{"id":2417,"date":"2020-06-30T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T02:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/?p=2417"},"modified":"2020-07-02T18:21:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T08:21:47","slug":"sepps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/2020\/06\/sepps\/","title":{"rendered":"SEPPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have referred to the State Environmental Planning Policies<\/a> (SEPPs) on various occasions in the past, but perhaps never dealt with the subject directly. With the new comprehensive Queanbeyan Palerang Local Environmental Plan (QPLEP) on the verge of completion I thought some further discussion might be of interest.<\/p>\n

While land use within a Local Government Area (LGA) is generally controlled through an LEP<\/a>, this is just one piece of legislation that is involved. Broadly speaking, SEPPs are state level priorities that generally override an LEP, although in most cases care will have been taken in drafting an LEP to avoid any confusing conflicts with SEPPs. Some SEPPs are \u2018permissive\u2019, allowing development freedom beyond the constraints that might otherwise be imposed by an LEP, while others are \u2018restrictive\u2019, designed to protect specific localities, like alpine areas<\/a>, or land values, like koala habitat<\/a>, regardless of what might otherwise be permitted under a particular LEP.<\/p>\n

Many SEPPs are directed at specific activities in specific areas—Bushland in Urban Areas<\/a>, Coastal Management<\/a>, Sydney Drinking Water Catchment<\/a>, Vegetation in Non-Rural Areas<\/a> to name but a few—but others address issues considered to be of state-level significance more broadly, such as Affordable Rental Housing<\/a>, Building Sustainability Index (BASIX)<\/a>, Remediation of Land<\/a>, and [Significant] Infrastructure<\/a> [Development].<\/p>\n

Not many of the location-specific SEPPs apply in our local area, but others come into play from time to time. The SEPP that has most often been referred to in recent times is the Exempt and Complying Development Codes SEPP<\/a> (Codes SEPP). This SEPP lists a wide range of predominantly minor developments that may, under specific circumstances, be undertaken without the need for development approval from council, regardless of what might be specified in the prevailing LEP.<\/p>\n

I will make a cautionary note at this point and emphasise that \u2018conditions still apply\u2019 and at times these can be more [practically or financially] onerous than the development approval (DA) process itself. It should not, therefore, be assumed that undertaking development as Complying Development, for example, is necessarily \u2018easier\u2019 than seeking formal approval through council. Builders often promote the Complying Development path because this approach is often easier for them, but this does not always play out in the customer\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

The Codes SEPP lists literally hundreds of activities, ranging from the erection of TV antennae or the display of advertising and signage all the way through to the construction of a dwelling. As previously noted, conditions still apply to all of these activities—each must conform to the \u2018development standards\u2019 identified for that activity in the Codes SEPP—but the intent is to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy in relation to straightforward development activities. An LEP may, nonetheless, allow development identified within the Codes SEPP to be undertaken without the imposition of any conditions—i.e.<\/em> it can be more \u2018relaxed\u2019 than the Codes SEPP by, for example, allowing a specific land use to be \u2018permitted without consent\u2019 in a council area—but it cannot impose more stringent conditions on a given activity than are specified in the Codes SEPP.<\/p>\n

The Building Sustainability Index: BASIX SEPP<\/a> is another that is generally applicable through both the DA and Complying Development processes without most people actually noticing. It generally applies implicitly through one of the consent conditions associated with all new building developments to ensure that BASIX principles are applied consistently throughout the State.<\/p>\n

While most of council\u2019s activities are subject to the same development controls as the rest of the community, maintenance of assets such as transport infrastructure is covered by the Infrastructure SEPP, which specifically allows councils a degree of flexibility in providing essential services. This does not, however, cover development related council buildings and the like, which are still subject to the normal development approval process. As a side note here, council\u2019s own DAs are not generally assessed by council staff, they are delegated to an another council or, for higher value developments, the Regional Planning Panel<\/a> or the Independent Planning Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another SEPP that comes into play from time to time, perhaps again behind the scenes, is the State and Regional Development SEPP<\/a>, which, as the name implies, gives the State the necessary authority to carry out development it deems to be of State or Regional significance without being constrained by provisions that might otherwise be imposed by a particular LEP.<\/p>\n

So, as you casually flick through the pages of the new LEP, it\u2019s good to remember that it\u2019s just part of the story.<\/p>\n

The full list of State Environmental Planning Policies is available from the NSW Government legislation website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have referred to the State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs) on various occasions in the past, but perhaps never dealt with the subject directly. With the new comprehensive Queanbeyan Palerang Local Environmental Plan (QPLEP) on the verge of completion I thought some further discussion might be of interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2417"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2428,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2417\/revisions\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peteharrison.id.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}