By Mark Cottom
Many will be aware of the fact that legislation repealing the controversial Part 3A from the planning system passed State Parliament recently. This legislation has since been followed by an announcement from the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure that a comprehensive review of the State's planning legislation would be conducted over the next 18 months.
As passed by Parliament, the principal provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Part 3A Repeal) Act 2011 commenced on 1 October 2011 so that Part 3A has now been wiped from the statute books. However, before that date another provision of the amending Act, which has perhaps not received as much publicity as the principal provisions, had already commenced on 26 August 2011. This provision has the important effect of postponing the staged repeal of the existing Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation until 1 September 2013. The existing Regulation had previously been due for repeal on 1 September 2011.
In the months prior to the March 2011 election, the previous State government had exhibited the draft Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2010. That draft, whilst proposing to replace the existing regulation, was predominantly similar to it. However, the key changes in concept included:
- a new streamlined process to improve DA turnaround times;
- making it more difficult to establish "physical commencement" of work required to avoid lapsing of a development consent; and
- significant altering of requirements for information to be provided in planning certificates under section 149(2) and ( 5) of the EP&A Act.
Presumably that draft regulation has now been abandoned, and consideration of improvements to the mechanics of the development system set out in the existing Regulation will form part of the new State government's comprehensive 18-month review of the entire planning system. More information about this ongoing review can be found at www.planningreview.nsw.gov.au.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.