Our role and what you need to provide

What is our role?

Transport for NSW supports the Minister for Planning, local councils and other consent authorities in the development process to consider your proposal and help facilitate growth in NSW.

Development in NSW is regulated by the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, state environmental planning policies (SEPPs) and local environmental plans (LEPs). Together these define what development is permissible, when consent is required, who is the ‘consent authority’ responsible for issuing consent as well as the relevant processes, controls and considerations.

For most development, the consent authority will be the local council. For larger and/or more significant development, it may be the Minister for Planning or another consent authority. Speak to your local council and/or the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to understand the process for your development.

As part of the assessment process, the consent authority will consult with other government agencies where the nature of the development triggers a specific statutory responsibility. For Transport, our statutory responsibilities fall into two distinct categories:

1. Developments that require referral under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 and/or an environmental planning instrument

   These include traffic generating developments, large advertising signs, development on a proposed classified road, integrated development, educational development, mining and extractive industries, state significant development, state significant infrastructure and some designated development.

2. Developments that include, or require, works within a State Road reserve

   Transport manages and maintains State roads. Developers will need to obtain our consent or concurrence under the Roads Act 1993 before they can deliver work on a State road. Consent authorities generally refer these developments to Transport and this is strongly supported. Referring such developments streamlines the process, providing both the consent authority and the developer with confidence that the development can proceed in its proposed form.

In both cases, Transport’s role is to assess the information you submit, provide a response detailing our position and, where necessary, help guide your path to an acceptable solution.

To streamline your development process, we strongly encourage you to consult with us before you lodge your development application. For most developments, Transport seeks to respond to each referral within 21 days.

What is a classified road and what is a State road?

Classified roads are defined by the Roads Act 1993. Under legislation, Transport has a number of responsibilities for work occurring within a classified road reserve. For instance:

• Roadworks such as intersection upgrades and additional lanes.
• Traffic control facilities such as refuges, roundabouts and traffic signals.
• Works and structures such as driveways, signs and pipelines.
• Outdoor dining or works within an area designated for road widening.

In some instances, Transport’s consent is required. In others, the local council is responsible for providing consent but they need to obtain our concurrence before they can issue consent.

Separate to the Roads Act 1993, for administration, management, and funding purposes, all roads are divided into the categories of State, Regional and Local roads. State and Regional roads have an allocated road number.

• State roads form the primary arterial road network. State roads are all classified roads. Transport is responsible for managing the primary traffic function of State Roads. This includes funding and determining priorities, as well as regulating the activities of third parties on the road and access to adjoining land to promote road safety, traffic efficiency and protect the road asset.
• Regional roads are the lesser trafficked classified roads (which are not State roads) and some of the more important unclassified roads. Councils manage and maintain Regional Roads with funding assistance from Transport.
• Local roads are all public roads that are not State or Regional roads. These roads are unclassified. They are managed and maintained by local councils.

For more information, refer to the NSW Road Management Arrangements (PDF, 61.86 KB).

When should you contact us and what are the legislative triggers?

The following tables summarise developments that need to be referred to Transport with the associated legislative trigger.

If your development meets any of the criteria within these tables, we encourage you to consult with us before you lodge a development application. This will allow TfNSW to assess your proposed development, provide a response detailing our position and, where necessary, help guide your path to an acceptable solution.

This pre-lodgement consultation should occur before detailed plans and/or supporting technical studies have been prepared.

Table 1 - Legislation relevant to development State-wide

Notes

1. Traffic generating developments are defined in Schedule 3 of SEPP (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021. They are divided into two categories based on scale. The first category (in column 2) relates to developments on any road. The second category (in column 3) relates to developments with an access on, or within 90m of, a classified road.
2. Development is only integrated under Section 138 of the Roads Act 1993 where works are proposed in a classified road reserve AND when the consent authority is different to the roads authority. Most development will not be integrated as the local council is the roads authority for most State roads, the notable exceptions being freeways and motorways.

   Whether it is integrated or not, Transport requests that consent authorities refer any development which includes works within a State road reserve (noting these works will trigger a subsequent consent or concurrence under the Roads Act, 1993).

   The table below summarises the appropriate Planning Portal category for most cases. Please contact us if you are unsure (before lodging in the Planning Portal).

1. Transport recognises it has other statutory roles, such as those relating to works on classified Regional roads. For example, providing:
   • concurrence under Section 138 of the Roads Act 1993 to a new driveway
   • consent under Section 87 of the Roads Act 1993 to a refuge or roundabout.
2. Consistent with the NSW Road Management Arrangements, it is appropriate for local councils to consider and determine if arrangements proposed for a development on a classified Regional road are acceptable from a network perspective.

   For such developments, Transport recommends you liaise with your local council. Provided Council is satisfied the arrangements are acceptable (taking relevant standards and guidelines into consideration), Transport would issue the relevant consent and/or concurrence under the Roads Act 1993.

   Transport recognises some local councils have limited resources and value our input. In such cases, Transport encourages councils to contact us and seek our input.

Table 2 - Legislation relevant to specific area or precinct

• SEPP – State environmental planning policy
• REP – Regional environmental plan
• LEP – Local environmental plan

What information should you provide?

As the developer, it is your role to provide enough information for Transport to make an informed decision. The level of information required will depend on the complexity of the development, the nature of the surrounding road environment, and the nature of the question.

Transport recognises the importance of having a clear understanding of our position before you proceed with detailed plans and supporting technical studies.

