New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT ACT 1979 - SECT 26

26 Contents of environmental planning instruments

(1) Without affecting the generality of section 24 or any other provision of this Act, an environmental planning instrument may make provision for or with respect to any of the following:

(a) protecting, improving or utilising, to the best advantage, the environment,

(b) controlling (whether by the imposing of development standards or otherwise) development,

(c) reserving land for use for the purposes of open space, a public place or public reserve within the meaning of the Local Government Act 1993 , a national park or other land reserved or dedicated under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 , a public cemetery, a public hospital, a public railway, a public school or any other purpose that is prescribed as a public purpose for the purposes of this section,

(d) providing, maintaining and retaining, and regulating any matter relating to, affordable housing,

(e) protecting or preserving trees or vegetation,

(e1) protecting and conserving native animals and plants, including threatened species, populations and ecological communities, and their habitats,

(f) controlling any act, matter or thing for or with respect to which provision may be made under paragraph (a) or (e),

(g) controlling advertising,

(h) such other matters as are authorised or required to be included in the environmental planning instrument by this or any other Act.

(1A) An environmental planning instrument may also make provision for or with respect to protecting and conserving vulnerable ecological communities.

(1B) Despite subsection (1A), an environmental planning instrument must not contain any provision that requires a consent authority, before determining a development application relating to development that may affect a vulnerable ecological community:

(a) to consult with the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife or the Minister administering the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 about the effect of the development on the vulnerable ecological community, or

(b) to obtain the concurrence of the Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife or the Minister administering the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 in respect of the development because of its possible effect on the vulnerable ecological community.

(3A) An environmental planning instrument may make provision for any zoning of land or other provision to have effect only for a specified period or only in specified circumstances.

(4) An environmental planning instrument that makes provision for or with respect to protecting or preserving trees or other vegetation may make provision:

(a) for development control plans to specify the species or kinds of trees or other vegetation included in or excluded from the relevant provisions, and

(b) for the grant of permission to remove or otherwise affect trees or other vegetation, and for a refusal to grant permission to be treated as a refusal or failure to grant development consent under and for the purposes of Part 4.

Note: Section 5C provides that a reference to the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 , in relation to the critical habitat of fish or marine vegetation, is taken to be a reference to Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 .