State Significant Development (SSD) & Housing Delivery Authority (HDA)

What is a State Significant Development (SSD)?

Under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), some developments are considered state significant because they are important to NSW for economic, environmental or social reasons.

A development may be state significant if it meets relevant criteria, for example:

is over a certain size
is in an environmentally sensitive area, or
will exceed the estimated development cost threshold.

State significant development (SSD) includes:

certain large housing developments
new education facilities, hospitals and correctional centres
chemical and manufacturing industries
data centres
mining and extraction operations
tourist and recreation facilities
some port, airport and rail facilities
waste management facilities
energy generating facilities.

State Significant Development Applications are made to the Department of Planning Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) or alternatively, the NSW Minister for Planning can call-in and declare development on specified land to be SSD via a Ministerial planning order. These are published on the NSW Planning Portal.

SSD Assessment Process

All development applications for SSD go through a State Government assessment process which generally include the following steps:

Request for SEARs
Prepare EIS
Exhibit DA
Respond to submissions
Assess DA
Determine DA

Request for SEARs

The first step in an SSD application is to request SEARs from the Department. SEARs are the Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements and outline the minimum reports and documents the applicant must prepare. Applicants may also provide a scoping report, which gives a clear, plain-English overview of the project and includes:

analysis of feasible alternatives considered having regard to the objectives of the development, and identify the alternatives that will be investigated further in the EIS
give an early indication of community views on the project
identify what engagement will be carried out during the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
identify the key matters requiring further assessment in the EIS and the proposed approach to assessing each of these matters having regard to any relevant Government legislation, plans, policies or guidelines.

Prepare EIS

All SSD applications are accompanied by an environmental impact statement (EIS).

The EIS provides information on the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the project. It helps the community; government agencies and the Department make informed submissions or decisions on the project.

The preparation of the EIS will typically involve:

engaging with the community and public authorities
undertaking a technically robust and proportionate assessment of the project, including an analysis of the significant likely impacts of the project in accordance with the SEARs and any relevant government legislation, policies and guidelines
refining the design of the project to avoid or minimise impacts
integrating the findings of these key activities into a justification and evaluation of the project as a whole.

The EIS must be easy to understand, rigorous and as succinct as possible.

Exhibit DA

All SSD applications must be exhibited for at least 28 days, unless otherwise specified by the Department's Community Participation Plan. The exhibition provides an opportunity for the community to have their say. During the exhibition period, anyone can make a submission on the project.

During the exhibition period, the Department will:

publish the DA and environmental impact statement (EIS) on the NSW Planning Portal
notify and advertise the public exhibition in accordance with the requirements in the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 and associated Regulation.

The Department also seeks advice from relevant government agencies and may meet with key stakeholders to get a better understanding of community views on each project.

All submissions for state significant projects must be made through the NSW Planning Portal.

Response to submissions

After exhibiting the SSD applicant, the Department will publish all submissions online and ask the applicant to prepare a submissions report.

The purpose of the submissions report is to give the applicant an opportunity to respond to the issues raised in submissions, provide feedback to the community on those issues, and help the Department assess the merits of the project.

The submissions report must provide:

an analysis of the issues raised in submissions
a description of what the applicant has done since exhibition to address these issues
a thorough response to the submissions that is proportionate to the significance and likelihood of the impacts associated with those issues
an updated evaluation of the merits of the project incorporating the findings of any further assessment or community engagement.

In preparing the submissions report, the applicant may:

undertake further community engagement
undertake further assessment of the impacts of the project
refine or amend the design of the project (noting that amendments must be documented in a separate amendment report).

The Department may also ask the applicant to respond to the issues raised by other agencies.

Assess DA

After publishing the submissions report, the Department will complete its assessment of the merits of the project in accordance with government legislation, policies and guidelines and prepare an assessment report.

This will typically involve:

reviewing the design of the project
considering whether the project is compatible with the strategic context
checking whether the project complies with any relevant statutory requirements
further community engagement
seeking advice from government agencies, relevant local councils and independent experts
requesting additional information from the applicant
considering the findings of any public hearing into the project (if held)
applying a proportionate risk-based approach to the assessment of impacts
assessing the significant likely economic, environmental, and social impacts of the project against relevant standards and criteria
evaluating the merits of the project as a whole
preparing recommended conditions of consent (if warranted).

Determine DA

SSD applications are determined by the Minister for Planning, the Independent Planning Commission (IPC), or a delegate of either.

