Division 5.1 (Part 5) Activities
Not all development requires consent. Certain projects undertaken by councils, government departments or State agencies are “development permitted without consent”. Many of these activities are allowed under State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021. Before work can start, public authorities are required to assess the environmental impacts of a project. This process is called a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) and should be undertaken in line with the Guidelines for Division 5.1 Assessment.
From 1 July 2022, certain REF documents must be published (e.g. where the project cost is over $5m). This section allows users to search for and access REFs that have been made publicly available via the NSW Planning Portal (some REFs may instead be published on the website of the relevant public authority)
Some activities may be exempt from the requirements to publish a REF, where the Planning Secretary has issued a notice to exempt these activities. The types of activities that may be exempt are those REFs that substantially relate to anti-terrorism mitigation measures and contain sensitive public safety information.