Statement of environmental effects

When people first hear the term statement of environmental effects they immediately think of trees and the impact the development will have on the natural environmental surrounding the development. The document should be called the Development Compliance Report rather than the statement of environmental effects as that is essentially what the report is intended for. The report is meant to be the representation of the development in words that provides an assessment of how it complies in relation to the relevant legislation and development control plans. A more technical description of a statement of environmental effects is provided below as detailed on a NSW Council website:

A Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE) is required to be submitted with every development application. The SEE is a document that outlines the impacts of a proposed development and outlines any steps taken to protect the environment and to manage impacts.

The statement should address the following matters:

    • A full description of the proposed development, including operational details
    • The environmental impacts of the proposed development
    • How the environmental impacts of the proposed development have been identified
    • The steps to be taken to protect the environment or to lessen the expected harm to the environment, and
    • Whether or not the proposed development complies with the Council policies (i.e. LEP and DCP) and any other applicable legislation or planning instruments. Justification for any part that does not comply with policies or legislation should be provided in the statement.

The information in the SEE will be used to assess the impact of the proposal, and provides an opportunity to detail information that may not be shown on plans.

The main function of the statement of environmental effects is to provide a description of the development in simple words and also to assess how the development responds to the requirements under the legislation and development controls.

The Process

The statement of environmental effects is one of the last documents that is completed as part of any development applications as, unless there When people first hear the term statement of environmental effects they immediately think of trees and the impact the development will have on the natural environmental surrounding the development. The document should be called the Development Compliance Report rather than the statement of environmental effects as that is essentially what the report is intended for. The report is meant to be the representation of the development in words that provides an assessment of how it complies in relation to the relevant legislation and development control plans. A more technical description of a statement of environmental effects is provided below as detailed on a NSW Council website:

A Statement of Environmental Effects (SEE) is required to be submitted with every development application. The SEE is a document that outlines the impacts of a proposed development and outlines any steps taken to protect the environment and to manage impacts.

The statement should address the following matters:

    • A full description of the proposed development, including operational details
    • The environmental impacts of the proposed development
    • How the environmental impacts of the proposed development have been identified
    • The steps to be taken to protect the environment or to lessen the expected harm to the environment, and
    • Whether or not the proposed development complies with the Council policies (i.e. LEP and DCP) and any other applicable legislation or planning instruments. Justification for any part that does not comply with policies or legislation should be provided in the statement.

The information in the SEE will be used to assess the impact of the proposal, and provides an opportunity to detail information that may not be shown on plans.

The main function of the statement of environmental effects is to provide a description of the development in simple words and also to assess how the development responds to the requirements under the legislation and development controls.

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