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Despite the many submissions made by industry and stakeholders, the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 was passed on 16 September with minimal changes to the Bill in its original form.
There is only one minor amendment to the Bill that is worthy of note. This amendment is the correction of the section relating to making changes to a development application in response to information requests. In the Bill as originally proposed, the ability to make changes in response to an information request was limited to changes made during or after public notification. This was logically impossible, given that public notification could only begin once all responses to information requests were provided. The amendment removes the time constraints on making changes in response to information requests and submissions, therefore resolving this difficulty.
By way of recap, some of the key changes brought about by the passing of this new statute include:
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the creation of a hierarchy of planning documents;
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the re-introduction of prohibited development;
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changes to the tests for both code and impact assessable development;
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creation of a new level of assessment – ‘compliance assessment’;
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the introduction of ‘revival’ periods for development applications that lapse;
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deemed approvals for certain development applications;
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a universal definition of ‘minor change’ as it applies throughout the development assessment and appeal process;
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increased powers for the Building and Development Dispute Resolution Committee;
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the extension of the Planning and Environment Court’s power to excuse non-compliance with legislative requirements; and
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changes to the development application (superseded planning scheme) requirements and compensation regime.
It is yet to be confirmed when the new Act will commence, but it is thought that it may be before the end of the year.
For more information on the Sustainable Planning Act, please refer to HopgoodGanim’s papers on the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009 or contact HopgoodGanim’s Planning and Development team.
Please click on the PDF link to download a full copy of this article.
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