New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT REGULATION 2000 - REG 8J

8J Transitional provisions

(1AA) The Director-General may accept, as an application for approval of a project under Part 3A of the Act, any development application made under Part 4 of the Act with respect to any development before it becomes a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies. The Director-General may, for that purpose, require any matter to be provided by the applicant that he or she could require to be included in the application under section 75E of the Act.

(1) The Director-General may adopt (with or without modification), as environmental assessment requirements for a project or concept plan, environmental assessment requirements issued by the Director-General under Part 4 or Part 5 of the Act with respect to any development or activity before it becomes a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies.

(2) The Director-General may accept (with or without modification), as an environmental assessment for a project or part of a project or concept plan:

(a) an environmental impact statement obtained in accordance with the requirements of the Director-General under Part 4 or Part 5 of the Act with respect to any development or activity before it becomes a project or part of a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies, or

(b) a statement of environmental effects (as referred to in clause 2 (1) (c) of Schedule 1) prepared in connection with the development concerned before it becomes a project or part of a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies, or

(c) a written assessment arising out of the consideration, under section 111 of the Act, of the environmental impact of an activity and prepared before the activity becomes a project or part of a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies.

(2A) If the Director-General accepts (with or without modification) an environmental impact statement, a statement of environmental effects or a written assessment as an environmental assessment for a project or part of a project or a concept plan:

(a) the Director-General is taken to have prepared environmental assessment requirements in respect of the project or part of a project or concept plan, and

(b) the environmental assessment as so accepted is taken to comply with those requirements.

(3) The Director-General may accept, as a period of public availability of the environmental assessment for a project or part of a project or concept plan (under section 75H (3) of the Act), a period of public exhibition of an environmental impact statement or a statement of environmental effects referred to in subclause (2) before the relevant development or activity becomes a project or part of a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies. For that purpose, and to avoid doubt, if the period of public exhibition is less than 30 days, it is accepted only to the extent of the actual period of public exhibition.

(3A) If any such period of public exhibition of an environmental impact statement or a statement of environmental effects is accepted by the Director-General, the proponent must provide the Director-General with any written submissions made during the public exhibition period in relation to the relevant development or activity.

(4) Despite its repeal, section 88A of the Act continues to apply (and Part 3A of the Act does not apply) to development that is the subject of a development application that was directed to be referred to the Minister under that section before its repeal.

(4A) If a development application is made after the commencement of Part 3A of the Act in respect of any development that:

(a) was, immediately before the repeal of section 89 of the Act, the subject of a direction under that section, and

(b) is not a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies,

the Minister may direct that the application is to be determined (unless the development application is withdrawn by the applicant) as if the amendments made to the Act by Schedule 1 to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure and Other Planning Reform) Act 2005 had not been made.

(5) If a development application is made after the commencement of Part 3A of the Act in respect of any development that, immediately before the commencement of Part 3A, was declared to be State significant development by notice in force under section 76A (7) of the Act, the Minister may direct that the application is to be determined (unless the development application is withdrawn by the applicant) as if the amendments made to the Act by Schedule 1 to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure and Other Planning Reform) Act 2005 had not been made.

(6) Clause 89 of Part 17 to Schedule 6 to the Act extends to development applications pending on the commencement of Part 3A of the Act for development that was State significant development on the commencement of the State Environmental Planning Policy (State Significant Development) 2005 .

(7) If:

(a) a development application was made before the commencement of Part 3A of the Act on the basis that the development was State significant development, and

(b) the Minister is required to form an opinion that the development is State significant development in order to determine the application on that basis (but the Minister had not, before that commencement, formed an opinion on the matter),

the Minister may, after that commencement, form an opinion that the development was, at the time the application was made, State significant development. In that case, the application is to be determined (unless withdrawn by the applicant) as if the amendments made to the Act by Schedule 1 to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Infrastructure and Other Planning Reform) Act 2005 had not been made.

(8) A development consent in force immediately before the commencement of Part 3A of the Act may be modified under section 75W of the Act as if the consent were an approval under that Part, but only if:

(a) the consent was granted with respect to development that would be a project to which Part 3A of the Act applies but for the operation of clause 6 (2) (a) of State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Projects) 2005 , and

(b) the Minister approves of the development consent being treated as an approval for the purposes of section 75W of the Act.

The development consent, if so modified, does not become an approval under Part 3A of the Act.

(9) For the purposes of this clause, and to avoid doubt, a development application is made by a person when the person first applies to the consent authority for consent to carry out the particular development, whether or not the application at that time had been consented to by the owner of the land to which the development application relates.