April-May 2023 Release: Certificate Registration, Complying Development Certificates, Concurrence and Referrals and more

Certificate Registration

Private certifiers are now able to send ‘Complying Development Certificate Registrations’ to state agencies, where relevant. Previously, cases could only be routed to Councils for registration.

Complying Development Certificate

• Certifier details are now automatically populated on subdivision certificate applications from the related complying development certificate (CDC).
• The certification reporting functionality has been enabled for CDC. Principal certifiers can record critical stage inspections and written direction notices (issued when a non-compliance occurs) for the ongoing building works. These actions are enabled for CDCs that have been issued.
• ‘Builder or principal contractor details’ can now be recorded. New content is automatically compiled into the system generated documents (CDC application form and CDC application acceptance form). Councils and principal certifier users can view details through the Portal.

Concurrence and Referral

• Enhancements have been made for the user Department of Planning and Environment (Water) to assist with triaging ‘Integrated Development Assessment’ (IDA) and ‘Controlled Activity Approval’ (CAA). Upgrades include incorporating the assessment process of the state agency in IDA applications, initiating IDAs from a referral case, automatically generated notifications, filter options for document tab and reporting options.
• An error in the system that prohibited users from downloading and viewing the document ‘Reconsideration letter’ has now been rectified.
• The Local Government Area name column is now available on the active, completed and unassigned dashboard views.
• The state agency SGSP Australia Assets Pty Ltd has been renamed to “Jemena”, and all current and completed agency cases for this agency have been updated to reflect the new organisation name.

Construction Certificate

• The certification reporting functionality has been enabled. Principal certifiers can record critical stage inspections and written direction notices (issued when a non-compliance occurs) for the ongoing building works. These actions are enabled on construction certificates that have been issued.
• Corrections have been made to the ‘builder or principal contractor details’ headings, the changes are automatically reflected in the system generated documents. Councils and principal certifier users can view details through the Portal.

Development Application

DA Online/DA State

• The ‘Development Application has been returned’ email notification has been amended to display the returned date in the email body, and not the time.
• A statement of environmental effects is no longer a mandatory document upload for a designated development application, in accordance with the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021.

eConstruction

Certability

Principal certifiers can now:

• Lodge a critical stage inspection by selecting ‘record critical stage inspection’ from the ‘initiate inspection’ action.
• Submit details of non-final and final inspections, as well as missed critical stage inspections in ‘inspection record’. This may include property and contact information, inspection details, principal certifier (individual and organisation) details, individual certifier details and validated registered certifier details.
• Users can upload relevant inspection information including site photos, results and supporting documentation.

My Development Site

The ‘My development’ page is created for the person managing the project in the NSW Planning Portal. This will be the person holding the developer account for projects related to building work in Class 2 (residential flat buildings). There is a ‘My development sites’ tile on the dashboard for people holding a developer account.

The ‘My development’ page is created when a development application is approved, or a complying development certificate is issued. Subsequent certificates will be linked and shown within the ‘My development’ page. This provides the developer with a consolidated view of the lifecycle of the project. In one location any development application, complying development, construction certificates, intent to seek occupation certificate and occupation certificate will be accessible.

Features include:

• Ability to upload ‘regulated designs’, submit ‘intention to commence building work’, nominate practitioners and initiate ‘intent to seek occupation certificate’.
• Bulk upload for regulated designs has been introduced to allow developers to upload large amounts of documents or large files simultaneously.

Major Projects

The enhancements have been made to improve usability in the following sections of the major projects service:

• The agency dashboard has been amended to improve the search functionality. The filter options have been amended including the addition of three new columns, ‘case ID’, ‘request category’ and ‘start date’. Additionally, 20 line items will be visible rather than six.
• Agencies can view the ‘record of engagement(s)’ for referral cases initiated by either the major projects planner or the proponent. The communication between the stakeholders is archived and can be viewed in ‘response history’.
• A ‘referral criteria’ needs to be addressed before an application can be referred to the Department of Planning and Environment (Water) for comment. This will assist assessing officers in identifying when referrals are required and decrease the workload of the agency.
• The Department of Planning and Environment (Water) have provided three standard Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) response templates which include quarry, standard and wind and solar. These standard responses are available to assessing officers and clearly outline the documentation that will be required for the application.

Register a non-Portal Consent/Certificate

Development applications, complying development certificates, construction certificates, state significant development and state significant infrastructure approvals that have been determined outside the NSW Planning Portal can now be registered in the Portal. A Portal reference number consistent with the type of approval, for example PAN-XXX, is allocated to the determined application.

Roads Act

The ‘assign to me’ button is now available to Council officers at both the Pending Lodgement and Determination stages of the application process.

Site Compatibility Certificate

Updates have been made to the Site Compatibility Certificate fee estimate calculator to reflect amendments to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 and State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021.

Special Infrastructure Contributions

• A new payment mode for third party transfers allows:
  • the following statuses to be applied to a Special Infrastructure Contribution, where relevant, ‘deferred payment’, ‘partial deferred payment’ or ‘awaiting payment’.
  • an applicant may create one or more payment requests or partial payments using the new payment mode.
• Introduction of business-critical reports for the Department’s finance and assessment team is now available.
• All system generated templates will reflect the reference of third-party transfers.
• A ‘work in-kind’ (SIC WIK) workflow allows an applicant to submit a SIC WIK offer, and for the Department to consider and assess the SIC WIK offer and execute a legal agreement.

These release notes have been integrated into the quick reference guides for the relevant services which are available in the Knowledge Management section of the Portal.