Strategic assessments can make a real difference for developers, residents, businesses and the environment but they need to be done well. In our experience there are five key areas where expectations don’t meet reality and projects run into trouble. If you’re starting a strategic assessment, here’s what you need to know.

The availability and cost of offsets is quickly becoming a major constraint on development near Australia’s capital cities. When the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment set out to approve four new urban areas in Western Sydney, we took a fresh look at the problem to create an offset strategy that worked for regulators, developers, and the environment.

Local Land Services needed to review a set of new vegetation management laws for agricultural land in NSW. We worked with them to coordinate a set of expert reports and deliver an evidence based evaluation they could be confident in.

MMG were planning to expand operations at their mine in Central Queensland when an unexpected visitor to their monitoring cameras put the expansion in doubt. Through engagement with expert ecologists, clear communication with the regulator and the right approval strategy we were able to quickly resolve the environmental and regulatory risk and get their project back on track.

NSW Farmers and Australian Pork Limited needed some fast policy muscle to understand the NSW Government’s proposed approach to protecting agricultural land. We built their ideas into a pathway to better manage competition and conflict on agricultural land.