39ABushfire protection

39A Bushfire protection

39A Bushfire protection

(1) Objective

• to minimise bushfire risk to built assets and people and to reduce bushfire threat to ecological assets and environmental assets.

(2) In determining whether to grant consent to development in areas that, in the opinion of the consent authority, are likely to be affected by bushfire, the consent authority must take into account—

(a) whether the development is likely to have a significant adverse effect on the implementation of any strategies for bushfire control and fuel management adopted by the NSW Rural Fire Service District Office or the Bush Fire Management Committee constituted for the area, and

(b) whether a significant threat to the lives of residents, visitors or emergency services personnel may be created or increased as a result of the development (including any threat created or increased by the access arrangements to and from the development), and

(c) whether the increased demand for emergency services during bushfire events that is created by the development would lead to a significant decrease in the ability of the emergency services to effectively control major bushfires, and

(d) the adequacy of measures proposed to avoid or mitigate the threat from bushfires including—

(i) the siting of the development, and

(ii) the design of structures and the materials used, and

(iii) the importance of fuel-free and fuel-reduced areas, and

(iv) landscaping and fire control aids such as roads, reserves, access arrangements and on-site water supplies, and

(e) the environmental and visual impacts of the clearing of vegetation for bushfire hazard reduction.

(3) In taking into account the matters required by subclause (2), the consent authority must have regard to the provisions of Planning for Bush Fire Protection and must be satisfied that those provisions are, as much as is possible, complied with.

(4) In this clause—

Planning for Bush Fire Protection means the document prescribed by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, section 271.