Lodging a Development Application (DA)

This is a specialist support service for planning and development matters.

Council’s Development Advisory Service (DAS) in conjunction with Customer Service and the City Planning and Environment Directorate provides front end planning, development and building information for residents and building professionals. The team is able to assist with the following:

• Planning and development enquiries
• Lodgement of Development Application (DA)
• Pre-lodgments and Urban Design Review Panel meetings
• Development Application lodgement through the portal
• Development Engineer Enquiries
• Payment of development fees
• Viewing of notification and exhibition material
• Search of historical documents

Council’s Duty Town Planners will be available for minor enquiries via phone only to discuss your development and lodgement related matters. You can contact the Duty Planner through our Customer Service Centre on 9952 8222. You will receive a response within 2 business days. Remote meetings are available with Planning Advisory Staff by appointment only. 

Find out more

To lodge with the NSW Planning Portal, you will need to first register an account with the portal. After registering, you will be able to lodge the application and then follow the prompts to upload the required information and documentation. The portal can be accessed from the Planning Portal website.

For online lodgements, all initial correspondence will be conducted via the NSW Planning Portal, including request for additional information, notification of acceptance or return of an application. City of Ryde may contact you via the portal if there are issues with the application or if the application is complete. All applications submitted through the portal will be reviewed by Council's Clearing Houses for acceptance.

A notification of what fees are to be paid and how the payment can be made will be sent via the portal once the application is considered acceptable. Lodgement will be completed only after the payment is received by Council.

Additional assistance can be obtained by contacting our Customer Service Centre for customers wishing to lodge applications through the NSW Planning Portal.

Please note:

Applications for Endorsement of Section 88B and Section 88E Instruments cannot be currently lodged through the NSW Planning Portal, these can only be lodged as follows:

• In person at the Customer Service Centre, Ground Floor, 1 Pope St, Ryde 
• Mail to Locked Bag 2069 North Ryde, NSW 1670
• By drop box: drop the documentation in the Ryde Library after-hours return chute available at the front of the library, near the Pope Street entrance.

For technical enquiries relating to the NSW Planning Portal, please contact the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.

The New South Wales Government recently published a comprehensive guide that explains the Development Application process. It gives details on the development assessment and construction approval processes to help you prepare and lodge your application that is ready to be assessed. The guide also explains the steps involved along the way towards a determination.

For more information on the guide, go to the Department of Planning and Environment website.

 The Development Lodgement process is as follows:

1. You collate the documentation and information required for their application (DA, Section 4.55 or Section 8.3).
2. You lodge the applications online via the NSW Planning Portal:
   • All documents and plans are to be uploaded to the portal. Please refer to DA document checklist in the DA Information Package(PDF, 417KB). Please ensure that all documents are marked correctly (refer to page 12 of Council's DA Information Package). 
   • There is no fee payable at this stage. Do not send in payments at the initial stage when you are uploading the application
   • An acknowledgement email, auto-generated via the Planning Portal, will be issued
   • Hard copies of plans or any other documents are not required to be submitted
   • Council will be notified of the application by the portal.
3. Council will review the documentation as soon as practicable via the Clearing House and the customer will be contacted for the following:
   • Acceptance of the application and request for fee/s to be paid or
   • Return of the application or
   • Request for additional information to be provided.
4. When the application is satisfactory for lodgement, a fee quote will be provided with a request for payment. This will be notified via the Portal.
5. When the required fee/s is paid, the application will then be "lodged" as a Development Application, Section 4.55 Modification Application or a Section 8.3 Review Application, and assessment of the application will commence.
6. Applicant will be able to monitor the progress of the application via the portal.

If you have received a returned Application Lodgement Review letter, you can contact our Building and Development Advisory Service to discuss the contents of the letter. Council's contact number is 9952 8222.

If you have any engineering issues raised within the returned letter, we advise that your consultant engineer discuss the issues with Council’s Development Engineer who can be reached via Customer Service Centre on 9952 8222 from 9.00am to 1.00pm, Monday to Friday.

