Report(s) on the application prepared by the council processing officer will help inform those making a decision on the application. Therefore is it important these reports are concise and well reasoned and provide an accurate description of the scale and significance of the anticipated environmental effects from the proposed activity.
The s42A report needs to provide an assessment of the application and the anticipated adverse environmental effects. The report must determine the extent, scale and nature of the effects associated with an activity and what the impact of these effects will be (ie, are they nil, less than minor, minor, more than minor, significant, unacceptable).
When preparing the section 42A report the officer does not need to repeat information that is included within the application but can adopt any or all of the information that has been provided by the applicant. This is not restricted to the information provided within the AEE but could, for example, include adopting the site description or the description of the proposal.
When preparing a decision report, section 113 allows cross-reference to some or all of the AEE and the section 42A report. It also allows the adoption of some or all of any assessment or report prepared for the application. This avoids the repetition of material and provides efficiencies in consent processing and report writing.
