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A social impact assessment (SIA) refers to the evaluation of the social consequences of a proposed decision or action (such as development proposals, plans, policies, and projects) on affected groups of people and on their way of life, life chances, health, culture and capacity to sustain these.
Required SIA
(Back to top)A detailed SIA is required for the following development applications (DAs):
Residential
| Development type | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Residential flat building (for projects located outside of the CBD only) |
> 100 units |
| Affordable housing (does not apply to secondary dwellings) |
> 20 units |
| Group homes | All |
| Social housing | All |
| Boarding houses | > 10 rooms |
Liquor and gaming
| Development type | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Extended trading hours Wholesale licence sale Liquor retail outlet Licensed restaurant |
All |
|
Pubs (LEP definition) |
All |
| Gaming/poker machine licences | > 10 machines or licenses |
Educational
| Development type | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Educational establishments (includes schools, TAFE and universities) |
New or major expansions |
Religious facilities
| Development type | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Places of public worship | > 250 patrons |
Commercial
| Development type | Size scale |
| Major shopping centre | New or expansion by 20,000 sqm |
| Sex services premises Restricted premises |
All sex-service premises |
Transport
| Development types | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Passenger transport Major public utility undertaking SIA for responding to proponent applications and where City of Parramatta is not the consent authority |
Regional |
Health services
| Development type | Size scale |
|---|---|
| Health services facilities | New or major expansions |
Urban development
| Development type | Size scale |
| Planning proposals that seek major (major complexity) rezoning |
All |
| Recreation facility | Major |
Qualified practitioners
(Back to top)A SIA should be conducted by a suitably qualified person with a social science background, training and/or extensive experience in the field of community needs analysis and community consultation.
The qualified practitioner should also be familiar with the types of information and may work in a range of fields including:
- social planning
- sociology
- human geography
- anthropology
- town planning
SIA report content
(Back to top)When you lodge a SIA, the following level of information and analysis is required:
Description
A description of the proposed development including geographic location.
Demographics
Pre-change demographics of the suburb that the development is located in.
Stakeholders
A description of the key stakeholders affected by the proposal. Consider:
- individuals and organisations
- any specific communities of interest relevant to the area/ activity (e.g. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders).
Consultation processes
An explanation of the processes used to collect and consider feedback from key stakeholders.
Proposed changes
Identify the key changes (physical and demographic) likely to occur from the proposed development/activity.
Probable impacts
An analysis of how the proposed changes are likely to impact on key stakeholders. Give consideration to the following relevant areas:
- health
- housing
- earning ability
- safety
- neighbourhood identity
- belonging and connection to community
- access to and usage of community facilities and services
- social equity (needs of disadvantaged groups/displacement etc)
Read the social assessment guidelines for more information on scoping questions.
Summary
A summary of the report findings:
- key changes as a result of the proposed development
- key probable positive impacts
- key probable negative impacts
- mitigation strategies/plan to manage the probable negative impacts.
SIA author
A description of the report author, their qualifications and capacity to complete the assessment.
SIA review
(Back to top)City of Parramatta staff will review the SIA report and consider the following:
- data/research validity
- whether the critical impacts have been satisfactorily identified
- whether the mitigation and monitoring measures are appropriate and support positive social outcomes for the community.
A report will be provided to Council on the planned development activity, including the social impacts.
Conditions of consent for Council’s consideration will be identified and suggested, as well as any gaps within the report.
Council will evaluate the SIA data as part of the DA consideration, which it will then decide to approve (with or without conditions of consent) or refuse.
Get in touch
(Back to top)If you have any questions you can get in touch with our Duty Planner on (02) 9806 5000 or council@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au.
You can also visit our Customer Contact Centre at 126 Church Street, Parramatta between 9am–3pm, Monday to Friday.
