NSW Development Coordination Authority: local referrals from 1 July 2026

From 1 July 2026, the NSW Development Coordination Authority (DCA) became the coordination point for many State-agency referrals arising from local development applications. In law, the DCA is the Planning Secretary: section 2.11E of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EP&A Act). The reform changes how a council obtains a consultation response, concurrence or integrated-development position. It does not transfer the council’s consent function to the DCA and does not replace the later approval body.

The local-referral framework has defined limits

The DCA’s local-development role applies where legislation or an environmental planning instrument requires an eligible referral in connection with a development application. The council remains responsible for identifying the referral trigger and sending the material through the NSW Planning Portal.

The DCA’s official explanation of its role identifies important limits. It does not coordinate input from Australian Government departments, interstate agencies or private companies such as gas and electricity suppliers; councils refer those matters to them directly through the Planning Portal.

For State significant development, State significant infrastructure and planning proposals, the DCA gives technical advice to the Department’s assessment and plan-making teams where it holds the relevant expertise. That advice is not a local referral, so the local-referral fees and 28-day response period discussed below do not apply to it. State significant development in NSW explains that separate pathway.

Referral type determines legal effect

The label attached to a referral matters:

Referral	Function	Legal consequence
Consultation	Obtains input for consideration	Response informs, but is not automatically concurrence
Concurrence	Seeks the statutory agreement needed under the applicable provision	Consent authority must apply the concurrence provisions
Integrated development	Coordinates general terms for a later approval under another Act	Development consent does not itself grant the later approval

Section 4.13 of the EP&A Act deals with notification, consultation and concurrence. Section 4.46 and section 4.47 govern integrated development and general terms. Section 4.47(4A) makes clear that, for integrated development, the DCA decides whether a required approval will be granted and on what general terms. The approval body itself later grants that approval under its own Act.

Pre-referral checking does not start the substantive clock

For a referral to the DCA, section 42 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (NSW) (the EP&A Regulation) requires a pre-referral check. The council first gives the DCA its list of the concurrence and consultation requirements that it considers apply and for which the DCA is the referral authority, and, for integrated development, the approvals it considers are required. The DCA’s current guidance says a council may proceed with the formal referral if the DCA has not responded to the referral check within two business days. That check is not part of the 28-day substantive response period.

The statutory period and the DCA’s operating arrangements should be kept separate. Section 43(1) provides:

“The consent authority must refer a development application to which this division applies to an appropriate referral authority—

(a) within 14 days after the date on which the development application was lodged, but

(b) if the development application will be referred to the Development Coordination Authority—no sooner than 2 days after the date on which the relevant information was given to the Development Coordination Authority under section 42.”

Section 43(2) permits an earlier referral if the DCA has responded to the pre-referral check. Under section 44(1), the referral authority must, “on the receipt of a referral made under section 43(1)”, notify its decision within 28 days after receiving the referral.

An amended referral under section 43(4) “is taken to be the referral under section 43(1)”: section 44(3).

Separately, the DCA’s current operational guidance says its 28-calendar-day service period starts when a formal referral is submitted through the portal and the relevant fee has been paid. A portal upload or preliminary check should not be treated as day one without confirming the statutory receipt event and the operational fee record.

The pause rule is precise. Section 44(4) applies if the referral authority requests additional information from the consent authority under section 46. The period ceases to run from the request day until the applicant provides the information or “notifies, or is taken to have notified, the referral authority that the information will not be provided”.

If the council refuses the development application before the 28 days expire, section 44(5) requires notice to the referral authority and section 44 ceases to apply. Keep the referral, request, applicant response or non-provision notice, council determination and portal timestamps.

The consequence of no response depends on the referral type. For concurrence, section 4.13(11) of the EP&A Act permits the consent authority to determine without concurrence and says a consent so granted “is not voidable on that ground”. For integrated development, section 4.47(5) permits determination; if consent is granted, the approval body “cannot refuse” the later approval and that approval “must not be inconsistent” with the consent. Section 44(6) of the Regulation allows a late referral response to be considered. None of those provisions grants development consent automatically.

A modification may require a fresh referral

A modification can require a fresh referral even where the original consent pre-dated the DCA. The rules are in Part 4.3 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021 (the Planning Systems SEPP), where a “modification application” means an application under section 4.55(1A) or (2) of the EP&A Act: section 4.43. Section 4.44(1) applies where the modification would, if it were a development application, give rise to:

• “a concurrence or consultation requirement” under Chapter 4, Part 4.2 or another Act; or
• “a requirement to obtain an approval”.

Section 4.45(1) is narrower than a modification affecting a matter previously discussed. It applies where the consent is subject to a condition imposed as a result of a concurrence decision, consultation comments or for consistency with general terms of an approval, and “the proposed modification will affect the condition”. It extends to a condition that came from a concurrence authority or consultation body before 1 July 2026.

In either case, consent must not be granted unless the council gave written notice of the modification application within 14 days of receiving it and took into account comments received within 28 days of that notice: section 4.44(2) and section 4.45(2). Under section 4.45(2), notice goes to the DCA unless the condition came from a specified entity, such as an airport operator, a pipeline operator or an electricity supply authority, which is notified directly. Do not refer merely because the original development was referred. Apply the precise statutory trigger to the proposed modification and the actual consent condition.

