All planning and development in NSW is carried out under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000.
Beneath these two pieces of legislation sit a set of State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs). SEPPs are State level planning policies that can either exempt certain forms of development from the controls of a specific LEP, or apply additional mandatory controls to developments. Control of developments that are considered to be of State significance, for example, is generally removed from local councils under the State and Regional Development SEPP. Other developments, considered minor in nature, are freed from the requirement for local council development controls under the Exempt and Complying Development Codes SEPP. Other SEPPs, like the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment SEPP, specify overriding mandatory controls that must be adopted by a consent authority (generally the local council) for applicable developments.
The controls specified within the overarching Acts and the SEPPs notwithstanding, an LEP is nonetheless the primary legislative instrument used to guide planning decisions in individual local government [council] areas.
The Development Control Plan (DCP) sits beneath the LEP in the planning instrument hierarchy. The DCP is used to help achieve the objectives of the associated LEP by providing specific, comprehensive requirements for certain types of development or locations.
As an example, Clause 6.2 of the PLEP 2014 deals with ‘Flood planning’, and articulates some fairly high-level provisions. Section B9 of the draft PDCP, however, makes reference to specific styles of development and how the impact of inundation might be controlled in each case.
In the case of residential development, the PLEP again provides high-level controls, such as the minimum lot size, and the maximum height of a building. Section C2 of the draft PDCP provides somewhat more detail surrounding expected styles of residential development, including acoustic and visual privacy, energy and water efficiency, siting and orientation, and even roof pitch recommendations.
The DCP, however, is a policy document, not legislation as is the LEP. The implication here is simply that, while DCP controls are more specific than those in an LEP, there is more flexibility in the way these controls can be applied to individual situations.
A by-product of the requirement to prepare the new PDCP, similar to the situation with the PLEP, is the consolidation of a large number of DCPs that were applicable under previous LEPs. Previously, individual DCPs dealt with individual planning issues, like fencing requirements, controls on on-sire sewage systems, or the placement of advertising signs. Under the new PDCP structure, there is now just a single DCP applicable to any particular area or piece of land, so that an interested party need only consult a single document. The consequence, of course, is that the new PDCP is a somewhat more complex document.
The new draft Palerang DCP will be completed in the coming weeks, and exhibited for public comment soon thereafter. Formal advertisements will appear in the local media. As the structure of the new DCP is radically different to that of previous DCPs, it is important to receive as much feedback as possible from the community during the exhibition period.
The text of NSW planning legislation, including State and local environmental planning instruments are available on the NSW legislation website.
Pete Harrison ~ The Palerang Blog cross-reference
24 February 2015 @ 22:23
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Pete Harrison ~ The Palerang Blog cross-reference
16 May 2016 @ 13:03
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Palerang Community Voice ~ The Voice cross-reference
16 May 2016 @ 16:12
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