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Act means the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
Commission means the Planning Assessment Commission
Consent authority means the person responsible for deciding whether to grant development consent or not, usually a local council, but sometimes the Planning Minister
DA means a development application
DCP means a development control plan
DECCW means the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water
Director-General means the Director-General of DECCW
Environment Minister means the NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment
EIS means an Environmental Impact Statement
EPA Act means the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
2008 Amendments means the amendments to the EPA Act made by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Act 2008 No 36, which came into force on 23 July 2008
EPI means an environmental planning instrument, which includes LEPs, REPs and SEPPs (although under the 2008 Amendments, REPs will soon be abolished)
LEC Act means the Land and Environment Court Act 1979.
LEP means a local environmental plan
Planning Minister means the NSW Minister for Planning
REP means a regional environmental plan
SEPP means a State Environmental Planning Policy
TSC Act means the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.
There are three main elements to the legislative scheme which regulates planning and development in NSW.
These are:
the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, which sets out the major concepts and principles, including Part 4 which deals with development applications,
environmental planning instruments, ie LEPs and SEPPs, which set out when development consent is required, and which often nominate the consent authority for specific types of development: see Fact Sheet 2.1 LEPs and SEPPs, and
the Environment Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, which contains many of the details for the various processes set out under the Act.
Under this legislative scheme, development proposals can fall into one of three categories:
Part 3A projects: major projects of State or regional significance: see Fact Sheet 2.3
Part 4 development proposals: these are dealt with through the development application process, which is the focus of this Fact Sheet.
Part 5 development proposals: covers proposals which do not fall under either Part 3A or Part 4. These are usually infrastructure projects.
This Fact Sheet explains the process for regulating development through the development application and development consent process under Part 4 of the EPA Act. It also briefly describes the environmental assessment process of Part 5 activities.
Development for major government projects, such as for infrastructure, and State significant development (Part 3A projects), is also regulated under the EPA Act, but is not dealt with in this Fact Sheet. For information on Major Projects under Part 3A, see Fact Sheet 2.3.
The Land and Environment Court hears appeals against development consents and hears enforcement cases under the EPA Act. For information on the Court, see Fact Sheet 2.4 on the Land and Environment Court.
1.1 Who is responsible for the EPA Act?
The Minister for Planning is ultimately responsible for the EPA. The Act is administered by the NSW Department of Planning.
In many cases, however, the EPA Act delegates responsibility to local councils to make decisions under the EPA Act regarding individual developments.
1.2 Useful web links
The Minister for Planning is responsible for the EPA, which is administered by the NSW Department of Planning.
Environmental & Planning Law in New South Wales, by Lyster, Lipman, Franklin, Wiffen and Pearson, The Federation Press (2007), Chapters 2-4
The Environmental Law Handbook, Farrier and Stein, eds, 4th ed.
1.4 Summary of 2008 Amendments to the EPA Act
In 2008, the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Act 2008 No 36 ("2008 Amendments") introduced wide-ranging amendments to the EPA Act.
The Amendments:
abolished REPs, and established a new process for making LEPs which the Planning Minister controls: see Fact Sheet 2.1
abolished Commissions of Inquiry and replaced them with a new assessment and approval body called the Planning Assessment Commission
established Joint Regional Planning Panels, and independent assessors, which can assess development applications
allows a council to require a panel of experts to assess a DA
made changes to the way development applications are processed
established new appeal procedures
made changes relating to development contributions
made changes relating to the certification of development, and
strengthened enforcement.
Although many of the Amendments commenced on 1 August 2008, there are numerous additional dates of commencement, and as at 11 December 2008, some provision are yet to commence.1
Click here for more information on the 2008 Amendments to the EPA Act:
To view the various dates of commencement, see the Historical notes at the end of the EPA Act on the NSW legislation website. Click here to go to the historical notes
