Environmental assessment

Changes to legislation

The work undertaken on the development of the Oxley Highway to Kempsey upgrade up until August 2005 was 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 NSW 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.

Environmental Assessment – Part 3A fact sheet (30KB; pdf)

A planning focus meeting was held on 30 May 2007 to present the Project Application Report to the NSW Department of Planning. This is the first step in obtaining approval for the project under Part 3A of the EP&A Act.

For the purposes of clause 8F(3)(a) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000, notice is hereby given that an application for approval of the Oxley Highway to Kempsey upgrade under Section 75E of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (Part 3A) was lodged with the Director-General of the NSW Department of Planning on 20 July 2007.

Further information on the project environmental assessment will be provided as the project proceeds.

In accordance with the provisions of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 further public consultation will occur following the completion of an environmental assessment for the Proposal.

Project Application Report

The project application report was lodged with the Department of Planning on 20 July 2007 and can be downloaded here:

	Cover & Table of contents (499KB; pdf)
	1 - Introduction (1.07MB; pdf)
	2 - Need for the proposal (23KB; pdf)
	3 - Route options development and assessment (46KB; pdf)
	4 - Description of the proposal (26KB; pdf)
	5 - Environmental assessment (57KB; pdf)
	6 - References (11KB; pdf)
	Appendix A - Figures (18KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.1 – Locality plan (2.2MB; pdf)
		Figure 3.2 – Existing land use (202KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.3 – Indigenous heritage (339KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.4 – Non-indigenous heritage (325KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.5 – Ecological characteristics: terrestrial flora (320KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.6 – Vegetation communities (646KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.7 – Endangered ecological communities (638KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.8 – Ecological characteristics: terrestrial fauna (385KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.9 – Legend for ecological characteristics (17KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.10 – Ecological characteristics: aquatic (528KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.11 – Route options (953KB; pdf)
		Figure 3.12 – Corridor refinement: route options (883KB; pdf)
	Appendix B - Display locations (16KB; pdf)
	Appendix C - Draft statement of commitments (86KB; pdf)
	Appendix D - Study team (253KB; pdf)

Environmental Assessment Requirements, August 2007

Director-General's Requirements for Environmental Assessment (463KB; pdf)