A development application referral (DAR) requires development consent only, however a local council can request heritage advice from us.
Refer a DAR to us when:
Aboriginal cultural heritage
1. an environmental planning instrument requires referral for comment on Aboriginal cultural heritage.
For Aboriginal cultural heritage, development application referrals are mostly non-statutory requests. However, some environmental planning instruments require local councils to refer development application referrals to us when a proposal is likely to impact an Aboriginal Place or site that has, or is reasonably likely to have, Aboriginal cultural significance.
Only development application referrals related to certain environmental planning instruments will be accepted.
Environmental heritage
2. the project area adjoins or is adjacent to (in the vicinity of) a:
- State Heritage Register listed item
- site that is subject to a nomination for the State Heritage Register
- site subject to an interim heritage order that has not been gazetted by the local council.
3. the proposal involves excavation on sites suspected or known to contain historical archaeological relics.
Such sites may be identified:
- in an advisory document such as an archaeological management plan which has assessed the archaeological potential and/or significance of an area
- as an archaeological item in an local environmental plan or in a schedule (e.g. an archaeological conservation area)
- in an archaeological assessment as containing archaeological relics of (potential) State significance.
4. the proposal involves demolition of a nominated State heritage item (which means a local item potentially of State significance but not listed on the State Heritage Register).
For environmental heritage, development application referrals will also be accepted if an environmental planning instrument requires a local council to refer it to us.
Local environmental plans include a requirement for local councils to notify the Heritage Council of NSW in certain circumstances. Local councils must take into consideration any response received from us within 28 days of referral.