Page 2354 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 August 2006
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request to provide further information, and a referral entity must give advice on the application within 15 working days.
Decisions on certain types of development in the merit track may not be open to third-party appeals. Only merit-assessable applications that undergo major public notification accrue third-party appeal rights. Only request notices sent within 10 working days have the effect of stopping and extending the decision-making time frame. Development applications that must be referred to the relevant referral entity and the jurisdiction will be clearly detailed through regulation.
I turn to the area of impact-assessable development. The level of impact assessment will be more closely matched to the potential environmental impact of a development and the process will be integrated with the assessment tracks. An environmental impact statement, or an EIS, will only relate to impact-assessable developments and will cover matters listed in schedule 4 to the legislation and types of development not anticipated by the territory plan. Schedule 4 will list developments for which an EIS is required based on the likely impacts of construction, impacts on sensitive areas or environmental processes. Decisions on merit and impact-assessable applications must be made within 30 working days, or 45 working days where representations are received. The decision time is only extended by the time it takes an applicant to respond to a request notice for further information, if the request notice is sent within 10 working days of lodgment. For some merit and all impact-assessable development applications, any person who makes a representation and may suffer material detriment because of an application’s approval accrues a right to appeal against the decision.
I turn to the issue of territory plan variations. The territory plan will have a statement of strategic directions to guide plan variations. The strategic directions may cover matters of national, regional and territory interest, contain sustainability principles and should promote the planning strategy. The National Capital Authority has recently publicised its intention to update the national capital plan, in particular to enshrine the Griffin legacy propositions into the national capital plan so that work on the ground can begin. The ACT Planning and Land Authority is working closely with the NCA to promote a consistent structure in both the national capital plan and the territory plan.
In the interests of efficiency and certainty, the new planning legislation will introduce new time frames for the draft plan variation process. In future the ACT Planning and Land Authority will be required to make a decision on submitting a draft plan variation to the Minister for Planning for approval within 12 months, and it must be approved by the Minister within 12 months. If the time limits are not met, the draft plan variation lapses. The new planning legislation provides the Minister for Planning with discretion not to refer a draft plan variation to relevant Assembly committees before making a decision, and also to make a decision on the draft plan variation if the committee fails to report within six months of the referral. The Assembly retains the right to direct a referral itself. The ability of the ACT Planning and Land Authority to amend the territory plan without requiring public consultation is being expanded to include changes to codes where the change is consistent with the code’s purpose and the policy framework. These amendments to the territory plan will take effect by a notifiable instrument.
The new planning legislation also introduces the requirement for the ACT Planning and
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