Basic Assessment

The Department of Environmental Affairs

must acknowledge application within 14
days.
The Department of Environmental Affairs
must within 30 days accept/ reject/
request further information.
On acceptance of Basic Assessment the
Department of Environmental Affairs must
issue decision within 30 days.
If Department of Environmental Affairs
cannot meet the timeframe, then an
automatic extension of 60 days applies.
After 60 days, decision should be given
within 30 days. PAJA (Promotion of
Administrative Justice Act.) becomes
applicable. Applicant has grounds for legal
recourse through this act
Scoping and Full EIA
Department of Environmental Affairs must
acknowledge application within 14 days.
Scoping report: Department of
Environmental Affairs must within 30 days
accept/reject/request further information.
If timeframe cannot be met by
Department of Environmental Affairs then
an automatic extension of 60 days applies.
After 60 days decision within 30 days.
Thereafter PAJA is applicable.
Environmental Impact Report:
Department of Environmental Affairs must
within 60 days accept/reject/request
further information. If timeframe cannot
be met by Department of Environmental
Affairs then an automatic extension of 60
days applies. 45 days thereafter to
prepare decision. If timeframe cannot be
met, automatic extension of 60 days
applies. After 60 days, decision within 30
days. Thereafter PAJA is applicable.

Environmental Impact
Procedures

Application for Exemption

Department of Environmental
Affairs must acknowledge
application within 14 days.
Issue Exemption decision within
16 days of acknowledgement of
application.
Application for
Amendments

Department of Environmental
Affairs must acknowledge
application within 14 days.
Within 30 days of receipt of non-
substantive amendment.
Environmental Impact
Procedure Continued:

Lodging the application and the
accompanying documents
PDA requires an application to be
completed with inputs from organs of
state, including components of the
municipality which is responsibly for the
provision of engineering services.
The application must be handed in to the
municipality in whose area the land is
situated.
Application must include:
The application form
Written motivation
Proof of ownership in the form of a
registered deed of the land.
The written consent of the registered
owner of that land
Copies of the layout plan or general plan
for sub-division or consolidation of land or
development outside a scheme, and
Any other plans, diagrams, documents,
information or fees.
Records of receipt of application and the
request for further documents.
Once the application is lodged, the
municipality must:
Record the receipt in a register.
Notify the applicant in writing within 28
days of any document that is still required.
A municipality must notify the applicant
that the application is complete within 14
days after the receipt of the additional
documents.
If no request is made by municipality
within 28 days, the application is
considered to be complete.
Additional information must be provided
within 90 days from applicant, or decline
in writing to provide the documents.
Application process must be complete
before the next step, which is giving of
public notice of a complete application.
Planning & Development
procedures:

Giving public notice

Within 14 days of notifying the
applicant that the application is
complete, the municipality must give
notice.
Manner of public notice


The Municipality must:
Display a notice on the land
Serve notice to interested parties:
owners of adjacent erven, home
owners of adjacent erven, occupants
with long term leases, municipal
councillor of the respective ward. Any
organ of state that maybe affected by
the application.
Publish a notice in a newspaper
distributed within the area concerned.
Public meetings if notice displays are
not possible.
The municipality should obtain the
opinion of a registered planner before
taking the decision not to publish a
notice.
Planning and Development
Procedures continued:

Petitions and delivery of groups
The PDA requires that when responding to a
petition, the municipality must reply to the
designated person and if no one is
specifically identified, then the first person
on the list. This action will constitute as a
notice to each person on the petition.

Amendments to application prior to
approval
A municipality may amend the application
any time after the notice has been published
but before approval. Any person, who has
commented when the notice was published,
must be notified of the amendments and
given a further 14 days to comment.
If the amendments are material, the
municipality must re-issue the notice
allowing 30 days for comment.

Applicants right to reply
Copies of all comments made to the
municipality must be given to the applicant
within 7 days of the closing date for
comment. The applicant may reply in writing
to the people who made comment, within 21
days. An applicant who does not want to
respond to comments may waiver the right
to reply to save time.

Site inspection
A municipality can conduct a site inspection
after the period for comments has expired
The municipality must:
Notify the applicant and agree on a time and
date for the inspection.
Secure the property after the site inspection
if the owner or occupier is not present.
A person who has entered the property must
treat all information that has nothing to do
with the application as confidential.
No person may obstruct a person from
entering the property during a site
inspection.

Planning and Development
Procedures continued:

Public hearing
A municipality may decide whether or not
to conduct a hearing within 14 days of the
waiver or comment. If they decide to hold
a hearing, this must take place within 60
days. All parties then have a right to
attend the hearing, to state their case, call
witnesses, cross-examine any person and
have access to all documents.

Period for Municipality to make a
decision
A municipality must decide on the
application within 60 days of the closing
date for comments if there is no hearing
or within 30 days of the hearing
Failure of municipality to observe
the period
If the municipality does not make its
decision by the decision deadline then the
applicant may appeal to the Appeal
Tribunal to force the municipality to act
within the specified time periods. The
Appeal tribunal may fine a municipality for
failing to meet a deadline.
Planning and Development
Procedures continued: