An environmental offset is where we ask an applicant for compensation for the environmental impacts of their development. This compensation may include the planting of trees to replace removed vegetation, or a financial contribution to help revegetate other land. For details, go to Schedule 6.9 City Plan Environmental offsets policy.
Types of environmental offsets
There are generally 2 types of environmental offsets:
- financial settlement option
- ecological restoration of an approved area.
Environmental offsets that are delivered through ecological restoration can include:
- direct planting
- weed control
- natural regeneration
- revegetation
- maintenance activities.
How to apply for an environmental offset
There are a range of environmental offset applications you can apply for depending on development activities.
The application forms depend on:
- type of environmental offset
- timing of environmental offset
- whether the environmental offset is staged
- requesting recalculation of environmental offset
- changes to development approval requiring change to environmental offset.
You must submit completed State government forms as part of your application to us. The State government forms you complete will accompany the relevant Council Environmental Offset application form.