Local planning panels NSW 2026: referrals, regional DAs and reviews

A local planning panel (LPP) is an independent panel that determines certain development applications for a council instead of council staff. Under the Planning System Reforms Act 2025, LPPs now do more: from 16 January 2026 they determine most regionally significant DAs where a panel exists, and from 21 March 2026 an applicant can ask the LPP to review a decision made by council staff. Referral triggers still come from the Minister’s criteria and council policy. For developers in Sydney, Wollongong and the Central Coast, that adds a real option between accepting a refusal and going to court.

Who this is for: developers with a DA, modification or refusal in a council that has a local planning panel, who want to know who will decide it and which review or appeal route to take.

Updated guide. This guide replaces our earlier article Local planning panels: when your DA goes to a panel and what changes, which reflects the law before the Planning System Reforms Act 2025 commenced.

What is a local planning panel and who sits on it?

An LPP is constituted under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and acts as the consent authority for applications referred to it. The Department’s local planning panels page describes the membership: a chair and two independent experts appointed by the council from a pool endorsed by the Minister, plus a community representative. Councillors are not members. Panels have been mandatory in Greater Sydney and Wollongong since 2018, and the Department’s first commencement information sheet confirms LPPs also exist on the Central Coast.

Council’s planners still assess the DA under s4.15 and write the report with a recommendation. The panel reads it, hears from the applicant and objectors, and decides, and it can depart from the recommendation either way.

When does a DA go to the local planning panel?

The Minister’s local planning panels direction sets the referral criteria, and each council publishes how it applies them. The reforms commenced so far have not changed the four broad categories:

• Departure from a development standard by more than 10%. A clause 4.6 variation request for height, FSR or another LEP standard beyond the 10% line. On townhouses and sloping sites, this is the trigger we see most.
• Contentious development. A threshold number of unique objections, commonly 10, counted as the council’s policy describes.
• Conflict of interest. Council is the applicant or landowner, or the applicant is a councillor, staff member or relative.
• Sensitive development. Categories nominated by the Minister, such as demolition of a heritage item.

The variation trigger is partly in your control: at 9% a DA usually stays with staff, at 11% it goes to the panel. The Minister sets the criteria and they can change, so check the current direction and the council’s policy before design is locked in.

What happened to regionally significant DAs?

The Act begins a staged repeal of the regionally significant development (RSD) pathway and the Sydney district and regional planning panels, moving to a single model where every DA is decided by council staff or an LPP.

From 16 January 2026, any new RSD application, and most pending ones, are determined by the relevant LPP where one exists. An RSD application stays with the Sydney district or regional planning panel only where:

• it was lodged before 4 September 2024;
• the council had submitted its assessment report to the panel by 16 January 2026; or
• a deemed refusal appeal was underway at 16 January 2026.

Where no LPP exists, regional planning panels continue for now. The Secretary can constitute joint LPPs in areas without them, but only after consultation, and the information sheet says the power will not be used immediately. For an RSD application lodged now in Greater Sydney, Wollongong or the Central Coast, plan on the council’s LPP deciding it.

A Crown DA lodged after 15 December 2025 that council has not determined in time now also goes to the LPP instead of the Sydney district panel in those three areas.

What happens at the panel meeting

Panels meet on a set cycle, usually monthly, with an agenda close-off, so we generally allow four to eight extra weeks over a delegated determination. The report and draft conditions are published with the agenda, your one chance to read the officer’s reasoning before the decision.

Applicants and objectors can register to speak, usually for a few minutes each. Answer the report’s reasons and objectors’ planning points directly, and stop on time.

Can you ask the panel to review a staff refusal?

Yes, from 21 March 2026, where the council has an LPP. The Department’s FAQ confirms it is available for any DA or modification determined by staff under delegation. The rules under Division 8.2 of the Act:

• You have 6 months to lodge a review, and there is no time limit on determining it.
• You can elect the LPP, but not the elected council, and you cannot choose a particular officer; the reviewer must not be subordinate to the original decision maker.
• You can change your choice between officer and panel after lodgement.
• If the panel made the original decision, the panel also conducts the review, as before.
• If the council has no LPP, council officers continue to do reviews.
• Modification reviews now have 6 months to lodge instead of 28 days (amended s244 of the Regulation).

The process, in the order we run it:

1. List every reason for refusal or contested condition from the notice and the assessment report, and note the determination date.
2. Sort each reason: answerable with information, a design change or a condition, or a genuine disagreement on judgement.
3. Choose officer or LPP review.
4. Lodge the review within 6 months, with a submission that answers each reason directly.
5. If you change your mind about officer or panel, tell council straight away.
6. If the review does not resolve the matter, consider an appeal within the appeal period that remains, since the clock paused during the review.

How have review and appeal options changed?

The new rules apply to DAs and modifications already determined if no review or appeal had been requested at 21 March 2026. Reviews and appeals already underway run under the old provisions.

Deemed refusal assessment periods have not changed: 40 to 90 days after lodgement depending on the development type, excluding stop-the-clock periods. There is no saving here, so any undetermined application past its assessment period can be appealed, even if an earlier right had expired.

Panel review or Land and Environment Court: which makes sense?

A panel review usually makes sense when:

• staff refused on a merit judgement the DCP leaves open;
• the reasons can be answered with clearer information, a modest design change or a condition;
• you want to try a lower-cost step first, knowing the appeal clock is paused.

The Land and Environment Court is usually the stronger option when:

• the panel made the original decision, because the review would go back to the same panel;
• the application is undetermined and holding costs are mounting, since the deemed refusal right now lasts until determination;
• timing is critical, because a review has no time limit for determination;
• the dispute is fundamental and unlikely to move on a second look.

You cannot run both at once: the review comes first, and the court remains open afterwards.

How do modifications to a panel consent work now?

From 21 March 2026, s4.55(1) covers minor errors, misdescriptions and miscalculations, and also modifications with no environmental impact, which used to sit in s4.55(1A). New s118A of the Regulation gives 14 calendar days from lodgement to decide, and a request for information does not stop the clock. Under new s4.55A, an application not decided in time cannot be refused and can only be approved with conditions that give effect to it. These applications are not notified and are not reviewable.

Whether a modification goes back to the panel depends on the referral criteria and the council’s delegations, so check its policy. Anything with an environmental impact still uses s4.55(1A) or s4.55(2); our modification and RFI service covers choosing the right pathway.

Definitions

Local planning panel (LPP)

An independent panel that determines DAs referred to it on behalf of a council.

Regionally significant development (RSD)

Larger DAs previously decided by Sydney district or regional planning panels, now moving to LPPs where they exist.

Division 8.2 review

A review of a determination requested by the applicant under Division 8.2 of the EP&A Act.

Deemed refusal

An application not determined within its assessment period, which the applicant can treat as refused for appeal purposes.

When a townhouse or larger DA is heading for a panel, or a refusal needs a call on review versus appeal, our planners prepare the multi-dwelling planning documents, the review submission and any clause 4.6 request with the panel in mind. Send us the determination or plans, or request a fee proposal.