Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

This section applies to an environmental impact assessment under Part 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 in respect of which the proponent has elected under Division 2 to obtain a biodiversity development assessment report.

The determining authority is to take into consideration under that Act the likely impact of the proposed activity on biodiversity values as assessed in the biodiversity development assessment report.

If the determining authority decides to carry out the activity or approve the carrying out of the activity and the biodiversity offsets scheme applies to the proposed activity, the conditions on which the activity is carried out, or of the approval to carry out the activity, may require the proponent to retire biodiversity credits to offset the residual impact on biodiversity values, whether of the same number and class specified in the report or of another number and class.

If the number of biodiversity credits required to be retired is less than that specified in the biodiversity development assessment report, the determining authority is to give reasons for the decision to reduce the number of biodiversity credits.

A condition to retire biodiversity credits is required to be complied with before any activity is carried out that would impact on biodiversity values. If the retirement of particular biodiversity credits applies to a stage of the activity, compliance with the condition for their retirement is postponed until the carrying out of that stage of the activity.

This section does not operate to limit the matters that the determining authority may take into consideration in relation to the impact of any proposed activity on biodiversity values, the measures that the determining authority may require to avoid or minimise those impacts or the power of the determining authority to refuse to proceed with the activity or to grant approval for the activity because of those impacts.