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Event Outline

The Legal Series will bring together speakers with recognised expertise in various aspects of the NSW Planning System and provide a platform to educate, inform and provide solutions through short seminars focusing on topics identified by our members.

These seminars will provide the necessary information and practical help for those currently working in the planning profession and looking to improve their understanding of legal issues that impact on Planners.

If you miss a session or want to watch it again you can catch up on our OnDemand platform.

Facilitator

Liz Densley RPIA (Fellow), Founder, Eight Mile Planning

Liz is a town planner with 25 years' professional experience in urban and regional planning in NSW. Having spent the large part of her career in Local Government, Liz moved to join Elton Consulting in 2016 and has this year founded Eight Mile Planning.

Liz is a passionate planner with expertise across land use policy, strategic and statutory planning working closely with both private and public sector clients.

Based in Mudgee in regional NSW, Liz has a particular interest in regional growth and development and delivering a planning framework which can be tailored and is relevant across the diverse jurisdictions to which it applies.

Sessions

Renewables, Housing & The New Policy Wars: What’s Next for Planning Agreements

Wednesday 11 February 2026 | Alyce Kliese, Urban Legal

Planning agreements are increasingly becoming the battleground for delivering housing, renewables and essential infrastructure, and councils are being asked to negotiate outcomes in a policy environment that is shifting quickly. In this session, Alyce Kliese will step through the latest trends emerging in planning agreement negotiations across NSW, including what’s driving disputes, what’s changing in expectations around contributions and public benefits, and the “new policy wars” we are seeing play out between developers, councils and communities. The session will be practical and strategy-focused, including key risks to watch for, negotiation levers, and what councils and proponents can do to achieve more robust and defensible agreement outcomes.

Artificial Intelligence in Planning Evidence

Wednesday 11 March 2026 | Ben Salon, The Law Salon

This session will explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the creation of planning reports and documents, reaffirming the indispensable value of human expertise in the planning profession. As AI technologies offer unprecedented and growing capabilities in data processing and analysis, the core focus must remain on ensuring that AI serves as a support to, rather than replacements for, the nuanced judgments of seasoned planning professionals.

The discussion will explore the potential impacts of the use of AI in the generation of planning documents (such as SEEs) where those documents may be or are used in court proceedings, particularly in the context of evidentiary reliability. Attention will be given to the regulatory landscape surrounding the use of AI in NSW Courts, with a specific focus on proceedings before the NSW Land and Environment Court. Participants will gain insights into current regulations, ethical considerations, and how the judiciary is responding to the integration of AI technologies to preserve the integrity of expert evidence and professional accountability in legal processes.

Omnibus reform package – What are the changes and when will they apply?

Wednesday 29 April 2026 |Anneliese Kober & Krista MacPherson, Norton Rose Fulbright

Stage 1 of the State Government’s Low- and mid-rise housing policy has included reforms to dual occupancies and semi-detached homes, to permit this form of housing in all R2 Density zones. This will create some interesting considerations such as whether such development ought to be torrens or strata subdivided (and in a planning sense does it matter), subdivision of existing dual occupancies or houses into dual occupancies, and subdivision of secondary dwellings as dual occupancies. The session will also examine a series of cases involving statutory interpretation of Randwick City Council’s minimum subdivision lot size controls.

Guidance or constraint? The legal limits of development control plans in NSW

Wednesday 27 May 2026 | Aaron Gadiel, Mills Oakley

DCPs are often treated as quasi-mandatory — but when does a DCP go too far? This seminar explores the circumstances in which a DCP conflicts with an environmental planning instrument and how that inconsistency must be resolved. It will examine key cases where DCP provisions have been found to have no effect and when they have been found to apply. It will address the risks of treating policy as law in development assessment.

Planning Reforms and Transport Orientated Development: A Legal Overview

Wednesday 10 June 2026 | Breellen Warry, Maddocks

The pace of planning reform across Australia—particularly in New South Wales, continues to accelerate, with governments prioritising density, housing supply, and infrastructure integration as core policy objectives. Central to this agenda is the shift toward transport orientated developments and the development of new planning pathways designed to streamline delivery while safeguarding environmental and community outcomes.

This session will provide a clear and practical legal overview of the latest reforms shaping the planning landscape. We will unpack the evolving statutory frameworks, recent legislative and policy changes.

Designed for planners across government, consultancy, and development sectors, this seminar will equip attendees with a grounded understanding of the legal context underpinning today’s reform agenda and key aspects of the reforms and their implications.

Navigating the Compliance Framework for Unlawful Works | What Planners Need to Know

Wednesday 22 July 2026 | Brooke Bradley, Jake Meyers & Stephanie Willis, Dentons

For better or worse, unlawful works are a common occurrence; conditions may be breached, the works may not have been approved, or the development may exceed what is authorised.

This session explores how to navigate development control orders and other enforcement measures for unlawful works and the avenues to rectify and regularise such works.

Navigating the New Planning Reforms: Implications for DA Assessment and Strategic Planning

Wednesday 19 August 2026 | Alan McKelvey, Sparke Helmore Lawyers

NSW planning reforms have changed how development applications are assessed and how strategic planning is approached. In this short session, we’ll give a practical legal overview of what’s changed and what it means in practice.

The role of planners in LEC outside of Class 1 development appeals

Wednesday 16 September 2026 | Tom White, Lander & Rogers

This session will explore how expert evidence from planners is utilised across other jurisdictions of the Court. It will examine, for example, how such evidence informs the characterisation of the public purpose for which land is compulsorily acquired; to inform the highest and best use of land from a valuation perspective; and to test the validity of decisions the subject of judicial review challenges.

Town planners often provide valuable input into these other jurisdictions, and the session will explore how the court receives and evaluates that expert evidence.

Climate law and risk consideration for planners

Wednesday 14 October 2026 | Jessica Baldwin, Holding Redlich

In the context of the new objectives in the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979, this seminar will focus on climate law obligations and risk considerations for planners in NSW. This seminar will look at recent case law decisions, decision making principles, and legal duties in relation to climate change risk, climate change planning, adaptation and resilience.

Planning reforms & community participation

Wednesday 25 November 2026 | Alistair Knox & Jelena Zelikovic, PV Law

With the fast pace of recent planning reforms it is important to understand the legal requirements with respect to community participation. Failure to comply with those requirements is often a ground of challenge to a planning instrument or approval.

This presentation will summarise the legal requirements for community participation with respect to:

1. Planning legislation;
2. Environmental planning instruments;
3. Various forms of development approval;
4. The Land and Environment Court process.

Commentary from the Courts regarding the importance of community participation in administrative decision-making will also be provided.

Terms & Conditions

Registrations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the event date will not incur any fees and a full refund will be granted.

If you cannot attend and you are within 14 days of the event date, you can transfer your ticket to another person.

In all other situations we cannot issue a refund or credit.

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