Councils
we cover.
Most of our work is in metropolitan Sydney, with regular jobs on the Central Coast, in the Illawarra and across the Blue Mountains. Every council reads its planning rules a little differently, and knowing how yours assesses is often worth more than the rules themselves.
Councils we work across
Grouped by region, with what tends to shape a project in each. If your council is not listed, ask: we will tell you honestly whether we know it well enough to help.
Inner Sydney & Eastern Suburbs
Older, finer-grained suburbs where heritage conservation areas (streets protected for their historic character), narrow lots and close neighbours shape what can be built. The Homebush precinct, one of the State’s accelerated Transport Oriented Development (TOD) rezonings for more homes near stations, takes in parts of Strathfield and Canada Bay.
- City of Sydney
- Inner West
- Canada Bay
- Burwood
- Strathfield
- Randwick
- Waverley
- Woollahra
- Bayside
North Shore & Northern Beaches
Leafy, mostly low-density suburbs where tree canopy, steep blocks and bushfire-prone land often decide the building envelope. Hornsby, Macquarie Park and Crows Nest are accelerated TOD precincts. Northern Beaches still applies three separate Local Environmental Plans (LEPs, the council’s main planning rules), for the former Warringah, Manly and Pittwater areas, while a single plan is prepared.
- North Sydney
- Mosman
- Lane Cove
- Willoughby
- Hunters Hill
- Ryde
- Ku-ring-gai
- Hornsby
- Northern Beaches
Southern Sydney
A deep stock of post-war lots in the R2 low density residential zone, which makes the region prime territory for dual occupancies (two homes on one lot) and small townhouse schemes. Canterbury-Bankstown now works from a single consolidated LEP, Bankstown is an accelerated TOD precinct, and parts of Sutherland Shire are bushfire prone or flood affected.
- Canterbury-Bankstown
- Georges River
- Sutherland Shire
Parramatta & North West Sydney
Sydney’s fastest-changing middle ring, from established suburbs to new estates. Bella Vista and Kellyville are accelerated TOD precincts. Parts of Blacktown and The Hills sit in the North West Growth Area, where State precinct plans, rather than the council’s own LEP, set many of the controls.
- Parramatta
- Cumberland
- Blacktown
- The Hills
Western Sydney & Macarthur
Larger lots and newer estates alongside the State’s growth areas around Western Sydney Airport and in the south west. Flooding on the Hawkesbury-Nepean and bushfire risk are common constraints. The Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, the State’s rules allowing more homes near stations and town centres, does not apply anywhere in the Blue Mountains or Wollondilly.
- Penrith
- Fairfield
- Liverpool
- Campbelltown
- Camden
- Wollondilly
- Blue Mountains
Central Coast & Illawarra
Coastal and escarpment towns where flood, coastal hazard and bushfire mapping are common. Both regions are covered by the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy around nominated town centres and stations, and both councils refer contentious applications to an independent local planning panel, as Sydney councils do.
- Central Coast
- Wollongong
What changes from council to council
The State sets the framework, but six things are decided locally, and together they often make the difference between a project that works and one that does not.
The LEP
Each council’s Local Environmental Plan sets the zones, height limits, floor space ratio (the floor area allowed for each square metre of land) and minimum lot sizes. The minimum lot size for a dual occupancy alone varies widely between councils.
The DCP
The Development Control Plan holds the detail: setbacks, landscaped area, parking rates and design rules. It is less binding than the LEP. The law asks councils to apply it flexibly, which gives a well-argued design room to move.
Overlays
Heritage conservation areas, flood planning areas, bushfire-prone land and acid sulfate soils (ground that can turn acidic when disturbed) are mapped council by council. Any one of them can change the approval pathway, the cost or the design.
Contributions
Each council sets its own development contributions plan: a charge per new home or a levy on the cost of works. In Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and the Lower Hunter, the State’s Housing and Productivity Contribution is added on top.
Who decides
Most applications are decided by council staff. Contentious ones, those asking for a large variation to a development standard, and those where the council has a conflict of interest go to the local planning panel, an independent panel of experts that is mandatory in Sydney, Wollongong and the Central Coast.
State policies on top
The Housing SEPP (the State’s housing planning policy), the TOD controls and the codes for complying development apply regardless of council. How they interact with local controls, and where they are switched off by overlays, still has to be checked lot by lot.
Reading a site the way its council will
The controls are only half of it. The other half is how that council has been applying them.
Read the controls for the lot
The LEP, DCP, State policies, overlays and contributions plan that apply to that exact lot, cross-checked against the planning certificate (the council’s official summary of the rules on a property).
Check what gets approved nearby
Recent decisions and panel reports on the council’s application tracker show how it reads its own controls in practice, which is often more telling than the controls themselves.
Choose the pathway
A complying development certificate (CDC, a fast approval for projects that meet fixed standards) through a certifier, or a development application (DA) to council, and whether a DA is likely to go to the panel.
Talk to council early where it pays
Most councils offer a pre-lodgement meeting for a fee. We recommend one for townhouses, heritage sites and schemes that need a variation, when an early answer is worth more than the fee.
Write it the way that council reads
The Statement of Environmental Effects (the planning report lodged with a DA) is set out against that council’s own DCP headings, with any clause 4.6 variation (a request to depart from a development standard) argued up front.
Stay across the changes
Councils are updating their LEPs and DCPs as the State’s housing reforms roll out, so the rules on a site can change between purchase and lodgement. We check what is in force, and what is on exhibition, at each stage.
Councils, answered
My council is not listed. Can you still help?
Ask. The NSW planning system uses the same framework everywhere, so much of our work carries across. We will tell you honestly whether we know your council well enough to help, and if not, we will say so in the first chat.
Does my council matter if I go the CDC route?
Yes. The standards for complying development are set by the State and are the same everywhere, but the council still sets the contributions, its mapping of heritage, flood and bushfire overlays can rule a lot out of the CDC route altogether, and approvals outside the certificate, such as a new driveway crossing, still go to council.
Is my site in a low and mid-rise housing area?
The policy applies to residential zones within 800 metres walking distance of nominated stations and town centres across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and the Lower Hunter. It does not apply to heritage items, land at high risk from bushfire or flooding, or anywhere in the Blue Mountains, Wollondilly, Hawkesbury or Bathurst council areas. A Site Check confirms it for a specific address.
Why would two councils treat the same project differently?
Because the LEP maps, the DCP, the overlays and the contributions all differ, and so does each council’s track record of what it approves. A duplex that complies in one council can need a variation next door. That is why we read the council alongside the site.
Where can I look up a planning term?
The Planning dictionary explains more than a hundred NSW planning terms in plain words, from LEP and DCP to clause 4.6.