Answer three quick questions about your project and get a personalised checklist of every section your Statement of Environmental Effects must include — tailored to your development type and site constraints.
Pick the option that best describes your project.
A Statement of Environmental Effects is a mandatory document for most NSW Development Applications. Under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, it must indicate the environmental impacts of your development, how it affects the natural and built environment, and the steps you will take to protect or lessen any harm. Your council assesses it against the five matters in section 4.15 of the EP&A Act 1979.
Use the checklist above to see exactly what your SEE must include. The required sections change with your project type: a single-storey addition needs fewer sections than a new two-storey dwelling. A site with heritage, bushfire or flood constraints adds specialist items that must be addressed before your council will accept the application as complete.
Once the checklist above shows you every section you need, you have three options. You can write the SEE yourself from scratch, which costs nothing but requires you to research your council's planning controls. You can use a free council SEE template where your council offers one, which gives you the structure but still requires you to write every section. Or you can generate a complete, DA-ready SEE in 5 minutes — covering every item on this checklist, tailored to your council, with editable Word and PDF formats.
A town planner will write it for you for $800 to $2,500, which is the right call for complex or constrained sites. For a straightforward residential DA, a guided tool or a careful DIY approach is usually enough. Whichever route you pick, work from this checklist so nothing is left out.
The most common reason a council sends a SEE back is missing impact assessment detail. If your SEE names an impact such as overshadowing or privacy without stating how you control it, the officer has no choice but to request more information. The second is citing the wrong LEP or DCP standard for your zone. The third is a compliance table that lists controls but never states whether the proposal meets them.
Other frequent triggers: missing written owner consent, a BASIX certificate more than three months old at lodgement, and a cost estimate that does not match the scope of works. Work through your checklist, confirm every figure against your council current LEP and DCP on the NSW ePlanning Spatial Viewer, and treat completeness as the real lodgement standard.
Yes. Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 requires a SEE to accompany every Development Application that is not complying development. A DA submitted without one can be returned before assessment begins.
Yes. There is no legal requirement to use a town planner. You can write it yourself, use a free council template, or generate one with a guided tool. The key is completeness: every section your council expects must be addressed.
A straightforward residential SEE is typically 4 to 15 pages. The impact assessment is usually the longest section. A rear deck might need a paragraph on overshadowing; a two-storey addition near a neighbour needs shadow diagrams and a full treatment.
Your council can issue a request for additional information, which pauses the assessment clock and can add weeks to your approval. In some cases, an incomplete DA can be returned as not properly made. Use this checklist before you lodge to avoid gaps.