Background
In a nutshell, a developer needs to produce an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) in order to satisfy the Planning Department. This EIS is submitted to the Planning Department and then released for public display for 28 days. If there is a significant number of relevant objections to the project, the Planning Department will make a decision if referral to the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) is required. The aim of our efforts is to achieve this referral to the IPC, to force the developer to address the concerns of the community.
If you are interested in the detail on the State Significant Development (SSD) process, go to Understanding the State Significant Development Process
A good submission should:
- Introduce yourself or your group, acknowledge the opportunity to make a
- submission and note any relevant work you or your group has done.
- Outline your key concerns and focus your discussion on these. It is not necessary to
- address the whole proposal – choose the parts that are most relevant to you.
- If possible, make recommendations. Make strong clear statements, e.g., ‘the
- proposal should be amended to include a requirement that…’
- Use evidence or case studies or stories to support your arguments and
- recommendations. Give specific examples that draw on your knowledge and
- experience. If you can, collect other stories that support your argument from
- others in the community. You can also draw on the work of others, for example
- scientific publications, government documents, or the work of other organisations.
- Don’t forget to set out the aspects of the proposal that you think are good. There
- may be other stakeholders who want to get rid of things you think are positive, so
- it is important to point out what you support.
- Always give details about how you arrived at your assertions. For example, instead of saying: ‘The golf course proposal is outrageous. It will pollute the river.’ You could consider saying something like: ‘Irrigating the lawns of the 50-hectare golf course, together with using fertiliser and herbicides, is likely to result in changes to the water table, nutrient pollution, and an adverse impact on the red gum forest next to the land where the golf course is proposed’.
Step 1: Prepare your submission
Save your letter as a document, that you can amend if you wish, and so that it is available to copy and paste into the online submission portal when ready.
Step 2: Register on the Planning Portal
- Either, google the project name or go to the NSW planning
Eg .. google “Winterbourne Wind Planning” or go directly this link Winterbourne Wind Farm - You can create an account at any time to be notified of updates, or create the account when you make your submission.
- Prior to the EIS being released, if you want to be notified of updates, Scroll down to the blue button
- Once the EIS is released, you are able to make a submission. Click on the blue button
- At this point, if you have not already logged in, you will be asked to. If you do not already have an account, you may create an account at this point also.
- You will be asked if you are making a personal submission, or a submission on behalf of a group or organisation. Answer, and click continue.
- You will then be asked if you have made a “reportable political donation”. Answer and click continue.
- You are now on the page where you make your submission. You will have to choose between “Support”, “Comment”, or “Object”. If you want to halt or have the project modified, we will need to have a significant number of objections registered. If you simply desire a modification to the project, an “Objection” does not mean that you want to shut the project down, it simply means that you “object” to the project in its current form, and your comments will note where you would like modification to be made.
- You can now copy the content of your prepared statement and paste into the box titled “Your comments”. Click continue.
- This is new territory – we have not been to this part of the process yet – just follow your nose – we hope it is straight forward.
- Please contact us if you have any queries or would like assistance to complete this process.
To compile your own letter, consider any of the issues that are listed in the box below, sliding left or right for a variety of concerns that have been raised in our community. Alternatively, consider your own circumstances and how the project will impact on you, your family, your community, your land, and your future. Consider Social Impacts, economic impacts and environmental impacts.
We have a link to a very worthwhile guideline for writing a submission, please follow this Writing Submissions, Letters or Petitions