If you need to make changes to a DA that has been issued with a consent, there are several ways to do this. 

• To correct a minor error, an incorrect description or miscalculation, a Section 4.55 (1) application is required
• For other minor modifications that have minimal environmental impact, a Section 4.55 (1A) application is required
• To modify the consent in other ways, due to design changes for example, evidence needs to be provided that the development will be substantially the same, with a section 4.55 (2) application
• To modify a consent handed down by the Land and Environment Court, a Section 4.56 application is required.

Section 4.55 and 4.56 applications all need to be lodged with the NSW Planning Portal and also need verified owner's consent from all of the registered property owners for the changes to be considered. If a company owns the property, the company stamp or seal is required. If the building is subject to a strata scheme, the owners' corporation seal and authorised signatures are required.

Further Requirements

A section 4.55/4.56 application needs to include:

• the completed form (download below)
• fee payment
• supporting documentation.

Additional information may still be required. You are also recommended to discuss proposed changes and modifications with the Assessment Officer who handles your DA before the application is lodged.

• Modification of DA S4.55 and S4.56 Application(PDF, 130KB)

If you wish to review the determination of Development Application, generally in reference to a DA that has been refused by Council, this needs to be lodged and determined within 6 months of the date of application's determination. A Review of a Determination must be determined by the Ryde Local Planning Panel (RLPP).

Please note:

You are advised to submit review applications within 3 months of the application's determination. Otherwise Council will not have sufficient time to assess and determine the application within the 6 month deadline. An Application for Review may not be accepted if Council considers that there may not be adequate time o assess and determine within the 6-month statutory time restriction. This statutory timeline is not flexible. This means that if you are contemplating a review, you will need to allow enough for time for Council to undertake public notification, assessment and other processes involved. More complicated applications can take longer time. You may seek your own independent legal advice in relation to this matter.

If you wish to seek a review of a determination of a modification (Section 4.55), this must be lodged with Council no later than 28 days after the modification was determined. (Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulations 2000 Clause 123I)

• Application form for Review of Determination(PDF, 140KB)

Some minor developments, known as ‘exempt’ developments, do not require consent. Another type of development, called ‘complying’ development, requires a complying development certificate.

The Department of Planning and Environment provides information about development that can be undertaken without planning approval 'exempt' or 'complying' development.

Before you can start building you must get a Construction Certificate, appoint a Principal Certifying (PCA) and provide the Council and the PCA with a two day notice before you start and complete any works.

The Occupation Certificate authorises the occupation and use of a new building or building section. For staged works, an interim OC may be issued which allows you to occupy the completed part of the building.

Complying development is a combined planning and construction approval for straightforward development that can be determined through a fast-track assessment by a council or an accredited certifier. Complying development applies to homes, businesses and industry and allows for a range of things like the construction of a new dwelling house, alterations and additions to a house, new industrial buildings, demolition of a building, and changes to a business use.

The NSW Government provides a comprehensive guide that explains the Development Assessment and construction approval process .

For more information on the guide, go to the Department of Planning and Environment website.

Applications for these certificates can only be lodged through the NSW Planning Portal and you will need to first register an account with the portal. After registering, you will be able to lodge the application and then follow the prompts to upload the required information and documentation. The portal can be accessed from the Planning Portal website.

Before lodging applications for any such certificates, including Building Information Certificates, it is advisable to first contact Council’s Building Certification Team on 9952 8222 so as to discuss Council’s lodgement and documentation requirements.

For online lodgements, all initial correspondence will be conducted via the NSW Planning Portal, including request for additional information, notification of acceptance or return of an application. City of Ryde may contact you via the portal if there are issues with the application or if the application is incomplete. All applications submitted through the portal will be reviewed by Council's Building Certification Team for acceptance.

A notification of what fees are to be paid and how the payment can be made will be sent via the portal once the application is considered acceptable. Lodgement will be completed only after the payment is received by Council.

Private Certifiers are now able to pay and register Post Development Consent Certificates that have been issued within the City of Ryde Council area via the NSW Planning Portal.