How do I respond to an Information request?
When an Information request is issued by the Authority, the applicant is required to respond to the Information request within the software within a particular legislative timeframe. The process in which Information requests are responded to happens within the Further information status.
Response timeframes vary by region, check on the Information request document or contact your authority to confirm these timeframes.
Why is an Information request being issued?
Information requests are usually issued as the application material submitted has insufficient evidence to support their proposal. Some examples include:
plans, drawings or reports are missing from supporting material,
there is insufficient evidence to support a non-compliance with an assessment benchmark, or
a section, chapter or code of the local planning instrument may need to be addressed.
Steps within the Further information process |
When an Information request is issued, the applicant will receive an email with a link to the application in the software and a copy of the Information request PDF document.
Although you have been sent the PDF Information request document to review, it is only a receipt of the tasks completed within the software. Your Information request items are attached to specific steps and workflows within the software, each of them is now a task for you to complete, each Information request item requires a response.
How to respond to an Information request
1. Select the links in the email to open both the PDF document for review and the application in the software.
It is important that you are still reviewing the PDF document, as there may be information on the document that isn't available in the software. This may include information on how and when to respond to the requests.
2. The software will open the application on the step that requires action. E.g. If the authority has identified that there is an Information request item about the application's assessment against an assessment benchmark the user will be taken to the Reporting step to complete a response about the assessment benchmark item.
3. The Information request item (authority request) will be visible within the software directly above the item they are actioning.
The image below shows an example of an Information request item about an assessment benchmark for the proposed height.
4. The Applicant is provided with the option to respond to the request within the ‘Applicant Response’ text box. If required, the Applicant can also change their answer to the item.
In the example above the applicant has responded to the request (shown in red) and they may choose to update their category answer from ‘Complies with PO2' to ‘Not compliant’.
5. Mark the requested item complete and move to your next task. Use the navigation panels on the left side of the screen and the steps along the top of the screen to determine your incomplete tasks. Steps will become orange when they have incomplete tasks within them.
You have the option to update any of your assessment answers while the application is within the Further information status. This could include updating a response to assessment criteria at the Reporting - Codes (Applicant) step, even though no Information requests were made of that item. Your previous responses and answers are stored in the historic versions of the application.
6. Once you have completed your tasks for the Information request items, and made any changes to the application, you can now lodge the application back to the Authority to view your changes and responses.
7. Navigate to the Publish (Applicant) step. Here you can refresh the parts of your development application.
A summary of changes will populate in your PDF development application, listing changes between the previous status and this status.
8. Select the Publish button to submit the response to the Information request. A pop-up will generate asking you to confirm you would like the application to be re-submitted. Select Yes.
9. The status of the application will update from Further information status to Evaluation status. The application will then be locked for the applicant from making changes.
10. The Authority assessment team will be notified by email that a response to the Information request has been lodged.
Never worry about losing your copy of the Information request PDF. The software stores all documents between the applicant and authority in the Documents feature feature. Use this feature at any time to retrieve historical notices and reports.