Standard conditions of consent

We are working with our stakeholders to create a simpler planning system, reduce assessment times and make it easier to invest in NSW.

Introducing standard conditions of development consent is an initiative under the NSW Planning Reform Action Plan. Standard conditions will be available to be used by all councils when approving development applications and will help speed up assessment timeframes, provide greater consistency and certainty and make development consents easier to navigate. This will free up councils to focus on the more complex aspects of development assessment and compliance.

We have developed best practice standard conditions to help achieve certainty and consistency for builders, developers, investors and certifiers who work across multiple local government areas.

The conditions are for residential development, mixed use, agritourism, change of use, food and drink premises, demolition and biodiversity credits. In many cases, these conditions can also be used for other types of development. The standard conditions represent best practice and should be used where relevant. They are not mandatory. The prescribed conditions in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (sections 69–75 and 81–86) are mandatory.

Following consultation in October and November 2023, the standard conditions of development consent for agritourism (PDF, 277 KB) uses have now been finalised for use by consent authorities. The final conditions incorporate feedback from councils and agencies regarding construction in bushfire-prone areas and bushfire emergency management, approvals for sewerage and utilities under the Local Government Act 1993, and ongoing management and waste management. The conditions work in conjunction with other standard conditions of development consent.

We released a writing guide to help consent authorities prepare appropriate, well-structured and legally enforceable conditions and development consents.

For development applications lodged on or after 30 June 2023, councils will be required to use the standard format notice of determination on the NSW Planning Portal for local DAs or when exercising consent authority functions of a Sydney district or regional planning panel on behalf of the panel. Introducing a standard format will provide greater consistency and make development consents easier to navigate.

You can view a webinar on the policy and legislative updates for the standard conditions of consent project. The webinar outlines:

• updates on the standard conditions project
• standard format Notice of Determination
• changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021
• the updated guide to writing conditions of consent
• preparing bespoke conditions
• training and resources for councils
• the implementation program and training on changes to the NSW Planning Portal.