Reforming the EP&A Act (NSW) and what it means for your project
Last month, the NSW Government announced the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 which would see a raft of changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the EP&A Act).
The EP&A Act serves as the foundation of housing, infrastructure and energy delivery across NSW. The proposed reforms aim to streamline development assessment processes and reduce approval timeframes, facilitating more efficient and timely project delivery.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 is due to be debated in NSW Parliament this month.
Environmental Project Manager Patric Illingworth explains some of the key changes proposed to the EP&A Act relevant to the assessment and approval of resourcing, energy and infrastructure projects below.
Amendments to the objects of the Act
The objects of the EP&A Act would be amended to modernise and reflect contemporary planning priorities. This would include promoting:
the supply, delivery and maintenance of housing, including affordable housing
resilience to climate change and natural disasters through adaptation, mitigation, preparedness and prevention
a proportionate and risk-based approach to environmental planning and assessment
The reforms also include removing references to ‘environmental protection’ and ‘protection of the health and safety of building occupants’.
Changes to modification application pathways
There are currently three pathways by which a development consent may be modified in NSW. They are section 4.55(1), section 4.55(1A) and section 4.55(2).
Section 4.55(1)
Under section 4.55(1), a consent authority can approve a modification involving a minor error, misdescription or miscalculation. Currently, the scope of such applications are very limited.
The reforms propose to expand section 4.55(1) applications to include modifications which are expected to have ‘no environment impact’. This would enable an application to deal with procedural problems with conditions, in circumstances where the physical form of the development does not change. Under the reforms, modification applications made under section 4.55(1) would need to be assessed within 14 days or be deemed approved.
Section 4.55(1A)
Under section 4.55(1A), a consent authority can currently approve a modification, where it is satisfied that:
the proposed modification is of ‘no or minimal environmental impact’, and
the proposed modified development will be ‘same or substantially the same as the originally approved development’
The reforms propose to reduce the scope of section 4.55(1A) applications to enable modifications which are expected to have ‘no environmental impact’ to be assessed under section 4.55(1). This would mean any application made under section 4.55(1A) would have to change the physical form or change the social impacts of the development such that there would be ‘minimal environmental impact’.
Section 4.55(2)
No changes are proposed to section 4.55(2) applications under the reforms.
Creation of the Development Coordination Authority
The reforms propose to create a Development Coordination Authority (DCA) that would take responsibility for issuing ‘general terms of approval’ for integrated development. This would remove the need for a consent authority to refer a development application to up to 22 NSW government agencies.
For example, a project which requires an environmental protection licence under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 would receive general terms of approval from the DCA rather than the Environment Protection Authority.
Once development consent is granted, the proponent would still need to obtain the relevant secondary approvals from the appropriate agency.
The DCA would also replace a few NSW government agencies as the consultation authority including Dams Safety and certain water authorities.
Removal of district and regional planning panels
The reforms propose to remove the regionally significant development pathway as a category of development under the EP&A Act. By default, these developments would be reclassified as local development, handing determination back to councils and local planning panels.
Changes to conditions of development consents
Key changes to how conditions of consent are issued for certain development applications have also been proposed. These include requiring consent authorities to provide draft conditions for proponents to review and allowing proponents to make written submissions about the proposed conditions. A new framework would also be developed to provide for standard conditions of consent referred to in relevant State Environmental Planning Policies.
Targeted assessment development pathway
A new pathway known as ‘targeted assessment development’ will fill the gap between complying development and development requiring consent.
The type of development that can access this new pathway will be declared in State Environmental Planning Policies.
To understand what these proposed reforms could mean for your project, reach out to our NSW team based in Armidale and Newcastle.
