Panel’s (LPP) decision to refuse development consent was valid, despite one member of the LPP being invalidly appointed. This is the first judgment considering the implication of an…
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