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ARTICLE · 18 JANUARY 2018

Planning and environment in NSW – 2017 in review

Holding Redlich
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NSW planning reform requires patience and timing, and the government has shown infinite patience and impeccable timing.

AustraliaReal Estate and Construction
Breellen Warry
Breellen Warry
Peter Holt
Peter Holt
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Planning reform in NSW requires patience and timing. In 2017 the NSW Government demonstrated both its infinite patience and impeccable timing.

The highlights of the year have been the commencement of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) in August and the passing of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Act 2017 (EP&A Amendment Act) in early November.

These two significant pieces of legislative reform will likely set the tone for a busy (and transitional arrangements filled) 2018.

Commencement of biodiversity and native vegetation reforms

The suite of legislation reforms which included the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 and Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transitional) Regulation 2017 commenced on 25 August 2017 (and has implications for application of provisions of the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974 and the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act)).

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