News South Wales has new laws for the management of native vegetation and biodiversity. The Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and amendments to the Local Land Services Act 2013 commenced in August 2017 and transitional arrangements for application of the BC Act expired in February 2018.
These new laws repeal and replace the previous protections and requirements under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995, Native Vegetation Act 2003, Nature Conservation Trust Act 2001 and parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
The laws also overhaul biodiversity impact assessment and offsetting under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
The Biodiversity Conservation Act Regulation 2017 introduces the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM). The BAM has been established for assessing certain impacts on threatened species and threatened ecological communities (TECs) and their habitats and the impact on biodiversity values.
Importantly only ‘accredited assessors’ are able to undertake BAM assessments.
Planit environmental planner Tomy Rados has successfully completed the New South Wales Biodiversity Offset Scheme training and BAM training. Tomy is now an accredited assessor for the new BAM process.
Contact Planit for any queries on how these regulations may affect your development proposal, Part 5 applications or land management.