Regulators through land use planning

Contaminated land in New South Wales (NSW) is primarily regulated through two avenues:

1. Sites where contamination is considered significant enough to warrant regulation are the regulatory responsibility of the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) through the powers provided to it under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997.
2. Other sites are regulated by Councils (or other planning authorities) via land use planning instruments, through the powers provided to it under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

As the regulator through the planning process, councils must consider contamination when making rezoning and development decisions, and when providing information on Section 10.7 certificates. Council also controls remediation works through the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 (Resilience and Hazards SEPP).

Click here for available resources supporting councils in their role as a regulator through land use planning.

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