Only refuse CDC variations that cause significant additional adverse impacts.
Refusals of Complying Development Certificate Variation Certificates should be limited to circumstances where the variation is assessed as having significant additional adverse impacts. The aim is to ensure variation statements are processed efficiently and the fast-track pathway retains its efficiency, certainty and purpose.
The Statement of Expectations Order 2026 is a Ministerial order under section 9.6(1)(b) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 that tells councils how the Minister expects them to carry out their planning functions. This item covers one specific expectation: how councils should handle Complying Development Certificate (CDC) Variation Statements. Complying development is a fast-track approval pathway for straightforward, low-impact development that meets predetermined planning standards, and CDC Variation Certificates allow minor variations to those standards. The Order's message is that councils administering these variation certificates should not refuse them lightly.
All NSW councils that administer CDC variation certificates. The Order operates as an expectation from the Minister; the Department monitors council performance and can escalate to intervention (a Performance Improvement Order or a Planning Administrator) where councils repeatedly fail to meet expectations.
When a council is dealing with a Complying Development Certificate Variation Statement — that is, when an application seeks a minor variation to the predetermined complying development standards and the council is deciding whether to accept or refuse that variation.
The source frames the threshold itself as the carve-out: refusal is appropriate — and expected to be limited to — cases where the variation is assessed as having significant additional adverse impacts. The source does not otherwise list exemptions from this expectation.
The expectation sits within the Statement of Expectations Order 2026 made under section 9.6(1)(b) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, and is part of the Faster Assessments program. The source names no specific SEPP or manual governing complying development standards for this item.
Councils should only refuse a Complying Development Variation Certificate where the variation is assessed as having significant additional adverse impacts, not for minor or routine variations.
The Order's stated improvement to Complying Development is to ensure variation statements are processed efficiently, preserving the speed and certainty of the complying development pathway.
The explanation warns that an overly restrictive approach to refusing Variation Certificates can undermine the efficiency, certainty and purpose of the complying development pathway.
Kiama Council administers CDC variation certificates like any other NSW council, so this expectation applies directly. For typical Kiama complying development (e.g. straightforward residential work), the Council should not refuse a minor variation certificate unless it genuinely creates significant additional adverse impacts. Note that Kiama's coastal hazard areas, heritage town precincts and bushfire-prone fringes can exclude land from the complying development pathway altogether under separate rules; where complying development is available, this expectation pushes Council toward accepting minor variations rather than refusing them.
“Refusals of Complying Development Variation Certificates should be limited to circumstances where the variation is assessed as having significant additional adverse impacts.”
“Improvements to Complying Development will ensure variation statements are processed efficiently and refusals are limited to cases where there would be a significant additional adverse impact.”
“An overly restrictive approach to refusing Variation Certificates can undermine the efficiency, certainty and purpose of the complying development pathway.”
Reproduced from the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (planning.nsw.gov.au), © State of New South Wales, under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Text extraction may introduce minor formatting artefacts — rely on the official source for anything decision-critical.
This is an unofficial reproduction provided for convenience. It is not the official version of the legislation. For the official, in-force version, see legislation.nsw.gov.au.