Assessment & approval process

Once you have lodged your application through the NSW Planning Portal, provided the required information and paid the fees, your application will be allocated to a member of Council’s Development Assessment team for assessment.

If required, your application will be placed on public exhibition and/or notified to neighbours to allow the public to comment on your proposal: see DA exhibition and notification. It may also need to be referred to other government agencies for comment or approval.

Under legislation, in assessing your development application, Council staff must consider matters including:

• relevant planning instruments, codes and policies
• the suitability of your site for your proposal
• the likely impacts of your development 
• submissions from neighbours and others
• information from any NSW government agency
• the broader public interest

We may request additional information from you and seek additional advice or specialist reports from your consultants. We may also let you know that changes need to be made to your proposal before Council can consider approving your application.  

Outcomes

There are three possible outcomes for a development application:

• Development consent is granted with conditions.
• The development application is refused, with reasons provided.
• You receive deferred commencement consent, which requires one or more matters to be resolved before you can proceed with the development.

For more information, see the Guide to the Development Application Process on the NSW Planning Portal.

Modifying your development consent

If your development proposal has been approved, it is still possible to make changes to it. To do this, you must submit an application to modify development consent through the NSW Planning Portal.