From 1 July, all homeowners on the Northern Beaches will be required to lodge development applications (DAs) online via the NSW Planning Portal.  This follows a mandate by the NSW Government for metropolitan Councils to accept DAs through the e-Planning Portal.

The Planning Portal, accessible via Northern Beaches Council website, allows applicants to submit development applications from anywhere in real-time. Information and data about applications can also be accessed anywhere and anytime.

Since January 2019, Northern Beaches Council has been using the Planning Portal to accept and process DAs. Council recently commenced using the Portal for sending referrals to external bodies.

Northern Beaches Council Chief Executive Officer Ray Brownlee said there had already been a great uptake of the portal.

“We’ve seen up to 80% of applications received via the portal.  We need the remaining 20% of our applicants to transition to the portal to ensure we can continue to streamline our service through one electronic lodgement method.”

“Our customer service and planning teams are working together to ensure our customers have the appropriate support when using the portal,” Mr Brownlee said.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment also has support and training staff on hand to assist applicants over the phone or by Skype with any Planning Portal technical issues that may occur.

The processing of applications through the Planning Portal has already seen a great improvement in Council’s average DA processing times. For March, April and May this year, Council achieved an improvement of 32 days in average processing time compared to the same period in 2019.  

Prior to lodging a development application there are a few steps customers are asked to follow. Council’s DA lodgement page has more information and documents required to accompany an application to ensure a smooth lodgement experience.

For more information please visit Council’s website

Media Enquiries: media@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au 9942 2678