BioBanking credits and offset obligations created under the Threatened Species Conservation Act
If you had obligations under the previous BioBanking Scheme to retire credits under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) and these were not retired by 25 August 2017, these have become obligations to retire credits under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW).
This includes obligations to retire credits imposed by a condition of a state significant development or state significant infrastructure approval where the project has been assessed using the Framework for Biodiversity Assessment in accordance with the New South Wales Biodiversity Offsets Policy for Major Projects.
View the Framework for Biodiversity Assessment [PDF 1.1MB].
View the New South Wales Biodiversity Offsets Policy for Major Projects [PDF 391KB], and the Addendum to NSW Biodiversity Offsets Policy for Major Projects.
The Environment Agency Head determines the reasonable equivalent credit obligation that needs to be satisfied by retiring credits that are:
- required by a condition of a planning approval to be retired under the BioBanking Scheme
- outstanding offset obligations that were calculated using the previous Framework for Biodiversity Assessment.
Apply for an equivalence assessment for existing BioBanking credits
Apply for an equivalence assessment for BioBanking credit obligations
For advice on how BioBanking transitional arrangements may affect your circumstances, visit Biodiversity Offsets Scheme help desk and support.
Transitional arrangements for clause 34A certification
Clause 34A of the Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transition) Regulation 2017 (NSW) provides transitional arrangements to recognise past offsetting agreements secured as part of a:
- concept plan approval
- relevant planning arrangement.
Learn more about Clause 34A certification.
Approval or consent under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act
The Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transitional) Regulation 2017 (NSW) sets out transitional biodiversity assessment arrangements for various categories of development consent or approval that are either underway or already made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW).
In summary, transitional arrangements are made so that:
- approvals and consents issued before the commencement of the new legislation on 25 August 2017 remain valid
- development applications (including for modifications) made before commencement will be considered under previous legislation
- certain applications considered under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) remain valid if the applicant and the planning approval body agree in writing.
Information about local developments
The timing of the application of the biodiversity assessment requirements of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW) to local development applications for new developments or modification applications to an approved development under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (not including state significant development) was varied. See clause 27 of the Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transitional) Regulation 2017 (NSW) for further detail.
Upgrading old private land conservation agreements to Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements
If you hold a private land conservation agreement and you are interested in ‘upgrading’ to a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement, you must demonstrate that you can meet the eligibility criteria included in the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017 (NSW).
The number of credits that can be generated may be reduced under the Biodiversity Assessment Method to reflect the fact that the land was already under an existing conservation obligation.
Conservation agreements are managed by the Biodiversity Conservation Trust.
Applications to ‘upgrade’ to a Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement are managed by the Biodiversity Credits Supply Taskforce.