Register of orders for biodiversity certification
Prior to February 2011, biodiversity certification was conferred on environmental planning instruments (EPIs) under Schedule 7 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act). The following EPIs had biodiversity certification conferred under these arrangements.
Albury Local Environmental Plan 2010
The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment made an order conferring biodiversity certification on the Albury Local Environmental Plan 2010 effective from the gazettal date of 25 February 2011 until 24 February 2021.
The certification covers almost the entire Albury local government area (LGA). A number of areas within the Albury LGA have, however, not been biodiversity certified, and these are shown in the order.
Details are available in the Proposed Biodiversity Certification for the Albury Local Environmental Plan 2009 (09539alburybiocert.pdf, 2.3MB).
Wagga Wagga Local Environmental Plan 2010
The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment made an order conferring biodiversity certification on the Wagga Wagga Local Environmental Plan 2010 effective from the gazettal date of 24 December 2010 until 23 December 2020.
The certification covers approximately 10,655 ha of the Wagga Wagga local government area that represents the current and future urban and industrial area around Wagga Wagga city. Details are available in the Proposed Biodiversity Certification for the draft Wagga Wagga Local Environmental Plan 2009 (0937WaggaBiocertification.pdf, 1.43MB).
The State Environmental Planning Policy (Sydney Region Growth Centres) 2006 , also known as the Growth Centres SEPP, established the broad framework for development of the Growth Centres over the next 25 to 30 years. The Growth Centres SEPP was gazetted in July 2006 and is effective until 30 June 2025.
In December 2007 an order (biocertordwsgcentres.pdf, 581KB) conferring biodiversity certification on the Growth Centres SEPP was made by the Minister for the Environment under section 126G of the TSC Act.
In July 2008, the Minister's certification was validated by the Threatened Species Conservation Amendment (Special Provisions) Act 2008.The amendment is now incorporated into Part 7 of Schedule 7 of the TSC Act. The amendment essentially validates the certification and gives the Minister the power to suspend or revoke the certification if any of its conditions, now termed relevant biodiversity measures, are not complied with.
The relevant biodiversity measures applying to the certification have remained unaltered since gazettal of the original order. In summary, the measures relate to:
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the permanent protection of 2000 hectares of high quality vegetation within the Growth Centres
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the establishment by the NSW Government of a $530 million conservation fund to protect areas of biodiversity value. This funding will be derived over the next 25 to 30 years from a special infrastructure contribution that applies within the Growth Centres as well as from general government revenue.
Three quarters of the conservation fund ($397.5 million) is used to implement the Growth Centres Biodiversity Offset Program.
Information on the development of the biodiversity certification of the Growth Centres SEPP is available in the Growth Centres Conservation Plan and the assessment of the proposal to confer biodiversity certification (07589wsgcentres.pdf, 286KB).
Page last updated: 27 February 2011
