Council approval is needed if you intend to undertake any form of development in New South Wales. This approval can be provided either through a Development Consent or a Complying Development Certificate, which cover a range of different activities and can include:
- changing the type of activity a building or piece of land is used for
- subdividing land
- undertaking building and construction work on public or private property (apart from public roads which are covered by a separate approval)
- the demolition of a building or work.
Your first action if you intend to undertake a development should be to contact your Council for a Planning Certificate. This document will contain important information about the piece of land or building, such as environmental, heritage or planning restrictions. This information will help guide you in designing your development proposal.
Council will also help you decide whether your proposal should be covered by a Complying Development Certificate or a Development Consent. New South Wales has streamlined its development process by listing certain development activities that can be approved under a Complying Development Certificate. Obtaining one of these Certificates provides a faster application process than a Development Consent. More complicated development proposals will require a Development Consent. The Council will assist you to correctly categorise your proposal.
If the development is approved under a Complying Development Certificate then the proposed work can commence. Once the work is complete Council will inspect the development to ensure that it has met all of the guidelines agreed to and grant you final approval with an Occupation Certificate.
If the proposal is approved under a Development Consent then Council will often provide a series of recommendations with the approval. Before the development work can start you will need to address these additional criteria and apply for a Construction Certificate. This Certificate allows you to actually begin the work on the development project. Once the work is complete Council will inspect the development to ensure that it has met all of the guidelines agreed to and grant you final approval with an Occupation Certificate.
Strathfield Council has launched eDA, a fully secure online development application lodgement and tracking service. eDA allows the tracking of DAs for the entire DA lifecycle from initial application lodging through to assessment.
Anyone with an internet connection can submit and then access their eDA at any time and can also complete supporting documentation required for complying development and construction certificates.
Customers can also log in from anywhere at any time to see how their application is progressing. At key milestone points, customers also receive email messages informing them of their applications progress.
Access to the tracking service is via the Council website.
