Since the late 1990s, most approvals from state government agencies required to perform a type of development have been integrated into the development assessment system with Councils. The types of integrated development are listed in clause 4.46 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and cover the following approvals:
Coal Mine Subsidence Compensation Act 2017 - Approvals from Subsidence Advisory NSW to perform development in a mine subsidence area.
Fisheries Management Act 1994 - Approval from NSW Primary Industries for certain types of development relating to fisheries
Heritage Act 1997 - Approval from the Heritage Council of NSW for certain works relating to state heritage items
Mining Act 1992 - Grant of a mining lease by NSW Resources and Geoscience
National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 - Grant of aboriginal heritage impact permit by NSW Environment and Heritage
Petroleum (Onshore) Act 1991 - Grant of a petroleum production lease by NSW Resources and Geoscience
Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 - Grant of an environmental protection licence for certain developments of high environmental risk by the NSW EPA
Roads Act 1993 - Approval for certain works over state roads by NSW Roads & Maritime Services
Rural Fires Act 1997 - Approval from the NSW Rural Fire Service for certain types of high-risk development on bushfire prone land
Water Management Act 2000 - Approval from the NSW Department of Industry for certain works having an impact on waterways including certain development within 40m of a watercourse
The process of integrated development is that an applicant lodges the request for approval as part of the Development Application. Council is then responsible for referring an application that is integrated development to the relevant state agencies within 14 days.
Each state agency has a period of 40 days to issue general terms of approval for a development or 21 days after Council advises that the notification period has closed. If state agencies require additional information to make a decision on issuing general terms of approval, the correct process is for the request to an applicant to be made via Council.
The overall time for an integrated development application to be determined before an applicant can appeal to the Land and Environment Court is 60 days versus 40 days for standard applications.
General terms of approval issued by state agencies are typically attached to the list of conditions of approval issued by Council. If a state agency refuses to grant approval, then Council cannot grant consent to the development.
It is worthwhile checking with Council before lodging an integrated development application, as additional fees and copies of plans are normally required. In addition to a fee paid to Council, a cheque will normally be attached to the application for referral to each of the state agencies.
For any additional questions regarding integrated development, feel free to get in contact.