Pre DA enquiries

At a minimum, the initial enquiry should include the following information:

• The location of the development, including relevant lot and deposited plans (DPs)
• A detailed description of the development
• A preliminary concept plan showing:
  • proposed layout of the development
  • land use breakdown by type and floor area
  • adjoining road frontages
  • existing and proposed access arrangements
  • existing and proposed car parking arrangements
  • existing and proposed internal roads, pedestrian paths and cycling paths
  • details of any existing or proposed right of carriageways
  • details of any proposed works within a State road reserve.

Note: The land use breakdown should separate the different uses and their respective scale. For instance, residential by number of dwellings, retail/commercial by gross floor area, educational establishments by number of students, quarries by annual extractions rates. TfNSW recognises these may only be indicative at this point.

For more information on key principles, such as when Transport will allow direct access, see Key principles for development.

For more significant developments, it may be appropriate to provide a preliminary traffic/transport analysis or a proposed scope and methodology for detailed traffic/transport analysis to support your development and the associated arrangements.

Beyond the initial enquiry

Transport encourages developers to continue to liaise with us during the pre-lodgement phase until there is agreement on the arrangement for access, upgrades on State roads, and any other arrangements required to mitigate the impacts of the development. Generally, this will require the developer to provide:

• Traffic/transport analysis and modelling to support the access arrangements and/or road upgrades
• A strategic design to clarify the scope of those upgrades, demonstrate a compliant design can be achieved within the land available, and enable the consent authority to consider the environmental impacts of those upgrades during their Part 4 assessment of the development application. See the Strategic Design fact sheet (PDF, 524.37 KB) for more information.

Formal DA lodgement

Ideally by this point, with adequate consultation during the pre-lodgement phase, you will have reached agreement with Transport on the arrangement for access, upgrades on State roads, and any other arrangements required to mitigate the impacts of the development.

Planning proposals

Planning proposals can facilitate future development that can impact the State road network. For example, it can be a proposal to rezone land for a major land release.

Transport has a statutory role in the planning proposal process. Transport encourages developers, councils and other proponents to engage with us early to streamline the process.

Key issues to consider:

• What development will be facilitated by the planning proposal?
• What are the transport implications of this development and what arrangements are required to mitigate those impacts? (For instance, road infrastructure upgrades as well as other measures to increase the attractiveness of public and active transport, such as increased services, pedestrian/cyclist facilities, and reduced car park supply.)
• What would be scope of those upgrades? Is sufficient land available to achieve a compliant design in the future?
• What arrangements are in place to ensure the necessary arrangements are funded and delivered in a timely manner?

Works (activities) delivered under Part 5

Transport recognises public authorities can deliver works within the road reserve under Part 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. While no development consent is required for such works, Transport consent and/or concurrence will be required under the Roads Act 1993.

For councils, the Transport approvals for Council delivered upgrades fact sheet (PDF, 508.57 KB) details the process for engaging with us.

For other government agencies, while the process will be similar to the above, we encourage you to contact us to discuss your project and path forward.

Utilities on State roads

Most developments require the provisions of utility upgrades/adjustments. Often these require works within a State road reserve. These upgrades/adjustments fall into three categories. The following details these categories and our process for each.

1. State significant infrastructure: For major utility upgrades that require a state significant infrastructure application, Transport encourages you to follow the same processes described on this website for a development. Engage with us before lodgement, providing sufficient information for us to understand and assess the application.
2. Development includes road upgrades subject to a works authorisation deed. For approved developments that require the developer to enter into a works authorisation deed (WAD) to deliver road upgrades on a State road and that development includes other utility adjustments on a State road, generally Transport will recommend these upgrades/adjustments are incorporated into the WAD.
3. All other utility upgrades/adjustments
   For any other utility upgrades/adjustments within a State road reserve, an application for the upgrades/adjustment is to be made to our Network & Assets teams. Refer to email details below:
   1. Sydney Region: greatersydneyroads@transport.nsw.gov.au
   2. North Region: roadaccess.north@transport.nsw.gov.au
   3. South Region: roadaccess.south@transport.nsw.gov.au
   4. West Region: roadaccess.west@transport.nsw.gov.au

Key principles for development

Access to State roads

Where a development has frontage to a classified road and a local road, vehicular access should generally be provided via local road if safe and practicable to do so. This is supported by State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021, Section 2.118 and local councils are responsible for determining if safe and practicable access is achievable.

For State roads, if it is not considered safe and/or practicable, then council and the developer need to work with Transport to understand how access to the classified road might be achieved by considering safety, efficiency and broader network impacts.

Where a development only has frontage to a State road:

• the number of access points needs to be minimised. Generally, only one access will be permitted.
• the access needs to be located and designed appropriately. Consideration needs to be given to matters such as sight distance requirements, plus traffic, pedestrian, cyclist and public transport volumes, road safety, and likely intersection/network performance.

More specific comments are provided below for accesses in rural and urban areas.

Urban residential driveways on State roads

In general, where access is permitted to a State road, the driveway needs to be designed:

• to meet sight distance requirements (safe intersection sight distance)
• to enable vehicles to enter and exit the development in a forward direction
• to allow vehicles to simultaneously enter and exit the development
• minimise the risk of queuing back to the State road
• safely cater for pedestrian movements across the driveway.

For developments that generate a significant volume of traffic (such as those defined under State Environmental Planning Policy (Transport and Infrastructure) 2021, Section 2.122 and/or developments in complex/challenging road environments, a broader assessment of the access and the appropriate treatment will often be required.

Petrol stations

Petrol stations needs to be designed such that a vehicle can park at every bowser AND a second vehicle can queue behind each of the vehicles at each bowsers AND another vehicle can access the remainder of the site (e.g. onsite parking) and/or become a third vehicle queued at any one of the bowsers. TfNSW requires plans with swept paths to Austroads standards demonstrating this can occur.

Contact us

Documents

• Environmental checklist for external parties