New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

WESTERN DIVISI0N REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN NO 1--EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES - REG 2

2 Aims, objectives etc

(1) The aims of this plan are:

(a) to facilitate, and to control in an orderly manner, the extraction of geological materials (other than minerals) from the lands of the Region, and

(b) so far as is consistent with paragraph (a), to encourage the preservation of:

(i) prime crop and pasture lands and other agriculturally usable lands, and

(ii) water quality, whether lacustrine, riparian, subterranean or surface water, and

(iii) riparian environments generally, and

(iv) land which is a catchment for a town water supply, and

(v) archaeological and Aboriginal sites, relics and places, and

(c) to provide a means whereby the public interest in the extraction of resources from the Region is balanced against the public interest in the preservation of the things referred to in paragraph (b), and

(d) to introduce a system of planning control requiring consent to be obtained by both public and private bodies and persons carrying out development for the purposes of extractive industries, that is applied consistently throughout the Region.

(2) The strategies employed in this plan are:

(a) to facilitate the operation of extractive industries by altering the designation of extractive industry in the Region to include only those extractive industries which are larger or higher yielding than the quantities declared in this plan or are situated on protected lands or environmentally sensitive lands as recognised by this plan, and

(c) to ensure adequate protection for the environment by providing that the preparation of an environmental management and rehabilitation plan be a condition of any consent, and

(d) to recognise the necessity of small extractive operations to farm management by excluding most on-farm extractive activities from the consent provisions of this plan, and

(e) to allow the continued use of an existing operation to proceed largely unaffected by this plan, while imposing conditions on the re-use of an existing site after the period specified in this plan has elapsed.