Key purposes of the Act until now have been: to ensure that ‘development’ is done in an environmentally sustainable way; to protect the environment; to ensure community participation – they are rewriting it so that they can ignore all of those things.
Example: One of the many changes is a new assessment pathway that is “unconstrained and expressly prohibits consideration of environmental impacts and the public interest.” note the EDO.
The intention behind the changes is to allow development in otherwise environmentally protected areas.
The Act is New South Wales’ primary legislation for land use planning and development assessment. It governs environmental planning instruments like State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs) and Local Environmental Plans (LEPs).
Planned changes will be decided without public consultation and with no detailed explanatory material.
The Act containing the changes purports to relate to housing, but will affect ALL types of development across NSW.
There are many other changes to the Act, please refer the Environmental Defenders Office briefing note linked here.
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Caldera Environment Centre
42 Wollumbin Street, Murwillumbah
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