If you are about to carry out minor building renovations you may not need planning for building approval. This is called exempt development. It is a development which can be carried out for certain residential or commercial properties. For example building a deck for a garden shed on the property. Any of the proposed work should meet with the development standard mentioned in the state policy, in such instances it is not necessary to get an approval.
Consideration for exempt development
All the work that is carried out should be structurally adequate and installation should be in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications. All work should be in compliance with the Building Code of Australia. If a structure is being built on a public land on near a public road or it might even include any sort of a temporary structure as separate approval from the relevant Council would be required. All buildings which have been constructed before 1987 might contain asbestos. However if you are not sure about it you might need to get the building assessed by a qualified professional before you carry out any maintenance work on it. To get more information you can even check out with asbestos awareness website and take a look at the NSW government asbestos fact sheet for further information.
When is exempt development not applicable?
Exempt development cannot be carried out on the following
- Land which has been registered under the state Heritage register act of 1977. Definition subject to an Interior Heritage order under the act it would not be possible to carry out exempt development on it.
- It cannot be carried out on a critical habitat belonging to an endangered species or population under the threatened species conservation act of 1995 or the fisheries management act of 1994.
- It cannot be carried out on a wilderness area under the wild and is act of 1987
It should be kept in mind that there are certain development applications which would require approval like a permit or license from a government agency or any other approval body. It can be determined by the local Council to call for an integrated development plan. When there is an integrated assessment of the proposal the approval would need to be obtained from the approval body for example the environmental protection agency. If there is no problem seen with the application the development consent can be granted.
There is in online service to help facilitate with the consultation process on development applications. It is a service which helps reduce the assessment time and makes it easier for applicant to keep track of the consultation process. Payments are also made online and work is done in a short period of time.
The NSW planning system makes use of land based policies in order to maintain and control the development. Most of the land in NSW comes under a specific land use zone. The local environmental Council identifies these zones and decides what kind of development can take place in a particular zone.
For more information on exempt development requiring DA approval, make sure that you contact the local council.
