In our legal update on 13 May 2011, we outlined the initial
transitional arrangements announced by the Minister pending the
repeal of Part 3A.
On 16 June 2011, the NSW Government tabled the Environmental
Planning and Assessment Amendment (Part 3A Repeal) Bill 2011
(Bill) which, if passed by the Parliament, will
essentially return NSW to the planning arrangements which were in
place prior to the introduction of the Part 3A system, in which two
separate assessment pathways were used by the Government to assess
projects.
Under the Bill, an alternative assessment system is created for the
assessment and determination of projects of "genuine State
significance". The Bill establishes two separate
assessment frameworks for State significant development
(SSD) and State significant infrastructure
(SSI). Individual projects falling within
these two categories will be assessed by the Department of Planning
and Infrastructure (Department), with all other
Projects to be assessed by the relevant council. Under the
Bill, specific sites may also be identified as being of State
significance due to their development potential or strategic
importance. Further, a number of changes to the Planning and
Assessment Commission (PAC) and Joint Regional
Planning Panels (JRPP) will be implemented.
If the Bill is passed by Parliament, a new State Environment
Planning Policy (State and Regional Development) 2011 (2011
SEPP) will provide additional detail on the classes and
thresholds for development to be considered of State significance.
Whilst some minor amendments to the classes of development
may arise under the Bill, it is anticipated the classes will remain
broadly consistent with those currently outlined in documents
recently published by the Department.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000
(EP&A Regulation) will also be amended to
update a number of procedural and administrative arrangements.
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