Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016

The applicant for development consent or the proponent of the activity proposed to be carried out (as the case requires) must, for the purposes of the preparation of a species impact statement under this Part, request the Environment Agency Head to provide (and must comply with) any requirements notified to the applicant or proponent by the Agency Head concerning the form and content of the species impact statement.

The Environment Agency Head must notify any such requirements within 28 days after having been requested to provide them.

The Environment Agency Head may notify requirements that apply generally to the preparation of species impact statements or may notify separate requirements that apply to the particular species impact statement.

Despite anything to the contrary in this Part, the Environment Agency Head may—

vary the matters otherwise required to be included in a species impact statement in a particular case, or

dispense with the requirement of a species impact statement to assess the impact on biodiversity values that are required to be assessed in a biodiversity development assessment report submitted with the species impact statement, or

dispense with the requirement for a species impact statement in a particular case if the Agency Head is satisfied that the impact of the action concerned will be trivial or negligible.