Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

This section applies to an application for development consent under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 that is required under Division 2 to be accompanied by a biodiversity development assessment report, except—

an application for development consent for State significant development, or

an application for a complying development certificate.

The consent authority, when determining in accordance with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 any such application, is to take into consideration under that Act the likely impact of the proposed development on biodiversity values as assessed in the biodiversity development assessment report that relates to the application. The consent authority may (but is not required to) further consider under that Act the likely impact of the proposed development on biodiversity values.

Subject to subsection (4), if the consent authority decides to grant consent and the biodiversity offsets scheme applies to the proposed development, the conditions of the consent must require the applicant to retire biodiversity credits to offset the residual impact on biodiversity values of the number and class specified in the biodiversity development assessment report.

The consent authority may reduce or increase the number of biodiversity credits that would otherwise be required to be retired if the consent authority determines that the reduction or increase is justified having regard to the environmental, social and economic impacts of the proposed development. The consent authority must give reasons for a decision to reduce or increase the number of biodiversity credits.

A condition to retire biodiversity credits must be complied with before any development is carried out that would impact on biodiversity values.

Despite subsection (5)—

a concept development consent may provide for a corresponding staged retirement of biodiversity credits before each stage of development is carried out and without the need for a further biodiversity development assessment report in connection with development applications for the subsequent stages of the development, and

a staged development consent may provide for a corresponding staged retirement of biodiversity credits before each stage of development is carried out under the consent.

This section does not operate to limit the matters that a consent authority may take into consideration—

in relation to the impact of proposed development on biodiversity values, the measures that a consent authority may require to avoid or minimise those impacts or the power of a consent authority to refuse to grant consent because of those impacts, or

in deciding whether to reduce or increase the number of biodiversity credits to be retired.

If a consent authority fails to include a condition relating to the retirement of biodiversity credits required by this section (or fails to give reasons for a decision to reduce or increase the number of biodiversity credits), the Environment Agency Head may impose or vary that condition in accordance with this section in the same manner used by the consent authority in granting the development consent.

In this section—