Plan­ning & Environment

Plan­ning and Envi­ron­ment lawyers spe­cialise in a range of mat­ters relat­ing to the use of land, includ­ing obtain­ing approvals to build on and use land, the re-zon­ing of land, pol­lu­tion, and con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, land clear­ing and bio­di­ver­si­ty off­sets, land acqui­si­tion, and dis­putes with neigh­bours. Our spe­cial­ist plan­ning and envi­ron­ment lawyers can also assist you if you are being inves­ti­gat­ed by the NSW Depart­ment of Plan­ning and Envi­ron­ment, NSW EPA or a local Coun­cil, or you need to com­mence or defend pro­ceed­ings in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of New South Wales. 

We are proud of the rep­u­ta­tion we have as a lead­ing team of experts in plan­ning and envi­ron­men­tal law. We are sought out by lead­ing devel­op­ers, local coun­cils, gov­ern­ment depart­ments and pri­vate clients for our tech­ni­cal exper­tise and our rep­u­ta­tion in pro­vid­ing strate­gic and prac­ti­cal advice to clients.

We have an envi­able record of achiev­ing suc­cess­ful out­comes for devel­op­ers, gov­ern­ment, and pri­vate clients in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of NSW, Supreme Court of NSW and NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tribunal. 

Our expe­ri­ence affords us with unpar­al­leled tech­ni­cal exper­tise and a unique under­stand­ing of the way in which gov­ern­ment oper­ates, ensur­ing that we can pro­vide you with the best advice and the quick­est path­way to resolv­ing your matter. 

Exper­tise

  • Our expe­ri­ence is exten­sive and includes:
  • Obtain­ing and mod­i­fy­ing devel­op­ment con­sents and oth­er approvals need­ed to under­take projects
  • Class 1 Devel­op­ment Appeals in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of NSW
  • Pol­lu­tion licens­ing and inves­ti­ga­tions con­duct­ed by the NSW EPA
  • Land acqui­si­tion – com­pen­sa­tion nego­ti­a­tions and appeals
  • Land Clear­ing – advice and defence to prosecutions 
  • Tree dis­putes between neigh­bours regard­ing pri­va­cy, views and sunlight
  • Bio­di­ver­si­ty cred­its and bio­di­ver­si­ty off­set agreements
  • Judi­cial review appeals in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of NSW
  • Civ­il enforce­ment pro­ceed­ings in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of NSW (Class 4 Appeals)
  • Vol­un­tary Plan­ning Agreements 
  • Her­itage and Native Title matters
  • Water licens­ing
  • Devel­op­ment Con­trol Orders issued by local coun­cils and the NSW DPE 
  • Inves­ti­ga­tions by reg­u­la­tors into alleged breach­es of envi­ron­men­tal legislation 
  • Crane swing and tres­pass advice

Use­ful Links

ePlan­ning Spa­tial View­er NSW

Bio­di­ver­si­ty Val­ues Map NSW