The Government is committed to ensuring a planning system that is straightforward for users and ensures high-quality decisions and planning outcomes.

In 2016, we commenced extensive consultation with planning stakeholders to devise improvements to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the EP&A Act), with a focus on the following areas:
Enhancing community participation: establishing a new part of the Act that consolidates community consultation provisions, and requiring decision-makers to give reasons for their decisions
Completing the strategic planning framework: through local strategic planning statements, up to date Local Environment Plans and more consistent and workable Development Control Plans
Development pathways: improvements to the various development pathways and preventing the misuse of modifications
State significant development: through better environmental impact assessment and more effective conditions of consent
Clearer building provisions: simplified and consolidated building provisions, allowing conditions on construction certificates and ensuring consistency with development approvals
Elevating the role of design: through a new design object in the act, and a Design-Led Planning Strategy
Improving enforcement: with the introduction of enforceable undertakings in compliance actions.

Your feedback can play a vital role in helping to plan for the updates that need to occur to the EP&A Act.

We have made an exposure draft Bill available for public comment.

For further information, please call our Information Centre on 1300 305 695 or email legislativeupdates@planning.nsw.gov.au.