47Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area

47 Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area

47 Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area

(1) Consent shall not be granted to development on any land within a Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area (protected land) unless the consent authority is satisfied, by means of a detailed environmental assessment, that the development complies with the objectives and other provisions within this clause.

(2) The objectives for a Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area are—

(a) to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems in the Blue Mountains, and

(b) to protect watercourse corridors and significant vegetation communities, and

(c) to restrict development so that it does not occur, as far as practicable, within ecological buffers to watercourse corridors or significant vegetation communities, and

(d) to ensure development is designed, sited and managed to minimise impact on the ecological and hydrological functions of the buffer, and

(e) to encourage the restoration and maintenance of native vegetation and the ecological processes of land within and adjacent to watercourse corridors or significant vegetation communities.

(3) Development on any land within a Protected Area—Ecological Buffer Area is to—

(a) incorporate effective measures to manage any riparian vegetation within a watercourse corridor and any significant vegetation community, and

(b) be designed and sited to maintain connectivity of vegetation and minimise vegetation clearing, soil disturbance and alterations to the rate, volume or quality of surface and ground-water flows, and

(c) retain and maintain all existing native vegetation outside the area immediately required for the development, and

(d) incorporate measures to regenerate native vegetation for all disturbed areas within the protected land, and

(e) incorporate appropriate stormwater and erosion control measures to protect the protected land from surface water run-off or other disturbance, and

(f) be sited outside protected land unless no other practicable alternative is available.

(4) When considering whether development could be sited outside protected land in accordance with subclause (3) (f), the consent authority shall consider—