New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT ACT 1979 - SECT 4.15

4.15 Evaluation

(cf previous s 79C)

(1) Matters for consideration--general In determining a development application, a consent authority is to take into consideration such of the following matters as are of relevance to the development the subject of the development application--

(a) the provisions of--

(i) any environmental planning instrument, and

(ii) any proposed instrument that is or has been the subject of public consultation under this Act and that has been notified to the consent authority (unless the Planning Secretary has notified the consent authority that the making of the proposed instrument has been deferred indefinitely or has not been approved), and

(iii) any development control plan, and

(iiia) any planning agreement that has been entered into under section 7.4, or any draft planning agreement that a developer has offered to enter into under section 7.4, and

(iv) the regulations (to the extent that they prescribe matters for the purposes of this paragraph),

that apply to the land to which the development application relates,

(b) the likely impacts of that development, including environmental impacts on both the natural and built environments, and social and economic impacts in the locality,

(c) the suitability of the site for the development,

(d) any submissions made in accordance with this Act or the regulations,

(e) the public interest.

(2) Compliance with non-discretionary development standards--development other than complying development If an environmental planning instrument or a regulation contains non-discretionary development standards and development, not being complying development, the subject of a development application complies with those standards, the consent authority--

(a) is not entitled to take those standards into further consideration in determining the development application, and

(b) must not refuse the application on the ground that the development does not comply with those standards, and

(c) must not impose a condition of consent that has the same, or substantially the same, effect as those standards but is more onerous than those standards,

and the discretion of the consent authority under this section and section 4.16 is limited accordingly.

(3) If an environmental planning instrument or a regulation contains non-discretionary development standards and development the subject of a development application does not comply with those standards--

(a) subsection (2) does not apply and the discretion of the consent authority under this section and section 4.16 is not limited as referred to in that subsection, and

(b) a provision of an environmental planning instrument that allows flexibility in the application of a development standard may be applied to the non-discretionary development standard.

Note--: The application of non-discretionary development standards to complying development is dealt with in section 4.28(3) and (4).

(3A) Development control plans If a development control plan contains provisions that relate to the development that is the subject of a development application, the consent authority--

(a) if those provisions set standards with respect to an aspect of the development and the development application complies with those standards--is not to require more onerous standards with respect to that aspect of the development, and

(b) if those provisions set standards with respect to an aspect of the development and the development application does not comply with those standards--is to be flexible in applying those provisions and allow reasonable alternative solutions that achieve the objects of those standards for dealing with that aspect of the development, and

(c) may consider those provisions only in connection with the assessment of that development application.

In this subsection,
"standards" include performance criteria.

(4) Consent where an accreditation is in force A consent authority must not refuse to grant consent to development on the ground that any building product or system relating to the development does not comply with a requirement of the Building Code of Australia if the building product or system is accredited in respect of that requirement in accordance with the regulations.

(5) A consent authority and an employee of a consent authority do not incur any liability as a consequence of acting in accordance with subsection (4).

(6) Definitions In this section--

(a) reference to development extends to include a reference to the building, work, use or land proposed to be erected, carried out, undertaken or subdivided, respectively, pursuant to the grant of consent to a development application, and

(b)
"non-discretionary development standards" means development standards that are identified in an environmental planning instrument or a regulation as non-discretionary development standards.