Common use of Planning agreements and Conditions of Consent Clause in Contracts

Planning agreements and Conditions of Consent. Section 7.7(3) of the Act authorises a consent authority to require a planning agreement to be entered into as a condition of a development consent. However, a consent condition can only require a planning agreement if it is in the terms of an offer made by the developers as part of making the development application or application for a complying development certificate made to Ku-ring-gai Council. The practical import of this requirement means that the draft planning agreement must be exhibited concurrently with the public notification of the development application. The draft planning agreement must be ready for execution at the time of development consent in order to enable a condition of consent referring to the draft planning agreement to be part of that development consent. The importance of incorporating the planning agreement within the development consent arises from the need to address potential GST liability otherwise attached to the planning agreement. In view of the complexity of the legislation, specific GST issues will be considered afresh with each and every planning agreement to be negotiated.