Summary
The floods earlier this year have resulted in many questioning who is responsible for infrastructure being built on flood prone land, and how it can be stopped, given the resulting devastation to homes and business. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act establishes the framework for provision of Environmental Planning Instruments (‘EPIs’) which set out how land can be used for development purposes by dividing land into different land use types, called ‘zones’ . The EPI determines what type of developments can occur on different ‘zones’ within each of Councils Local Government Area’s. This includes provision for what can and cannot be built on flood prone land. There are two different types of EPIs being Local Environmental Plans (‘LEPs’) and State Environment Planning Policies (‘SEPPs’). These, in conjunction with developers building on flood prone land and the unique constraints associated with Warragamba Dam, have contributed flooding in areas within the Hawkesbury Nepean catchments. [...]
