Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR)

What Is Included in a BDAR?

A Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) is required to include the following information so that you and the Consent Authority who will be assessing your Development Application (DA) or State Significant Development (SSD) can make informed decisions. 

While your Development Application formally requests a proposed development that might impact the environment, a State Significant Development refers to a development project that is likely to impact the ecological state of the area.

Biodiversity Development Assessment Reports play an important role in influencing development to 'avoid' and 'minimise' biodiversity impacts on local values. For us, it’s essential that our Biodiversity Development Assessment Reports are prepared to a high standard, are easy to read and are easy to interpret. Which is why we breakdown our BDAR’s into easy to manage sub-categories as follows:

INTRODUCTION

1. Identification and description of the site

2. Description of the proposed development and references to plans and reports used for the BDAR.

3. The regional context and physical description of the study area including hydrology, geology, soils, landforms, climate and types and conditions of the habitat(s) in, and adjacent to, the land affected by the proposal.

LEGISLATION, POLICY AND CONTROLS

The Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) is required to address all relevant legislation, policy and guidelines, including:

• The Biodiversity Assessment Method 2020

• Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 & Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017

• Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 & Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021

• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

• State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience & Hazards) 2021 (formerly Coastal Management)

• State Environmental Planning Policy (Biodiversity Conservation) 2021

• Water Management Act 2000, Fisheries Management Act 1994 & Biosecurity Act 2015, and

• Local Environmental Plans & Development Control Plans (relevant to your local government area).

A comprehensive assessment of your proposed development is provided where East Coast Ecology will clearly detail how your application is compliant with the above legislation.

SITE INVESTIGATION

A site investigation will always be required to prepare a BDAR report in NSW. However, the level of survey effort will depend on the size of the development and the level of impact. A site assessment will involve the collection of all relevant environmental data and photographs from the site, such as native vegetation plots and threatened species habitat.

At a minimum, all Biodiversity Development Assessment Reports should include the following information:

• Ways in which the proposed development avoids and minimises impacts to biodiversity

• A list and map of threatened species and ecological communities known or likely to occur in the study area and locality

• A map of the study area

• Description of threatened fauna habitat present on the site

• Description, map, and photographs of any Plant Community Types (PCTs) identified within the study area

• Details of desktop and field survey methods employed

• Discussion of any constraints or limitations of the study.

• List of threatened flora and fauna that were surveyed for, including whether the survey was undertaken within the recommended survey period as outlined in the Threatened Biodiversity Data Collection (TBDC).

• Map of environmental features and habitat types relevant to threatened species (such as sandstone outcrops, culverts, or overhangs), and

• Map of survey method locations (including any specialist fauna survey methods), including a map of GPS tracks, survey dates, times, and weather conditions.

Vegetation Communities

The Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) report will identify all ecological vegetation communities within your property, including native vegetation. This will involve collection of a comprehensive flora species inventory, an analysis of historical imagery/data, and collection of vegetation integrity plots. These data are always collected by a qualified ecologist, so you and the consent authority can be certain of the reported findings.

Threatened Species

The Biodiversity Assessment Report will identify threatened species habitat on your site, and how it can be avoided and managed during construction. Threatened species habitat is diverse, and often unique to each species. Some examples of threatened species habitat in regional New South Wales include tree hollows, caves & crevices, ponds, wetlands, termite mounds, leaf litter, coarse woody debris and dense shrubbery. If a threatened habitat type is present and likely to be impacted, your Council may request specialised targeted surveys are undertaken to rule-out their presence before construction can commence.

Threatened species surveys can be expensive depending on your consultant’s used biodiversity assessment method. At East Coast Ecology, we adopt passive, automated survey technologies (accepted by industry) that dramatically reduce the cost of surveys. Passive survey technologies come at no extra cost to us, so why should they come at extra cost to you? They shouldn’t.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

A Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) will provide a concise and clear summary of the impacts of the proposed development, including ‘direct’ biodiversity impacts (native vegetation clearing, asset protection zones) and ‘indirect’ impacts (noise, vibration, light spill) on native vegetation or fauna. Each of these impacts can be managed in one of a number of ways suitable for your property and your development.

A Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) should identify all direct and indirect impacts to biodiversity values associated with the proposed development. Direct and indirect biodiversity impacts may include:

• Changes to flora and fauna dispersal routes

• Clearing and modification of vegetation

• Demolition or modification of human-made structures utilised by wildlife (such as bats)

• Fragmentation or isolation of habitat

• Increased noise, vibration, increased lighting and traffic in natural areas; and

• Removal of habitat features such as hollows

• Run-off and sedimentation, and

• Soil disturbance.

This includes impacts associated with:

• construction access and staging areas

• demolition and construction

• establishment of bushfire asset protection zones (APZ)

• excavation and fill

• installation of services and stormwater infrastructure

• landscaping

• materials and debris stockpiling

• ongoing operation of the development, and

• onsite effluent disposal areas.

The area (ha) of native vegetation required to be cleared for the development should be clearly stated. Where relevant, an assessment against the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Significant Impact Guidelines 1.1 – Matters of National Environmental Significance) is also required.

SERIOUS AND IRREVERSIBLE IMPACTS

The concept of Serious And Irreversible Impacts (SAII) is a central component of the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme. The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is about protecting threatened species and threatened ecological communities that are at greatest risk of extinction.

Under the NSW BC Act, a consent authority cannot approve a proposed development that is likely to have a Serious and Irreversible Impact on threatened species or ecological communities.

AVOIDANCE, MINIMISATION AND MITIGATION

The principle of designing development to protect environmental assets is also enshrined in State legislation through the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) and the Biodiversity Conservation Regulation 2017.

The BC Act (and any associated environmental conservation or biodiversity regulation) is the key state legislation which sets out the framework for biodiversity conservation including assessment of development impacts.

Any new application to Council for development consent (including subdivisions), or modification to an approved development under Part 4 of the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) may be subject to the biodiversity assessment requirements of the BC Act.

This legislation requires proposed development to first be designed to avoid and minimise impacts to the natural environment, and for any residual direct or indirect impacts to be assessed. The residual impact is the impact after the measures that are required to be carried out to avoid or minimise the impact on biodiversity values of the proposed development.

For all developments, the first step to protecting biodiversity is designing to avoid and minimise impacts to biodiversity.

Council requires all measures to avoid and minimise impacts to biodiversity to be clearly demonstrated in all Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR). Appropriate measures that can be used to demonstrate this include:

• Attending a pre-lodgement meeting with Council and demonstrating that your design complies with their recommendations.

• Avoid impacting native vegetation in any areas mapped within the NSW Biodiversity Values Map published by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE)

• Avoid impacts to any areas identified as a Threatened Ecological Community (TEC)

• Where safe, avoid removing large native trees, hollow-bearing trees or dead trees with hollows or cavities as they provide vital habitat for native fauna.

• Where permissible, opt for increasing the height of the proposed development rather than expanding the development footprint if an increased footprint is likely to impact native vegetation.

• In bush fire prone areas, locate or orientate your dwelling to maximise the distance between the dwelling and any areas of native vegetation or increase your construction standard to minimise required asset protection zones (APZ).

Mitigation Measures

Depending on your development, your Council may require you to implement certain measures to mitigate the impact on the environment. These measures can include:

• Nest box installation

• Pre-clearing surveys and clearing supervision

• Weed management, and

• Replanting trees or revegetating bushland.

Mitigation measures need to be practical before they are recommended. Inexperienced consultants may recommend measures that directly conflict with your interests, the intent of the DA, or the requirements of other specialist consultants. A common example of this is consultants who recommend revegetation of bushland in areas that are required (or proposed) to be managed as an asset protection zone. Poorly thought-out recommendations can create costly issues when seeking Construction Certification or Occupation Certificate. East Coast Ecology employ Ecologists, Arborists, and Bushfire practitioners in-house to avoid such conflicts.

CONCLUSION

New South Wales has outstanding biodiversity value in need of protection. Assessment of the proposal against the biodiversity controls and legislation applicable to the site. A statement summarising the overall direct, indirect, ongoing and cumulative impacts of the proposal on biodiversity values of the subject site and locality, with specific reference to impacts to threatened entities and important wildlife habitat.