Concurrence (NSW planning)

Concurrence is a NSW planning requirement where a state government agency must formally agree before council can determine a Development Application (DA). It is distinct from integrated development: integrated development requires an agency to issue general terms of approval (GTAs) that become binding conditions of consent; concurrence requires the agency to grant or withhold agreement to the DA itself. Both mechanisms appear in the same assessment process but operate under different parts of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EP&A Act). (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning Portal)

The concurrence requirement for a given DA arises from an environmental planning instrument (EPI), either a SEPP or a Local Environmental Plan (LEP), that names a concurrence authority for specified classes of development. The State Environmental Planning Policy (Concurrences and Consents) 2018 (Concurrence SEPP) consolidates many of these and allows the NSW Planning Secretary to act as concurrence authority for certain development in place of the named agency, including development under the Infrastructure SEPP and the Growth Centres SEPP, to prevent agency delays from stalling assessments. (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning Portal concurrence reforms)

Common concurrence triggers on residential and near-residential work include:

Transport for NSW (TfNSW / Roads): development that proposes a direct connection to a classified State road requires TfNSW concurrence under the relevant transport SEPP. (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning Portal)
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (biodiversity): where a decision-maker proposes to approve a DA with a lower biodiversity credit obligation than recommended in a Biodiversity Development Assessment Report, concurrence from the department is required under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW). (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Environment)
NSW RFS (bushfire): subdivision and special fire protection purpose buildings on bushfire-prone land require a Bush Fire Safety Authority (BFSA) from the NSW RFS Commissioner under s100B of the Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW), which is handled as integrated development rather than concurrence for most residential DAs. Standard residential dwelling DAs on bushfire-prone land instead follow the Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 standards, and may require referral rather than a formal concurrence. (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning bushfire regulations)

Timeframes: Council may not determine a DA without the concurrence authority’s response. If a response is not received within 40 days of referral (or 21 days from the close of public submissions for advertised DAs), the NSW Planning Secretary may intervene and act in place of the concurrence authority under the Concurrence SEPP. (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning Portal)

If concurrence is refused, council cannot grant development consent. The applicant’s only recourse is to modify the proposal and resubmit, or appeal to the NSW Land and Environment Court.

All concurrence requests and responses must be lodged and processed through the NSW Planning Portal. From July 2026, the Development Coordination Authority (DCA) will centralise most agency concurrence and referral functions under a single 28-day response window. (verified 2026-05-09, NSW Planning DCA)

Category: Approvals.

Related

See also

Related articles