Changes to legislation
The work undertaken on the development of the Sapphire
to Woolgoolga upgrade up until August 2005 has been
conducted under the provisions of Part 5 of the Environmental
Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act).
This legislation was amended in August 2005. As a
result, most of the RTA's major infrastructure projects
will now be conducted under Part 3A of the EP&A
Act.
The focus of the new Part 3A assessment is to ensure
that the community is consulted and an environmental
assessment is undertaken. This assessment will focus
on the key issues that are identified by the Department
of Planning and other agencies as important to evaluate
the proposal, including potential social, economic
or environmental impacts.
The effect of the changes to the EP&A Act are
described in the RTA’s Environmental
Assessment – Part 3A fact sheet.
An application for approval of the Sapphire to Woolgoolga
upgrade under section 75E of the Environmental
Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (Part 3A) was
lodged with the Director-General of the Department
of Planning on 1 November 2006.
Details of the application are available on the Public information
page of this website.
An environmental assessment was prepared to address
the key issues identified by the Director-General.
The environmental assessment was on display for community
comment until 15 February 2008 and is available on
the Public information page of
this website.
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