Rural Planning Short Courses 2012 PIA NSW and Edge Land Planning will present two Rural Development Assessment Workshops: Tamworth: Module 1:18, 19, 20 April 2012, Module 2: 24, 25 May 2012 Wagga Wagga: Module 1: 9, 10, 11 May 2012, Module 2: 31 May & 1 June 2012
Planning for a Sunburnt Country: Building resilient communities through planning. PIA National Congress, Adelaide, 29 April – 2 May 2012. The 2012 PIA National Congress will draw on our country's recent experiences to improve planning for natural disasters, help recovery processes and build our resilience.
Over the past few weeks PIA NSW Members and Policy Committee have made submissions on a number of planning matters. Copies of our submissions are available on our website. All Members are welcome to contribute either formally through one of our Committees or by providing comments via the Division Office.
Recent submissions include:
Draft planning guidelines paper subdivisions
Senate Inquiry into the Utilisation of Rail Corridors
Senate Inquiry Special Economic Zones
Review of the NSW Rural Fire Service’s ‘Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2006 - Guide for Councils, Planners, Fire Authorities and Developers’
Revised Draft Operational Procedures, Code of Conduct and Complaints Handling Policy for the Joint Regional Planning Panels
Draft planning guidelines on wind farms.
PIA NSW recently presented to the Inquiry into the Utilisation of Rail Corridors; is represented on the Joint Regional Planning Panel User Group; continues to represent the interests of the profession on a number of other ongoing committees and working groups.
Last chance to complete our survey PIA NSW would like to hear from you about what you like, and what you'd like to change, about your PIA membership. Your feedback will support us to improve membership services, to keep up to date with what members want and to provide the best services to the planning profession. Please take a few minutes to give us your views: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PIANSWMemberSurvey
PIA Conferences, seminars and other events
Newcastle Port Tour, Friday 27 April. What does the future hold for Newcastle Port? Join the Hunter Planners on a 3 hour cruise with commentary as they explore this important topic.
Toolbox series Seminar 3, Tuesday 22 May on Compulsory acquisition. The seminar will be presented by Peter Cahill, Executive Lawyer Bartier Perry. Topics include:
The history and legal basis for compulsory acquisitions
The heads under which compensation is payable
The procedures to be followed
Appeal proceedings in the Land & Environment Court
Designing our Future: 2012 Young Planners Workshop, UWS Parramatta Campus, Thursday 31 May and Friday 1 June. Preliminary registrations are now open for the 1.5 day workshop specifically developed for Young Planners.
2012 NSW Planners’ Dinner, Tuesday 26 June. Special guest is the Minister for Planning & Infrastructure, The Hon Brad Hazzard. Book online or download a registration form. Limited sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Robyn Vincin for information.
Australia Award for Urban Design; nominations are open until 10th May. For further information visit our website. The Award is hosted by PIA with support from PCA AIA, GBC, Consult Australia, AILA and the Urban Design Forum. It was established in 1995 to recognise recent urban design projects of high quality in Australia.
Registering online for an event? Members should log on to the website before registering for an event, to ensure you receive the Member’s rate and that the event is added to your PD record.
Professional reading
Solving the puzzle of capital cities planning 2 April 2012 In a landmark review of Australia’s capital cities COAG has found that governments need to do more to plan better for the future land use, infrastructure and economies of our cities.
Urban Planning Reaches Out to "Dummies" For Dummies, the ubiquitous reference series, has recently released its first book dedicated entirely to Urban Planning.
Community Land Trusts and Indigenous housing options AHURI Report no 185. This report presents the findings of AHURI-funded research into the potential relevance of models based on Community Land Trusts (CLTs), one form of hybrid tenure, for the Indigenous housing sector.
Project Management and Urban Design courses Dates for the 2012 CPP Courses can be found at this link. You do not need to be enrolled in the CPP Program to participate in these courses, which are conducted both online and face-to-face and offer excellent opportunities to update your professional knowledge. Next Sydney Courses:
Project management, 19-20 April
Urban design, 10-11 May
UWS Urban Research Centre delivers a number of short courses including Planning for non-planners; Introduction to urban design and Introduction to property development. Visit the website for the short course program.
UTS Centre for Local Government Short Courses. The Centre runs a number of short courses relevant to planners, including planning for bushfire areas. For more information visit the website.
Employment
Development Assessment Officer Working as part of the Planning & Community Services team, and reporting to the Manager Development Control and Principal Development Control Officer, your primary aim will be to assess development applications against relevant planning provisions and policies. For more information, or to apply online, please visit http://applynow.net.au/job32993
A range of positions are advertised in our Employment Directory for planners and related professionals in Sydney and regional centres. View new NSW jobs here
Job seekers To see who is looking for employment opportunities click here
Advertise your vacancy through our online Employment Directory.
Volunteer in Sri Lanka with PIA PIA is calling for Australian planners with more than five years of professional experience to undertake short-term volunteer placements in Colombo. Please click here to learn more about the program and express your interest via our short online questionnaire.
External events
Planning Sydney 16-20 April The City of Sydney Library is to present this week long series of bespoke talks as part of the 2012 National Trust Heritage Festival. The series celebrates the theme of Amazing Stories: Innovation & Invention, by considering Sydney itself as an invention and examining the innovative creation of this city.
