Part 3A development

What is Part 3A development?

In 2011, the NSW Government repealed Part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and announced that it will no longer accept any new projects in the Part 3A assessment system. 
 
This system has been replaced by the State significant development (SSD) and State significant infrastructure (SSI) assessment systems, which commenced on 1 October 2011.

Transitional arrangements

The transitional arrangements for former Part 3A projects have now closed, and all future modifications to these projects will be assessed under either the SSD or SSI assessment pathway.

People who made modification applications before the transitional arrangements closed (1 March 2018), had until 1 September 2018 to lodge their environmental assessment documentation so the modification can still be determined under the Part 3A transitional provisions. 

If environmental assessment documentation was not received by that date the application will generally not be dealt with under the Part 3A provisions for modifications (section 75W), and will instead be assessed under the SSD or SSI provisions for modifications.

For those proponents who have been notified that their modification will not be dealt with under section 75W, a new SSD or SSI application will need to be made once the project has been transitioned.

For existing modification applications made under s75W prior to its repeal that have not yet been determined, these can still be modified.

Please contact the relevant assessment officer for the project for any further information.