I currently prepare Statement of Environmental Effects documents and lodge Development Applications for a number of different clients.
A statement of Environmental Effects is a document that describes the environmental impacts of a development proposal and is required by all Councils for a Development Application in NSW (except for some very major developments where a higher level of documentation is required).
The information that must be included in a Statement of Environmental Effects is outlined in Schedule 1 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, as follows:
(a) The environmental impacts of the development
(b) How the environmental impacts of the development have been identified
(c) The steps taken to protect the environment or to lessen the expected harm on the environment
(d) Any matters required to be indicated by any guidelines issued by the Secretary for the purposes of this clause.
For those interested in performing this process themselves, I have decided to provide a free template in word format, that can be adapted to your development proposal.
This template would need to be adapted depending on the type of development that is proposed and the location.
Link here: Statement of environmental effects template