At its Meeting on 8 March 2022, Council resolved to publicly exhibit minor administrative amendments to Contributions Plans No. 11 – Annangrove Road Employment Area ('CP11'), Contributions Plan No. 15 – Box Hill Precinct ('CP15'), Contributions Plan No. 16 – Box Hill North ('CP16') and Contributions Plan No. 17 – Castle Hill North ('CP17') relating to the obligations of private certifiers to impose the requirement to pay contributions on Complying Development Certificates (CDCs).
Contributions Plans outline the infrastructure the new community needs, including parks, drainage, playing fields and certain main roads which serve the precinct. They require Developers to pay a 'contribution' to Council in order to fund this essential infrastructure, as a condition of any Development Consents or Complying Development Certificates which are issued for development in the Precinct.
Reforms to the NSW planning system being implemented by the NSW Government will likely continue to progressively broaden and increase the role of private certifiers in the approval of various forms of residential, commercial and industrial development. The proposed administrative amendments to CP11, CP15, CP16 and CP17 seek to remove ambiguity and specify that private certifiers are required to strictly apply the Plan and impose necessary conditions requiring Developers to pay contributions as part of CDCs.
The proposed amendments will ensure that development subject to each Plan is levied contributions in a fair and equitable manner, as set out by the relevant Plan, irrespective of whether the approval for the development is by way of a Development Application or Complying Development Certificate. Importantly, the amendments should reduce occurrences of private certifiers erroneously omitting the requirement to pay contributions from CDCs and in turn ensure that Council collects the necessary income as required under the contributions plans to fund the infrastructure for the community.
The proposed amendments seek to include the following wording within each Contributions Plan:
'Complying development and the obligations of accredited certifiers
In accordance with Section 7.21 of the EP&A Act accredited certifiers must impose a condition requiring monetary contributions in accordance with this Contributions Plan. The conditions imposed must be consistent with Council's standard Section 7.11 consent conditions and be strictly in accordance with this Contributions Plan. It is the professional responsibility of the accredited certifiers to accurately calculate the contribution and to apply the Section 7.11 condition correctly. Failure to apply this Contributions Plan accurately may render an approval invalid'.
It is also proposed to update the name of CP16 – "Box Hill North" to CP16 – "Gables" and to amend all references to "Box Hill North" in the Plan to "Gables" to reflect the new name of the suburb. Further minor changes are also proposed to CP11 and CP16 to reflect updates to numbering under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
The administrative amendments do not result in any change to the infrastructure schedules identified under the Contributions Plans or the value of contributions payable in association with development. The amendments are minor in nature and do not impact the status of CP15, CP16 and CP17 as IPART Reviewed Plans, nor would they trigger the requirement for any further review of the Plans by IPART.
The draft amendments to the Contribution Plans are now on public exhibition. To view the draft amendments, click here.
Public Exhibition Period: Tuesday, 15 March 2022 - Friday, 15 April 2022
Submission Deadline: Friday, 15 April 2022