Fees attach to referral matters

Schedule 4 of the EP&A Regulation prescribes the maximum DCA fees in fee units, and the dollar value of a fee unit is indexed each financial year (Schedule 4, section 1):

• 9.27 fee units for each approval, concurrence or consultation requirement referred to the DCA with a local development application (items 3.1(b), 3.2(b) and 3.9); and
• 4.63 fee units for a section 4.55(2) modification application referred to the DCA (item 4.10).

The DCA’s fees and timeframes page gives the amounts as $1,100 for each local development referral, calculated by the number of referral matters, and $550 for a relevant complex section 4.55(2) modification referral. It lists no DCA fee for a modification with no or minimal environmental impact, a referral required under the Sydney Water Act 1994 (NSW) or Hunter Water Act 1991 (NSW), or a referral to an organisation other than the DCA, unless that organisation is responding on the DCA’s behalf. The DCA’s frequently asked questions add that no new fee is charged if the application has already been referred under the same provision. The DCA may also waive all or part of a fee payable to it, generally, for a class of applications or for a particular application: section 253.

“Matter” is important. One development application can engage more than one referral matter. Check the fee position at lodgement: the fee units, their dollar value and the DCA’s published settings can change.

Pre-1 July applications may remain under the former process

Two savings provisions apply to an application lodged, but not finally determined, before the new arrangements commenced on 1 July 2026. Section 4.46 of the Planning Systems SEPP requires a development application or modification application “lodged, but not finally determined” before then to be determined as if the amending policy, the State Environmental Planning Policy Amendment (Concurrences and Consultations) 2026, had not commenced. That policy substituted the new Chapter 4. Schedule 6, section 46 of the EP&A Regulation makes a similar saving for listed amendments to the EP&A Act and other Acts, including those that route integrated-development general terms through the DCA. It does not list every amendment that commenced on 1 July 2026, so check the item that matters to the application. The DCA frequently asked questions explain how the Department expects that transition to operate:

• a development application lodged before 1 July 2026 generally continues under the referral provisions, fees and timeframes that applied when it was lodged; but
• a non-minor amendment accepted after 1 July 2026 may reset the lodgement date to the day the amendment was submitted. The new referral process then applies: existing Planning Portal referrals are cancelled and new referrals are needed.

That result is not produced by “acceptance” alone. Under section 38(2) of the EP&A Regulation, if the authority approves an amendment, the development application is taken to have been lodged on the day the applicant applied for the amendment only if the authority considers it non-minor and gives the required portal notice. Record the original lodgement date, amendment-submission date, approval, non-minor assessment and portal notice. Apply the legislation before relying on the guidance summary.

Review is narrow, and time runs from the determination

Section 8.2(1)(b1) of the EP&A Act and section 246A of the Regulation provide a narrow DCA review pathway, in force since 1 July 2026. Section 246A(2) says the review application must be submitted through the portal “no later than 28 days after the consent authority’s determination of the relevant development application”. Under section 246A(3) and section 246A(4), a fee is payable and lodgement occurs on the day it is paid. The DCA conducts the review itself (section 8.3(8)) and, under section 246A(5), must “as soon as is practicable” notify the council and applicant of the outcome.

The 28 days is the time to submit the review application. It is not a period for deciding the review, and section 246A prescribes no determination deadline. The period runs from the consent authority’s determination of the development application (usually the council’s, but it may be a planning panel’s), not from the date of the DCA’s decision. Because the DCA decides under a condition of a consent that has already been granted, its decision may come after the 28 days have passed, and section 246A does not say how the limit then applies. If a condition leaves an aspect to the DCA’s satisfaction, note the determination date at once and seek advice early.

Section 246A(3) says the review fees are specified in Schedule 4 and determined under Part 13, but no Schedule 4 item refers expressly to a review of a DCA decision. As at 30 September 2026 the DCA’s fees page still showed the fee for a review of a DCA decision as “TBC”, and its frequently asked questions said fees “will be published separately”. Confirm the fee before lodging, because the application is not lodged until the fee is paid.

Section 8.2(1)(b1) confines the pathway to a DCA decision “about an aspect of the development that, under the conditions of the development consent, was required to be carried out to the satisfaction of” the DCA. Schedule 6, section 35 of the EP&A Regulation treats a satisfaction decision of a Minister or public authority as a DCA decision for this purpose, where the condition was imposed in exercising a function that is now conferred on the DCA. The pathway is not a general merits review of a concurrence decision, consultation response, integrated-development term or the development consent.

The DCA coordinates; it does not grant development consent

The council determines the development application. The relevant approval body grants any later licence, permit or approval. Assessment under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act), land access and utility agreements remain separate. Agency silence supplies no project approval, and the applicant must still establish the referral trigger and provide adequate information.

The applicant’s approvals matrix should show the council decision, every DCA referral matter, the underlying agency or approval body, the 28-day start and pause events, the legal effect of the response and the later approval still required.

For the wider classification framework, see NSW development approval pathways: a practical map. The modification gateways are addressed in Modifying a development consent in NSW.

The provisions are new. The statutory text, transition provisions and operational guidance perform different work and should be kept distinct.