Development (Planning And Development Review) Amendment Bill 2008

The Development (Planning And Development Review) Amendment Bill 2008 was introduced into the Legislative Council on Wednesday 12 November 2008. It was debated on the days listed below, and passed on Tuesday 2 December 2008.

Legislation

To get a copy of the Bill, visit the SA Legislation website:

Follow the debate

The Bill was debated on the following days (external links to SA Parliament Hansard):

Summary of Bill (as introduced)

Amendment of section 33 — Matters against which a development must be assessed

These amendments serve 2 purposes. New subsection (4a) of section 33 will provide a mechanism under section 33 to prescribe classes of development that will not need to be granted development plan consent. New subsection (4b) will provide that where a development only requires building rules consent and the council is the relevant authority, the council must issue a development approval if or when it issues the building rules consent.

Amendment of section 35 — Special provisions relating to assessment against a Development Plan

These amendments relate to the assessment of complying development under section 35.

New subsection (1b) will provide that a development that is assessed by a relevant authority as being a minor variation from complying development may be determined by the relevant authority as complying development in any event and assessed accordingly.

New subsection (1c) will provide that if a proposed development meets all but 1 of the criteria for complying development, it must be assessed as such and the balance of the development will then be assessed as merit development. However, subsection (1d) will make it clear that subsection (1c) will not prevent a relevant authority from deciding not to grant development plan consent on account of its assessment of the balance of the development and under subsection (1e) this provision will not apply if the development, from an overall perspective, falls within a category of non-complying development.

Amendment of section 37 — Consultation with other authorities or agencies

This amendment relates to cases where an application is refused, or conditions are imposed, on account of a direction of a prescribed body under section 37. Under the current provisions of the Act, the prescribed body is constituted as a party to any appeal. The amendment will provide that the prescribed body will be the respondent to any appeal and the relevant authority may, on application be joined as a party to the proceedings, if the relevant authority has been directed to refuse an application. If an appeal relates to a condition that has been imposed at the direction of a prescribed body, both the prescribed body and the relevant authority will be respondents to the appeal.

Amendment of section 38 — Public notice and consultation

These amendments basically serve 3 purposes.

Firstly, it will now be possible for the regulations to assign various forms of development to Category 1 or Category 2 with the effect that the assignment by the regulations will prevail over any inconsistency with the relevant Development Plan unless the regulations provide otherwise.

Secondly, the regulations will determine which forms of development will be Category 2A (compared with the amendments made by section 10 of the Development (Assessment Procedures) Amendment Act 2007).

Thirdly, in the case of a Category 1 development, the Act will provide that the relevant authority must not, on its own initiative, seek the views of the owners or occupiers of other land in connection with deciding whether or not to grant or refuse development plan consent.

Amendment of section 39 — Application and provision of information

The amendments will establish various rules associated with the extent to which a relevant authority may request information with respect to certain categories of development. Another amendment will 'stop the clock' for the time within which a decision on an application must be made by the relevant authority if the applicant requires additional time to address various issues associated with the application.

Amendment of section 41 — Time within which decision must be made

An applicant will be able to serve a notice on a relevant authority that has not decided an application that relates to a development that is a complying development within the prescribed period. In such a case, it will be taken that the relevant authority has refused the application and, subject to the regulations, the relevant authority will be required to refund the application fee.

Amendment of section 88 — Powers of Court in determining any matter

This is a consequential amendment.