This is the initial stage process. Your Development Application has been registered and recorded on Council’s electronic systems and the associated fees have been paid.
This means the Development Application has been assigned to a Council staff member for processing. This staff member will remain your point of contact throughout the assessment process.
During this stage, letters are sent to the owners of all properties directly affected by your proposed development. This letter allows these owners fourteen (14) days to lodge a submission to Council stating any objection or support for an application. This exhibition is open for a minimum fourteen (14) day period.
Please note: Not all development applications are subject to 'on public exhibition'.
This stage involves the Development Application being referred to another department within Council for technical comment. This may involve Health and Building for structural advice, Development Engineering for water and sewer advice, or Planning for heritage advice.
This stage can take up to two working weeks to complete.
Please note: not all development applications are subject to 'referred internally'.
This is a similar process to that which is outlined under the referred internally stage. In this case however the application is referred to a department/organisation which is external to Council. These departments include: NSW Office of Water, NSW Fire Brigade, NSW Rural Fire Service and the Environmental Protection Authority amongst others.
It can take up to four (4) weeks for Council to receive comments from these external departments.
Please note: not all development applications are subject to ‘referred externally’.
In this stage the Assessing Officer carries out an initial desktop assessment of the application and determines if all required information has been submitted to allow for a more thorough assessment. If any information or documents are missing, this is the stage where a letter is sent to the applicant requesting the additional information.
Please note if further information is required the development application will not progress further than this stage until the required documentation has been provided to Council.
During this stage the Assessing Officer visits the site to determine if there are any noticeable constraints that are not able to be identified from either the plans or by using Council systems.
Once at this stage the Assessing Officer has all information they require to complete a thorough assessment of the application. This assessment will determine if the application is to be approved or refused.
Some applications cannot be determined by Council and must be referred to the elected Councillors for determination. In this case the assessment report will make a recommendation for approval or refusal before being forwarded to the next Council Meeting.
If your application has been referred to a Council Meeting you will receive a letter inviting you to speak in a public forum, which occurs immediately before the meeting commences.
This is the final stage in the development assessment process. Once complete, the application has now formally been approved or refused.
A determination certificate will now be created, signed, and uploaded to the Planning Portal, where you will receive notification via email of the decision.
After a Development Application is approved, a Construction Certificate (CC) is required from either a Council Certifier or a private Certifier to ensure compliance with the consent conditions and National Construction Code - NCC (previously known as: Building Code of Australia - BCA).
A CC can be issued by Council or a private Certifier. If issued by a private Certifier, the Certifier will forward a copy of the plans and certificate to Council. Alternatively, you can apply for a CC with Council via the Planning Portal.
Before work commences, a Principle Certifier (Council or private) must be appointed to carry out mandatory inspections, with the primary aim to obtain an Occupation Certificate upon completion of the work.
Once you have started work it is no longer possible to obtain a Construction Certificate and you may have issues later on getting permission to use or occupy the finished work.
Remember to check your conditions of consent for matters that must be satisfied prior to the release of the Construction Certificate.