Planning & Development / Enquire / Exempt/complying development
What is Exempt Development?
What is Complying Development?
Not all development has to be approved, or needs to go through a complicated application and consent process. If your development is low impact it may be an exempt development which does not require planning or construction approval. Even if it doesn’t fit into this category it may still meet the criteria for a complying development, which has a faster approval process than a traditional development application.
In general complying development is routine development, for example some dwellings, alterations and additions to buildings and certain changes of use. Complying development seeks to streamline the application process by providing a single approval that covers pre-defined development conditions as well as meeting the standards required by the Building Code of Australia. Complying development is required to be determined within ten days.
Not all sites are suitable for complying developments. Some sites such as those containing heritage items or Class 1 or 2 acid sulphate soils are unable to have complying developments on them. There are two ways to determine whether your site meets the requirements for a complying development.
What else do I need to do?
The Codes SEPP is a policy initiative put in place by the NSW Government to remove red tape for low risk and low impact development. It benefits home-owners and small business by reducing costs and the time it takes to process the development. It has also been designed to provide a reasonable and consistent set of state-wide standards. These standards are included detailed in the Codes SEPP.
Exempt and complying development comes under several legislative frameworks, including the Codes SEPP. Which framework used will depend on the type of work proposed, the land, and the legal requirements outlined.
SEPP (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 (the Codes SEPP) covers:
There are also some specific development types that can be exempt or complying development that fall under separate legislation, such as small wind turbines, solar energy systems, telecommunications facilities, health facilities and educational establishments.