Council can provide advice to help you with your development application.
The first step in preparing a development application is to find out about our controls, policies and guidelines. Before designing your proposal, you need to know about:
- Approval requirements under Environmental Planning legislation;
- Local Environmental Plans;
- Relevant Development Control Plans; and
- Relevant Council policies.
Council's planning controls and policies are available on this website. You may need to get some professional advice from an architect, draughtsperson and/or planner, before preparing development plans.
Pre-DA advice
Once you have gone through the above controls and policies and prepared development plans, you might have specific questions regarding your proposed development. Council offers two services to help you prepare your application. Our Duty Planner can assist with the majority of Planning questions and is available at Council’s Customer Service Centre on Thursdays and Fridays between 10am and noon, or over the phone on Monday to Friday from 9am–1pm at 9707 9000.
NOTE: Council does not provide general advice regarding the development potential of individual sites.
For a detailed response to a specific proposal, particularly where variations to Council's controls are proposed or for large-scale developments, we recommend that you organise a 'pre-DA meeting' with Council's Development Team.
Please fill out Council’s formal pre-DA request form. This will focus the discussion and allow us to give more detailed feedback.
Need other approvals?
You need to be aware that your proposal may require approval from other government agencies, listed under Section 91 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. A development that requires any of these approvals is classed as an "integrated development".
Applications for integrated development are referred to the relevant agency, including (but not limited to):
- Heritage Council - where your proposal involves a site covered by a State Heritage Order;
- Department of Primary Industries - where your proposal involves works within 40 metres of a waterway, or affect the waterway
- Department of Planning and Environment - where your proposal involves works to a scheduled premises licensed by that Department or may impact on threatened species.
It depends on what you intend to build, but most building work requires Council approval.
You will need to check if you require Council approval before you start.
Some very minor building work like cubby houses, barbeques and some pergolas may be exempt.
This depends on the type of development. Refer to the Planning and Building Application Lodgement Guide and Checklist.
Council does not provide general advice regarding the development potential of individual sites.
Council's planning controls and policies are available on this website for you to review in order to determine what the site can accommodate.
You may need to get some professional advice from an architect, draughtsperson and/or planner, before preparing development plans.
This may depend on the type of development being considered. For example, we are able to process some smaller developments (known as Complying Development) more quickly than those which fall outside of this classification.
Fees are based on the type of approval you need. Council bases the fees on the value of the building work but you also need to pay for advertising, long service levy and other fees like damage deposit.
This depends on the type of development.
Refer to the Planning and Building Application Lodgement Guide and Checklist.
The State Government has introduced new mandatory rules for certain development applications submitted to councils in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area and Wollongong Local Government Area.
These new rules enforced by the State Government means that since 1 March 2018, development applications must be determined by:
- District Planning Panels.
- Local Planning Panels (formerly referred to as the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel); or
- Delegates of the council (planning officers);
Council's planning officers are delegated to determine all planning application's, however those applications that meet the following criteria, must be referred to the Local Planning Panel for determination:
- Any applications submitted by a Council officer who is principally involved in the exercise of council's functions under the EP&A Act or a Councillor;
- Any applications submitted by Council itself;
- Any application submitted by a member of Parliament or a relative of any of the above;
- An application that receives 10 or more objections;
- An application that contravenes a development standard by more than 10 per cent or a non-numerical development standard;
- Designated development;
- Residential flat buildings of four or more storeys in height;
- A development application that involves demolition of a heritage item;
- A development for the purposes of a new premises that will require a club license, a hotel (general bar) license, or an on-premise license for public entertainment venues;
- Development application for the purpose of sex service premises and restricted premises; and
- Development Applications for which the developer has offered to enter into a planning agreement.
All development applications with a construction value in excess of $30 million must be forwarded to the Sydney South District Panel, which is chaired by Helen Lochhead, Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales, who was appointed by the NSW Government.
Based on recent changes outlined above, decisions on development applications are no longer referred to the elected Councillors for determination.