New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WATER ACT 1912 - SECT 20A

20A Notification of application and reference to local land board or Magistrate

(1) On application being made for an authority the Ministerial Corporation shall cause to be published, once in the Gazette and once in a newspaper published and circulating in the district where the work is or is proposed to be situated, a notice giving particulars of the application.

(1AA) Subsection (1) does not require the Ministerial Corporation to cause to be published a notice giving particulars of an application unless it is satisfied that each part of the land to which the application relates is land which one or more of the applicants occupies or occupy or to which one or more of the applicants will obtain the right of occupation.

(1A) Where, at the time the application is made, the work is, or is proposed to be, situated within a declared local area, any:

(a) local occupier, or

(b) statutory authority,

whose interests may be affected by the granting of the application may, within 28 days after the date of publication of the later of the advertisements referred to in subsection (1), lodge with the Ministerial Corporation an objection thereto.

(1B) Where, at the time the application is made, the work is not, or is not proposed to be, situated within a declared local area, any person whose interests may be affected by the granting of the application may, within 28 days after the date of the later of the advertisements referred to in subsection (1), lodge with the Ministerial Corporation an objection thereto.

(1C) An objection referred to in subsection (1A) or (1B) shall be in writing and shall specify the grounds of objection.

(1D) If, after the application is advertised:

(a) the applicant amends the application as advertised, and

(b) in the opinion of the Ministerial Corporation the changes warrant the advertising of the application as amended,

the Ministerial Corporation shall advertise the amended application in the manner referred to in subsection (1) and:

(c) the provisions of this section shall apply to the amended application as if it were a new application, and

(d) the application as originally made shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

(2) The Ministerial Corporation shall, where an objection has been lodged with it pursuant to subsection (1A) or (1B), direct the local land board or a Magistrate to hold a public inquiry as to the desirability of granting the application. Where the recommendation of the local land board or Magistrate is in favour of the granting of the application the local land board or Magistrate, as the case may be, shall embody in such recommendation the arrangements which should in the board’s or Magistrate’s opinion be made by the applicants in respect of the provision, construction, operation, maintenance and renewal of the works, the apportionment between them of the water taken by means of such works and any payments to be made by any of them in respect of the works or the water supply.
The holding of the inquiry shall be notified once in the Gazette and once in a newspaper published and circulating in the district where the work is or is proposed to be situated.
The Ministerial Corporation and:

(a) where, at the time the application is made, the work is, or is proposed to be, situated within a declared local area, any:

(i) local occupier, or

(ii) statutory authority,

whose interests may be affected by the granting of the application, or

(b) where, at the time the application is made, the work is not, or is not proposed to be, situated within a declared local area, any person whose interests may be affected by the granting of the application,

shall be permitted to attend at the inquiry and be heard in support of, or in opposition to, the granting of the application.
The local land board or Magistrate, as the case may be, holding the inquiry, shall report in writing upon the inquiry to the Ministerial Corporation.

(3) This section does not apply to an application for an authority in respect of an existing work.