Preliminary Development Advice

Council has a strong commitment to assisting applicants in the preparation of Development Applications by taking an active role in the pre-application process. Council Planning staff can be contacted on (02) 6728 8200 or council@inverell.nsw.gov.au to provide assistance in preparing your development application.

Council offers a free service providing preliminary town planning advice at the initial stages of a proposed development. Over recent years Council has found this service provides an important step for applicants in the Development Application process by identifying development issues up-front. This process helps to ensure that once a Development Application is lodged it can be assessed in a timely and efficient manner.

Council suggests that preliminary advice should be sought for multi-residential, commercial, industrial or large subdivision proposals; however, Council is willing to provide advice on any development proposal. Requests for preliminary advice must be accompanied by relevant information such as plans, studies, subdivision layouts and operational information.

Preliminary advice must be requested in writing, and in some cases it will be advantageous to arrange an on-site meeting with Council staff.

The intent of the preliminary advice is to provide broad comment on the proposed development and the information submitted, as well as indicate the issues which Council considers should be addressed in a Development Application. Other issues may arise depending on the final design of the development and the advice cannot address all matters that will need to be considered by Council once a Development Application is lodged. On receipt of any preliminary advice it should not be assumed that development consent will be automatically granted. Addressing the identified matters is not a pre-requisite for approval.

Once a Development Application is lodged there are certain statutory processes which need to be undertaken in assessing an application. These include notification of property owners in the locality and advertising of the proposed development in the local newspaper. An application may be referred to specialist staff and possibly to other government departments.

Based on comments and advice from either specialist staff or the public, issues may arise requiring additional information, or changes to the proposal. Depending on the level of comment from the community, it may necessitate the determination of the application by a committee or panel.

It should be noted that Planning legislation in NSW changes frequently, and sometimes without notice. Such changes can have significant impact on development outcomes including project costs, approval processes and time frames.