NSW Government Releases Draft Amendments to Environmental Planning and Assessment Act

Wednesday 11 January 2017 @ 12.49 p.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce

The NSW Government's Planning Minister Mr Rob Stokes on Monday (9 January 2017) released details of proposed amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (the EPA Act) for consultation and public feedback.

In releasing details of the proposed legislative changes the Minister said that the proposed amendments reflected that:

"The [NSW] Government is committed to ensuring a planning system that is straightforward and ensures high-quality decisions and planning outcomes."

Background and Key Proposals

The current review of the EPA Act began last January 2016 with extensive consultation with planning stakeholders to devise  improvements to the EPA Act. Resulting from these initial consultations, a number of amendment proposals have been developed, which according to the Minister's Summary on the NSW Planning and Environment Departments website, include:

  • enhancing community participation by establishing a new part of the EPA Act that consolidates community consultation provisions, and requires decision-makers to give reasons for their decisions;
  • completing the strategic planning framework, through local strategic planning statements, up to date Local Environment Plans and more consistent and workable Development Control Plans;
  • improving the various development pathways and preventing the misuse of modifications;
  • encouraging State significant development through better environmental impact assessment and more effective conditions of consent;
  • simplifying and consolidating building provisions, allowing conditions on construction  certificates and ensuring consistency with development approvals;
  • elevating the role of design, through a new design object in the EPA Act, and a "Design-Led" Planning Strategy; and
  • the improvement of enforcement, with the introduction of enforceable undertakings in compliance actions.

Update of Previous Amendments

More detailed information is contained in the Planning Legislation Updates - Summary of proposals document dated  January 2017 whose introduction states, that:

"The proposed amendments build on recent policy, operational and legislative improvements to the NSW planning system."

Items the proposed amendments are said to build on are outlined in the introduction as:

  • Greater Sydney Commission: Within the Greater Sydney Region, the Commission is now responsible for preparing district plans, making a range of strategic planning and development decisions, and implementing A Plan for Growing Sydney;
  • Strategic planning: A hierarchy of regional and district plans is now established in legislation, which must be implemented in local planning controls in the Greater Sydney Region, and can be switched on for other areas of NSW;
  • ePlanning: The NSW planning database has been established as an electronic repository of planning information, and the NSW Planning Portal provides online access to planning information, tools and services; and
  • Enforcement: A new three tier offence regime is now in place, with substantial increases to maximum penalties for offences under the EP&A Act. This is supported by consolidated departmental and council investigative powers.

Comment and Reaction

The proposed changes to the EPA Act and the planning laws have received, according to the media, ". . . a mixed reception among developers, planners and representatives from local government". The changes being proposed are  reported as ". . . far less dramatic than those included in a 2013 attempt to rewrite the planning laws". 

The SMH reports the comments of Planning Institute of Australia's NSW president, Jenny Rudolph, as indicating that she would have preferred the Minister to ". . . come up with a completely new act [EPA Act]" to tackle a planning system that remains overly complex and in need of a more substantial review to streamline its operation.

The president of Local Government NSW, Councilor Keith Rhoades is reported as welcoming the consultation by the Minister on the proposed changes, but he is critical of some of the suggested amendments in particular amendments to make it easier for developers to build "... complying developments".

The opposition spokesperson  on planning Mr Michael Daley, is reported as also having concerns about the ". . . complying development code" and also criticised the Minister for ". . . touting his reforms as affordable housing measures . . . There are no provisions in there that would help the first-home buyer."

The proposed changes to the EPA Act are open  for consultation until 10 March 2017.

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