Central Coast Council offers a range of services free of charge to discuss preliminary development and zoning matters with Council staff members including town planners, building surveyors and development engineers.
All other services below including written advice, pre-development meetings and post-consent can be organised alongside a service fee.
Customers who wish to book a free 15-minute consultation between 10am-1pm, Monday to Friday with a Town Planner or Building Surveyor can do so via this link and follow the prompts. A Development Engineer can also be contacted, subject to availability, between 10am and 1pm daily on 02 4306 7900.
Development related enquiries
Council recognises the need in the community for technical advice associated with development and wants to ensure this advice provided is provided promptly.
Customers who wish to seek general advice regarding planning, building surveying or development engineering can create an account and submit an enquiry via our 24/7 Customer Service Centre. Council can assist you more efficiently if you provide:
- Your name and contact details, including an email address
- The address of the property
- Details about the nature of your enquiry and what you require from Council.
A Development Engineer can be contacted (subject to availability) between 10am and 1pm daily on 02 4306 7900. If the requested officer is not available or speaking with another customer, an enquiry will be submitted on your behalf and allocated to the relevant area. For Flood Certificate enquiries, access this form.
From 8 August 2022, Customers who wish to book a free 15-minute consultation between 10am-1pm, Monday to Friday with a Town Planner or Building Surveyor can do so via this link and follow the prompts.
Please note, Council may find it difficult to contact you if you have a block on your smartphone for private or unknown numbers. To ensure you receive a call, please turn off this feature nearing your appointment time.
In choosing where to direct your enquiry, please refer to the following for guidance:
Building Surveyor
- Secondary dwellings
- Single dwellings (including alterations and additions and ancillary works including pools)
- Garages/ carports
- Dividing fences
- Technical building enquiries relating to the Building Code of Australia.
- Number of toilets required
- Bushfire ratings (Australian standards)
- Termite protection
- Timber frame construction
- Fire safety in buildings / smoke detectors
- Balustrade compliance
- Hoarding
- Waterproofing
- Sediment control.
Town Planner
- All other residential development enquiries, including multi dwelling housing, residential flat development, shop top housing, subdivision, dual occupancies, home businesses, short term accommodation, affordable housing etc
- All commercial development, including change of use, events, signage
- All deferred matter enquiries
- All industrial and rural development enquiries
- Questions relating to planning legislation
- Existing use rights
- Lapsing of consent enquiries.
Development Engineer
- Vehicle access enquiries
- Stormwater/ water cycle management
- Subdivision certificate enquiries
- Traffic and parking requirements relating to development
- Floor level enquiries relating to development.
Please note:
- Each appointment with a Town Planner or Building Surveyor at the abovementioned times is limited to a maximum of 15 minutes by phone only.
- Any response by Council staff to a development related enquiry will direct customers to relevant policies and the applicable approval pathway. Council staff cannot provide detailed advice, particular to a development proposal, though this service.
- Council offers a range of pre development and post consent services for a fee should you require more detailed advice further to those services identified above, details are further on this page.
- Alternatively, anyone contemplating the carrying out of development or the purchasing of land in the Central Coast Local Government Area can obtain their own planning advice from a suitably qualified professional such as a town planner or private solicitor specialising in land use and/or planning law. Council is not able to recommend the name or contact details of such professionals.
Written advice on a single matter or written advice with a meeting on single matter
These options are suitable for residential and minor commercial proposals where Council’s written advice on a single issue is being sought. If you only need to provide documents and/or plans, then the Written Advice Only is the best option.
If a short meeting is required for you to give further explanation on the single planning issue, then the Written Advice plus Meeting is best. The meeting will be a maximum of 30 minutes (remote attendance only) and is only to cover the single issue.
Examples of a single issue include:
- A new dwelling with a breach of the height limit or the floor space ratio (with no other non-compliances, stormwater, ecological or engineering issues highlighted for discussion)
- Alterations and additions to a dwelling that results in a landscaped area non-compliance
- A garage or carport forward of the front building line
- Is a particular use (eg: gym, take away food shop, entertainment facility) permitted on a particular site
- Dwelling entitlement.
Fill out the application form making sure you include all proposal-related documentation. Council will contact you to arrange a meeting time and invoice for the provision of written advice.
Council will provide brief written advice for the associated service within 10 business days from the date the application is accepted.
For more information, view the pre-lodgement services and advice fees and charges.
Do not use this service to obtain a Flood Level Certificate. Requests for flood information can be accessed here.
Pre-development meetings
The pre-development meeting service aims to avoid delays, non-compliance and pitfalls that may be encountered in the development assessment process due to incomplete or non - complying applications. The pre-development meeting will identify development application submission requirements through consideration of site constraints and policy requirements.
A town planner will conduct the pre-development meeting. Where detailed advice is required in respect of specific engineering, flooding, ecological, or other matters, and Council’s technical officers will be available to attend the meeting for an additional fee, subject to current rates outlined in Council's Fees and Charges.
The pre-development meeting is intended to give simple and direct advice which is not be taken as inferring a reasonable expectation as to the outcome of the assessment process.
Following the meeting, Council will provide you with a written summary of the advice and issues discussed at the meeting within 21 business days.
Where and when are pre-development meetings held?
Meetings are generally one hour in duration, however, longer meetings may be arranged subject to the adopted meeting rates.
Meetings are held remotely, however, a meeting can be held at Councils Wyong administration building at 2 Hely Street via request and subject to the availability of Council staff.
Lodging a pre-development meeting application
To facilitate the obtainment of advice, it may be necessary to submit concept plans/sketches, preliminary design layout (floor plan, elevations, height), an outline of your proposal (giving details of all lots) and an agenda with details of all specific matters that you wish to be covered during the meeting.
Fill out the application form, making sure you include all proposal-related documentation. Council will contact you to arrange a meeting time and invoice for the provision of written advice.
Important
Whilst Council may provide you with general information about the town planning process, and that may include referring you to legislation, planning instruments and other planning policies, Council cannot give you advice about how you should, or can, develop your land, and cannot give you an indication whether any development proposal will be granted development consent. You may wish to seek further advice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, such as a town planner or lawyer specialising in planning law.
Comments are only provided by professional staff attending the meeting. At no time should comments of the officers be taken as a guarantee of approval of your proposal.
Contact Council on 02 4306 7900 for further information.
Post-consent services and advice
Council offers several post-consent services and advice for a fee. These services include:
- Request for an extension of a development consent under section 4.54 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
- Request an assessment of compliance with a deferred commencement condition under Section 4.16(3) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
- Review of information to satisfy conditions of development consent.
Fill out the application form, making sure you include all relevant documentation. Council will contact you to invoice for the provision of written advice.
Please note:
If a request for post-consent advice requires an onsite technical inspection (for example of an Ecologist, Environmental Health Officer, or Development Engineer etc) an additional service fee will be required per officer in attendance. Any requirement for an onsite technical inspection and staff attendance will be confirmed upon receipt of each request.
The above services do not negate the responsibility of the Principal Certifier in otherwise confirming compliance with any applicable condition of development consent.