Non-complying development is development that is “not considered appropriate” within a particular zone as specified by the respective Council’s Development Plan. Because it is not considered generally appropriate it is classified a Category 3 development to which extra development assessment process is applied as required by the Development Act and Regulations.
Because the proposed development is assigned this status the development assessment process is much more onerous than for a Category 1 or Cat. 2 development. Whereas a category 2 development requires notification of neighbouring properties. Category 3 development that is non-complying requires wider notification of the area and also notification in widely read print media such as the Advertiser newspaper. In short the process required is as follows:-
- Statement of Support requesting Council consider the proposal. Councils are not obliged to proceed with processing the Development Application (DA) at this stage.
- If Council agrees to proceed further supporting information is required including a Statement of Effect. A Statement of Effect needs to be prepared by a suitable qualified Town Planning Consultant. The Statement is a detailed assessment of the proposal against all relevant principles and objectives in the respective development plan. Also an assessment of the possible economic, environmental and social impacts the proposed development could have.
- Additional Council fees for the extra processing an advertising
- If representations received in response to advertising these distributed to applicant and or applicants agent to prepare a response.
- The DA is forwarded with a recommendation to Council’s CAP panel for a decision.
The process can be time consuming with little chance of success if Council is actually opposed to the development. Advantage Planning Services has a very good success rate with obtaining approval for non-complying development. In part because we do not embark on lodgement unless we assess there is a reasonably good chance of success in obtaining an approval. We assess this by our experience with weighing up the type of development, which zone the proposal is located in, Council’s attitude to the proposal and the applicants determination.
However when successful and approval is granted it usually means a form of development not originally envisaged in an area is now considered appropriate. Following consideration of the development plan, general public, Town Planning consultant and the respective panels input. This is where the effort is warranted and a land use not originally considered appropriate is ultimately approved and this encourages diversity without detracting from the amenity of the area.