Land and Environment Court - Working Party


1. Introduction

1.1 Background

In April 2000, the Attorney General, the Hon J W Shaw QC MLC, announced the establishment of a independent Working Party to review the way development applications are dealt with by the Land and Environment Court (‘the Court’), and to examine the scope for greater use of alternative dispute resolution. The Working Party was assisted by a Reference Group which provided expert advice on a range of issues that arose in the course of the review.

1.2 Public consultation

More than 400 individuals, community groups, industry and professional associations, local councils and government agencies were individually invited to forward submissions to the Working Party. In addition, public advertisements were placed in the press in May 2000, calling for interested persons to forward submissions by the end of June 2000. In the event, the Working Party continued to accept submissions until early 2001.

More than 300 submissions were received in total, with local councils well represented. A list of individuals and organisations which made submissions or gave advice is provided in Appendix E.

The Working Party also invited a number of organisations to make presentations to Working Party meetings, including representatives of Community Justice Centres, Fairfield and Liverpool City Councils’ Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels, and the Council of the City of Sydney.

1.3 Scope of inquiry

The focus of the inquiry is on decision-making by councils and the Court with respect to development applications under the New South Wales planning system. Accordingly, the Working Party has examined processes ranging from the provision of information by councils (and other consent authorities) to prospective applicants, through to the delivery of written reasons for decision by the Court.

1.4 Consensus

As far as possible the Working Party sought to achieve consensus and was, to a large extent, successful in this endeavour. However, where unanimous agreement could not be reached, dissenting views have been recorded.

The representative of the Local Government and Shires Associations, Councillor Peter Woods OAM, concurred with many of the Working Party’s recommendations. However, there were some key areas of disagreement and Councillor Woods prepared a minority report on these matters.


1.5 Developments during the course of the inquiry



During the course of the inquiry there were a number of developments relevant to the matters being considered by the Working Party. These developments are briefly described below.

1.5.1 PlanFIRST

The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning (‘DUAP’) has issued a White Paper, PlanFIRST, containing a package of reforms to modernise and simplify the environmental planning system. The purpose of the White Paper is to inform people about the changes and to seek comments.

The White Paper proposes changes to the form and content of plans at local, regional and state levels. There will be:

· A single local plan for each council area
· A single regional strategy for each region in NSW, to give a common direction to local plans
· State planning policies in a single document to improve accessibility and inform regional planning

Further information on PlanFIRST is available on DUAP’s web site:

www.duap.nsw.gov.au/planfirst

1.5.2 Review of SEPP 1: Development standards

State Environmental Planning Policy 1 (‘SEPP 1’) is a State policy that allows a local council to vary a development standard where strict compliance with the standard would be unreasonable, unnecessary or would hinder the objects of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. SEPP 1 was gazetted in 1980.

DUAP commissioned an independent review of SEPP 1 and the report on this review was completed in November 2000. The report concluded that SEPP 1 should be retained but recommended changes to improve how it is used.

DUAP has now exhibited a number of proposed amendments to SEPP 1, and has advised that the intention of these amendment is to:

• reinforce the original purpose of SEPP 1 (see 98.2 Perceived overuse of SEPPs)
• restrict the use of SEPP 1 for subdivision of rural land

1.5.3 Land and Environment Court On-Line

Another development during the course of the reference was the launch of the Land and Environment Court On-Line. This comprises a number of innovations which the Working Party believes will result in time and cost savings to parties, particularly those in rural and remote areas.

One of the most significant of these is an electronic callover process where a callover can now be conducted from a practitioner’s office via the internet rather than requiring a person to appear before the Court. The advantage to practitioners (particularly those in rural or remote areas) is immediately apparent, having the potential to significantly reduce the costs associated with callovers. Other initiatives include the option to lodge documents and pay filing fees electronically, and an electronic diary in which parties will be able to view dates available for hearings and electronically request the allocation of those dates.

More information on the Land and Environment Court on line project is available on the Court’s web page:

www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lec.nsf/pages/ecallover