When determining a DA, the consent authority must evaluate the merits of the DA against the matters in Section 4.15 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 and may approve the DA, subject to modifications or conditions, or refuse it.

Council’s role in the SSD process

The SSD process is managed by the DPHI.

Council has no formal role in the processing, assessment or determination of SSD applications, however, is invited to provide technical feedback on developments by making submissions to the Department.

The DPHI undertakes advertising and notification of SDD applications. Council is given the same timeframe to make a formal submission regarding the application as the public, and is unable to formally notify the community of an application which has been lodged for assessment.

What is Housing Delivery Authority (HDA)?

To help increase housing supply and improve affordability the NSW Government introduced the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) to accelerate the delivery of much needed homes and help meet our target under the National Housing Accord.

The HDA leads a new streamlined SSD pathway with a concurrent rezoning process. The new pathway provides a clear planning pathway for large residential and mixed-use developments to be assessed as SSD or SSD with a concurrent rezoning.

The HDA's role is to evaluate proposals submitted through an expression of interest process and recommend to the Minister whether they should be declared as SSD.

A declaration as SSD is not an approval but it allows a project to gain access to a fast-tracked assessment pathway.

What is the HDA to SSD Pathway?

Below are the steps which an application will go through when lodging a HDA application.

EOI lodged
- Submit EOI online using the webform to outline the proposal and address the HDA criteria.
Department reviews
- Department reviews EOI and prepares a briefing to support the HDA’s evaluation.
HDA evaluates
- HDA evaluates EOI against relevant criteria.
- HDA provides advice and recommends to Minister projects that could be declared as a state significant.
Minister declares
- Minister reviews HDA advice and declares proposals as state significant development.
Applicant lodges request for SEARs
- Projects that are eligible to receive Industry Specific SEARs will be issued SEARs within 7 days of submitting a SEARs request.
- Projects that require Project Specific SEARs will be issued SEARs within 28 days of submitting a SEARs request.
- For projects that include complex rezonings the Department will hold a Planning Focus Meeting which includes the applicant and council.
EIS (development application) lodged
- Applicant lodges application with the Department within 9 months of SEARs being issued. SEARs will expire after 9 months.
Assessment and community consultation
- The Department undertakes a merit assessment of the SSD/SSD with concurrent rezoning.
- This includes each of the legislated SSD steps including public exhibition of SSD, and where applicable, concurrent rezoning detail.
Minister or delegate determines
- SSD and concurrent rezoning will be determined within an average of 275 days of the EIS being lodged.

What is an HDA EOI?

For an application to be accepted and processed with the HDA to SSD pathway, an Expression of Interest (EOI) application must be submitted to the Department. An EOI to the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) for major housing developments valued at over approximately $60 million (and 100 or more homes) in Greater Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong, and $30 million (and 40 or more homes) elsewhere.

Before the HDA recommends a proposal be declared State Significant Development (SSD), the Department will evaluate it against criteria that meet the objectives of this EOI process.

The objectives of the EOI process are to:

Idenifty high-yield housing proposals by focusing on known high-yield types of residential accommodation
Identify housing projects that can be assessed and constructed quickly by focusing on more compliant, major residential proposals that can commence construction quickly.
Drive quality and affordable housing by focusing on housing development proposals that are well-located, have enabling infrastructure and contribute to affordable housing supply.
Complement the State Significant Rezoning Policy by providing a potential pathway for major housing proposals that are seeking concurrent rezoning (spot rezoning).

How can I make a submission to an SSD?

To have your say on an SSD , you must lodge a submission online through the Major Projects Hub on the NSW Planning Portal before the close of exhibition.

With a Major Projects account, you can save submissions in progress, view a history of all submissions you’ve made and stay up-to-date with the progress of an application through automated email alerts.

Once you have created an account, search for the relevant application (or find it amongst the applications currently on exhibition) and click 'Make a Submission'.

How much time do I have to make a submission?

The timeframe to make a submission is dependent on the application which is being exhibited. SSD applications are generally on public exhibition for at least 28 days or 14 days for relevant residential applications as specified by the Department's Community Participation Plan.

What happens to my submissions?

After the exhibition period closes, the department publishes all submissions on the NSW Planning Portal and asks the proponent to prepare a report responding to any issues raised in the submissions. The submissions report is published on the NSW Planning Portal.