How the NSW planning system works
The primary enabling legislation of the planning system in NSW is the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the EP&A Act). While broad, the planning system in NSW can be divided into two broad areas: land use planning, and development control.
This paper provides information on the NSW planning system that is current as at May 2024, and enables easier navigation across the system’s operational complexity, including through the use of diagrams (see overview below).
Land use planning and development control are 2 of the 7 key components of the NSW planning system explained in this paper. The other 5 components are the objects of the EP&A Act, planning authorities, infrastructure funding, community participation, and the Land and Environment Court.
Damian Gilyana, BCityPlan (Hons)
Daniel Montoya, BEnvSc (Hons), PhD
Parliamentary Research Service
Research Paper 4, 2024
See an overview of the planning system
Read the paper
Overview of the NSW planning system
Published: 23 May 2024. Information current as at May 2024.
This paper updates The NSW Planning System published by the NSW Parliamentary Research Service in 2019.