Pre-Lodgement Services (Pre-DA)

Council offers the following types of Pre-lodgement Services to assist you prior to the lodgement of your Development Application.

• Written Advice only
• Written Advice plus a short meeting
• Pre-lodgement meeting
• Design and Sustainability Advisory Panel Meeting & Pre-lodgement meeting
• Stormwater and/or vehicular access pre-lodgement meeting

Important Note regarding Council’s Pre-Lodgement Services - Council regrets to inform that Pre-Lodgement meeting services are currently unavailable for Class 1 & 10 buildings due to significant resourcing constraints. However, Pre-Lodgement services for Class 2-9 buildings, as well as requests for written advice will continue to be made available. Council’s resources have been temporarily redirected to focusing on the assessment of DAs.

Written Advice Only OR Written Advice with a Short Meeting 

These options do not involve advice from other Council departments.

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 20mins 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 (and no other non-compliances, stormwater or engineering issues)
• Alterations and additions to a dwelling that results in a landscaped area non-compliance
• A garage or carport forward of the front building line or; is a particular use (eg: gym, take away food shop, entertainment facility) permitted on a particular site.

Importantly, should you need advice that also involves a development engineer, stormwater engineer, flooding engineer, landscape officer, biodiversity officer or a heritage expert, the appropriate application is a Pre-lodgement Meeting and not Written Advice Only.
Council will provide a brief set of notes containing the Written Advice within 10 business days from the date the application is accepted.

Pre-Lodgement Meeting

These options can involve advice from other Council departments.

Pre-Lodgement Meetings are more suitable for large and/or complex development proposals such as residential flat buildings, seniors housing, boarding houses or more complex single dwellings on difficult or constrained sites. 
A Pre-Lodgement meeting provides the applicant with an opportunity to present and discuss their proposal and obtain Council’s advice prior to the lodgement of a Development Application. This is particularly useful for proposals involving multiple non-compliances with the planning controls and/or development on constrained sites (steepness, narrowness, flooding, trees, watercourses, wave impacts, rock outcrops, stormwater and heritage).

Meetings are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays only and are held via Microsoft Teams. Meetings are held approximately 3-5 weeks from the date of receipt of the application and detailed written Notes will be sent to the applicant within 14 days (Class 1) or 21 days (Class 2-9) from the date of the meeting. 

Pre-Lodgement Notes are confidential until such time that a DA is lodged, and then the Notes will be released online.

Design & Sustainability Advisory Panel (DSAP) and Pre-Lodgement Meeting

The DSAP panel reviews all SEPP 65 developments, shop-top housing, multi-unit housing, boarding houses, seniors housing, as well as large commercial and industrial applications.
When applying for a Pre-Lodgement meeting for one of these types of developments, you will also need to apply for a DSAP & Pre-Lodgement meeting.

During the DSAP meeting the applicant will be provided with advice on architecture/urban design, landscape and sustainability issues only.
At the follow up Pre-Lodgement meeting, all remaining issues, including heritage, traffic, engineering, flooding, ecological, waste, etc, as well as planning feedback for any amendments made after the DSAP meeting, will be discussed.

For more information on the Design & Sustainability Advisory Panel, please visit the webpage.

Stormwater and/or Vehicular Access Pre-Lodgement Meeting

This type of Pre-lodgement meeting is run by Council’s Development Engineers and is for stormwater and vehicular access issues only. Council Planners will not be involved, so if you would like to discuss planning matters as well as stormwater or vehicular access issues, the standard Pre-lodgement meeting is the best option.

View the Stormwater pre-lodgement meeting application - Form #4029

Lodging an Application

1. Complete the online application form.

 Online form

2. Once Council has formally reviewed your application, you will required to pay the relevant application fee based on the estimated cost of the proposal.

3. Any enquiries please email  DAPrelodgements@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Lodgement Requirements 

To assist in the preparation of lodging an online application for a Pre-Lodgement Meeting, please ensure the following documents are provided in PDF format:

• 1 electronic copy of plans (1 PDF document labelled 'Plans - Master Set')

• Report detailing the 'Summary of Proposed Works'

• Regarding the Written Advice Service, please ensure a detailed report is submitted outlining the 'singular issue' to be discussed.

• Additionally any supporting documents/reports to be discussed at the meeting (separate PDF documents clearly labelled)

Pre-Lodgement Meeting fees

Estimated Cost	Fee
Development with estimated cost up to $500,000	$915
Development with estimated cost between $500,001-$2,000,000	$1210
Development with estimated cost between $2,000,001-$5,000,000 or subdivision up to 5 lots	$1,515
Development with estimated cost between $5,000,001- 20,000,000 or subdivision between 6 - 20 lots	$1,805
Development with estimated cost of more than $20,000,001 or subdivision more than 20 lots	$2,405
Development required to be reviewed by Design and Sustainability Advisory Panel which include a Pre-lodgement meeting with staff	$3,260