If we issue a development licence, it will have an expiry date. You must complete your development activity by this date, including meeting all conditions of the development licence. If your activities are staged, you must complete them in the approved sequence.
Start your development activity
You must notify us when you start development activities.
Email Permissions@epa.vic.gov.au and include your development licence number and the relevant condition code.
Reporting or submission requirements
Development licences may include conditions that require you to submit reports or documents with additional technical details, plans, or designs for approval. These conditions usually require implementation or monitoring plans, such as a construction and environment management plan, or the final detailed designs of an environmental control.
We use these conditions when these details are not technically or financially feasible to provide at the application stage. These conditions verify that your activity, or part of it, matches your development licence application and meets all requirements.
These conditions usually limit your ability to commence your development activity, or the relevant component of the activity, until we are satisfied that the required reports or documents are acceptable. These conditions may also contain additional requirements, such as requiring reports, plans, or designs to be prepared or endorsed by a suitably qualified professional.
Submit these reports by emailing Permissions@epa.vic.gov.au and include your development licence number and the relevant condition code.
Commissioning
Some development licences require commissioning. This verifies that your activity meets the standards detailed in your application. Our commissioning conditions cover planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
The sequence for commissioning is:
- submit a commissioning plan for our approval before you start commissioning
- submit a monitoring report at the end of the commissioning period. The report must show the results of your proof of performance testing
- complete commissioning by the end of the validity period.
You cannot operate your activity until your commissioning results show compliance with the information that you provided in your development licence application.
Risk management and monitoring program
Development licences may include a condition requiring you to prepare a risk management and monitoring program (RMMP). The RMMP should be developed for your operating phase only. We may request part or all of your RMMP when you apply for an operating licence.
Preparing a risk management and monitoring program has more information.
Financial assurance
We may require a financial assurance as a condition of a development licence. This applies to certain prescribed activities as listed in Regulation 167 of the Regulations. They are:
- A01 (Reportable priority waste management)
- A05a (Landfills (excluding municipal landfills servicing fewer than 5,000 people))
- A13a (Large-scale waste and resource recovery)
- A13b (Medium-scale waste and resource recovery)
- G04 (Bulk storage)
- L02 (Onsite soil containment for contaminated sites)
We decide whether financial assurance is needed by applying the risk assessment criteria outlined in Regulation 168 of the Regulations. The risk assessment criteria cover:
- the risk of harm to human health and the environment
- your history of compliance
- if you are a prohibited person
- your financial capacity
- the risk of abandonment
- how much clean-up might cost
Each case is assessed individually. Financial assurance may be required to cover the potential costs of clean-up or remediation related to the activity.
Generally, financial assurance is more likely to be required if the site will:
- accept or store priority and/or reportable priority waste
- construct a landfill cell under the development licence.
Evidence of completion of development activities
You must not operate the activity until you have completed the development activities and received written confirmation from us. There are two options for obtaining this confirmation. We may conduct an inspection of the activity as part of either of the verification processes.
Requesting written evidence
Request this confirmation by emailing Permissions@epa.vic.gov.au and include your development licence number. Include a summary of how you have satisfied each condition of your development licence.
Applying for a section 73 statement
You may also apply for a statement from us confirming whether we are satisfied that you have completed your development activity. This is referred to as a section 73 statement. It is not mandatory to apply for a statement, but it is highly recommended.
We must provide a statement within 20 business days after receiving an application. There is currently no application fee when applying for a section 73 statement.
Apply by emailing Permissions@epa.vic.gov.au and include your development licence number. Include a summary of how you have satisfied each condition of your development licence.
We may conduct an inspection of the activity as part of the verification process.
Requesting an extension of time
You may request an extension of time if you are unable to complete your development activities by the end of your licence validity period.
Email Permissions@epa.vic.gov.au and include your development licence number. We will only consider requests that include:
- clear mitigating reasons why an extension of time is required
- a revised completion timeline.
We cannot consider requests after the validity period has expired.
Compliance checks
We may inspect your activity during the validity period of your development licence. These inspections verify whether the processes or plants are being implemented or constructed to the approved specifications.
We may initiate compliance and enforcement activities if we detect any non-compliance with the requirements of the development licence.
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