Join Hunter P@P at Beaches Hotel on Friday 11 May 2012. Jamin Tappouras, Executive Manager of the Water Factory Company will be discussing the challenges involved with the delivery of new residential release areas. Please RSVP by Friday 4th May, 2012 to Dylan on 49042718 or email dylan.meade@planning.nsw.gov.au
AIUS City Briefing: Barangaroo, Wednesday, 18th April at Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, from 5.00 to 6.15pm
Do you have a burning planning or environmental law question? Each month the Gadens Team provides answers to 2 or 3 questions posed by readers of eNews. If you would like to submit a succinct question simply email it to Ask Gadens. Questions will be treated in confidence. To be added to Gadens mailing list to receive their free electronic updates & newsletters, please email Anthony.
Question: If you have a deferred commencement consent with conditions to be satisfied within 6 months and you need to extend that 6 month period, would you submit a section 96 application to amend the condition to change the timeframe or would you submit a section 95A application to extend the timeframe?
We believe that the only means of extending the 6 month period is to lodge a s.95A application (before the 6 month period has expired) for an extension of the deferred commencement timeframe. Otherwise, the consent will lapse, and a new development consent would need to be applied for via a fresh DA.
In theory deferred development consents can allow up to five years for applicants to satisfy the consent authorities as to matters covered by the deferred commencement conditions (s.95(6)). However in our experience, this period is often reduced when the consent is granted - to 12 months or even as little as 6 months. These short timeframes can often leave landowners caught short, and the consequence is that the consent actually ‘lapses’, because s.95(6) of the Act expressly says that a deferred commencement consent “lapses if the applicant fails to satisfy the consent authority as to the matter specified in the [deferred commencement] condition within the period specified”. As a result, a deferred commencement development consent can easily lapse relatively soon after it has been granted – perhaps in as little as 6 months, in the example you have given.
It would seem to be a simple solution to just lodge a s.96 application to extend the timeframe in which the deferred commencement conditions must be satisfied. However….
In Kinder Investments Pty Ltd v Sydney City Council [2005] NSWLEC 737 the Land and Environment Court held that no modification of a development consent under s96 can alter the lapsing date of a development consent. It is the Act itself (in particular s.95) which causes a consent to lapse. The legislation provides that the lapsing period is set when a consent is first granted. It can be extended on a one-off basis by an application made via s.95A, for a maximum of 1 additional year (discussed below), but there is no other source of power to extend the lapsing period of a consent.
The issue was more recently considered by the Land and Environment Court in Reid's Farms Pty Ltd v Murray Shire Council [2010] NSWLEC 127. In that matter, the relevant conditions were deferred commencement conditions, therefore the decision was squarely on point, and specifically considered s.95(6) of the Act. Again, the Court concluded that s.96 cannot under any circumstances be used to extend the lapsing date of a development consent, saying
“The upshot is that the statutory scheme exhaustively prescribes the means by which a development consent will lapse, and the timing of the lapsing, dependent upon the period fixed in the granting of the consent and any subsequent extension of that period under s 95A. No modification of a development consent under s 96 can alter hese means or timings of lapsing.”
As a result, the modification of a development consent through section 96 cannot extend the life of a consent. However, as touched upon above, it is possible to extend the life of some consents, including deferred commencement consents, via section 95A.
Section 95A applies when a consent authority has shortened the life of a development consent, below the maximum five year period. It allows the applicant to lengthen the timeframe by applying, before the period expires, for an extension of one year. The application must indicate why the consent authority should extend the time (clause 114 of the Regs). The extension may only be granted if the consent authority is satisfied that the applicant has shown “good cause”. A refusal to extend, or a failure to make a decision about an extension within 40 days, may be appealed to the Land and Environment Court. If the Court upholds the appeal, the extension of time will typically run from the date of the Court’s decision (so as to give the applicant the benefit of the full extra year applied for).
As an aside, there is another way that the “life” of a deferred commencement consent can be extended. When a “class 1” (merits) appeal is made to the Land and Environment Court appealing against the conditions of a DA, the whole consent (including the deferred commencement condition) is suspended. Once the proceedings are resolved (which may occur through the discontinuation of the appeal) the suspension ends, and the time between the commencement of the appeal, and its determination, does not count when calculating the lapsing period.
Send us your questions!
We are receiving a steady flow of great questions from our PIA readers, but of course the more questions that we receive, the better we are able to understand the legal issues that are of the most interest (or angst) to PIA members.
So, any readers who send a planning or environmental question to Ask Gadens will receive a free copy of ‘Property Investing – The Australian Way’, which includes a chapter authored by Anthony Whealy, Partner in our Planning Environment and Government team, specifically relating to the planning approvals and appeals process. The book includes chapters by 15 experts from 15 different fields, all focused on aspects of property investment and development in Australia.
Note: This information is provided to you for your information on a complimentary basis. The information provided is a general guide only and Gadens Lawyers accept no responsibility for any person relying on this publication without obtaining our express permission. Generally the particular facts and circumstances of any case will materially impact upon our opinions and will therefore be necessary before formal advice can be provided.
Development Assessment Officer
So, any readers who send a planning or environmental question to Ask Gadens will receive a free copy of ‘Property Investing – The Australian Way’, which includes a chapter authored by Anthony Whealy, Partner in our Planning Environment and Government team, specifically relating to the planning approvals and appeals process. The book includes chapters by 15 experts from 15 different fields, all focused on aspects of property investment and development in Australia.
