It is development that NSW classifies as State significant because of its economic, social or environmental impacts. The NSW Government assesses it and decides it, rather than the council.
What makes a project State significant
A project can be State significant because of its size, because it is in an environmentally sensitive area, or because its estimated development cost is over the threshold set for its type. The types include:
- large housing developments
- schools and other education facilities, and hospitals
- data centres
- mines, waste facilities and energy generating facilities
Some sites are State significant by name, such as the Sydney Opera House.
The steps
NSW’s Planning Portal tracks every project through the same stages:
- SEARs. The Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements: what the applicant’s environmental impact statement has to cover.
- Prepare the EIS. The applicant prepares the environmental impact statement.
- Exhibition. Every application is exhibited for at least 28 days, or 14 days for relevant residential applications, and longer if the exhibition runs over 20 December to 10 January.
- Submissions and the response to them.
- Assessment. The Department coordinates it, with input from State and Commonwealth agencies, councils and the public submissions.
- Recommendation and determination. The Department’s assessment report and recommendation go to whoever decides.
Who decides
- The Minister for Planning is the consent authority, unless the Independent Planning Commission is.
- The Department decides where the Minister or the Commission has delegated the decision to its officers.
- The Independent Planning Commission generally decides when the applicant is not a public authority and the local council has objected, 50 or more people objected during the exhibition, or the applicant has made a reportable political donation. It does not decide a project the Minister called in as State significant.
Where to see them
The NSW Planning Portal’s major projects pages list every State significant project and the stage it has reached. For the applications a council decides, see who decides a development application.
From NSW’s page on State significant development.