An environmental permit is the permission required under the Environment and Planning Act for activities that affect the physical living environment: building, demolishing, felling trees, changing the use of a property or carrying on an activity with environmental effects. It replaced the separate permits of the old system with one application through a single portal.
Statutory basis
The Environment and Planning Act entered into force on 1 January 2024, together with its implementing decrees. It replaced twenty-six statutes, including the Spatial Planning Act and the old permit act. Municipal zoning plans have become part of a single municipal environment plan; the transitional part of that plan must be converted into definitive rules by 1 January 2032.
How it works in practice
An application is filed through the national portal and assessed against the municipal environment plan. Where a plan permits the activity the standard procedure applies: a decision within eight weeks, extendable by six. Where the activity conflicts with the plan, the municipality can either amend the plan or grant a permit for an activity outside the plan, the so-called BOPA, which is quicker and is the route most municipalities currently take. Objection and appeal follow the ordinary administrative route.
Where it goes wrong
Purchase agreements are signed on the assumption that a use is permitted, without checking the environment plan or obtaining a preliminary opinion. Conversion to flats, short-stay letting and home businesses regularly turn out to conflict with the plan, and the permit cannot be assumed. A second problem is the objection period: a permit that has become irrevocable can no longer be challenged by a neighbour, and equally cannot be repaired by the applicant if a condition proves unworkable. Third, participation is now part of the process, and poorly organised consultation is a real ground of appeal.
Related terms
Purchase agreement for real estate, retail business premises lease and apartment right.
Is a permit refused, or does your plan conflict with the environment plan? Our real estate lawyers advise on the route and conduct the objection and appeal.
