Standard development consent conditions have been introduced for use by all NSW councils. The RMB Planning and Development Division explains:
New template conditions for development approvals for most residential developments in NSW came into effect in NSW in July last year.
They were a NSW Government initiative under the NSW Planning Reform Action Plan to simplify and streamline the development approval process in NSW and support the housing and construction industry.
Hopefully this more effective planning system will help to retain and promote new investment into the sector and boost the post COVID economic recovery.
They are designed to establish an easier way to navigate the planning system, resulting in reduced assessment times, creating greater consistency and certainty for consent holders, as well as the broader aim of creating jobs and making it easier for investors in the sector.
The standard conditions were created in consultation with councils, industry and other key stakeholders to ensure consistency and appropriate application to a variety of development contexts.
The conditions include:
- Mandatory conditions: prescribed conditions applied across the board to specific types of development and cannot be excluded.
- Model conditions: conditions which consent authorities can choose to apply to certain types of development.
- Bespoke conditions: councils will have the ability to continue to apply their own specially crafted conditions for site specific issues.
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) has produced a guide to assist consent authorities with the drafting of specialised conditions.
The conditions initially apply to certain types of residential developments such as dwellings, apartment and multi housing developments and can be downloaded at the DPIE’s website.
Pro forma conditions are also intended to be adopted for other forms of development as well as standardised notices of consent (development consents).
The standard conditions were available on the NSW Planning Portal from July 1 last year then gradually rolled out for other types of developments, with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 being updated to prescribe the mandatory conditions.
It will be interesting to see how the use standardised conditions will work in practice. The advantage of having state-wide consistency of conditions and the benefits of improved assessment times and the reduction and consolidation of conditions consent holders will be required to satisfy will be welcomed by many.
Not all developments are the same and a one size fits all approach is likely to encounter some practicality issues. Time will tell…
If you have questions or concerns around a development approvals (DA), your first step should be to contact our office to arrange a free consultation. You can contact us by by phone or our 'Ask a Question' tool on our website.