When will council approve your DA? That one date decides when you move out, when you sign a lease, when your finance needs to be ready and when your builder can start.
So How Long Does Council Take?
The NSW Government has set councils a target of an average of 90 calendar days from formal lodgement for 2026-27, or less if a council was already faster last financial year. That drops to 80 days in 2027-28 and 65 days from July 2028. We’re already seeing the difference, with some of our DAs now determined in six to seven weeks, where 12 to 13 weeks used to be more familiar. These targets are averages across each council’s applications, though, so they won’t give you an exact date for yours.
That gap between the average and your date is where plans come unstuck. If I know a DA is likely to sit with council for six months, a family can start looking for a rental in five. If it’s likely to come out in a month, they need to start looking now. The same goes for finance: do you need it sorted this week, or can it wait?
The approval pathway makes a big difference too. A CDC follows a set process, so it’s easier to plan a building start around. With a DA, I tell clients not to bank on a particular date. It may come through sooner than expected, but a neighbour’s objection or a request for more information can change the plan.
I’m Owen Gardner, and I run Gardner Design & Drafting. Over close to 17 years, our team has lodged hundreds of residential applications across Sydney councils. At any one time, we have applications being assessed by several different councils, so we see first-hand how each one is handling the new targets.
“How long will council take?” is the question I’m asked most right now. The official numbers only tell part of the story, so I wrote this guide to fill in the rest. By the end, you’ll know what the new targets mean in practice, where the hidden delays sit, and how to build a realistic timeline for your own project.
What's changed with NSW council DA timeframes?
The new expectations cover the time before and after formal lodgement. They’re set out in the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Statement of Expectations) Order 2026, which commenced on 1 July 2026:
Stage | Council-wide expectation |
|---|---|
Submission to lodgement | An average of 7 calendar days |
Initial adequacy review | Within 4 days of submission |
Invoice issued | Within 4 days of submission, with 3 business days for the applicant to pay |
Internal council referrals | Within 21 days after lodgement |
DA determination: 1 July 2026-30 June 2027 | The lesser of the council’s previous financial-year average or an average of 90 calendar days from lodgement |
DA determination: 1 July 2027-30 June 2028 | The lesser of the council’s previous financial-year average or an average of 80 calendar days from lodgement |
DA determination: from 1 July 2028 | The lesser of the council’s previous financial-year average or an average of 65 calendar days from lodgement |
One change we’re seeing in some applications is that councils raise documentation questions during their initial review, before formal lodgement. That can bring issues to light earlier than they would have surfaced in the past. It may also lengthen the gap between pressing submit and receiving the acceptance letter, so I still plan for both stages.
Does the 90-day target guarantee my DA will be approved within 90 days?
No. The target measures a council’s average across its applications.
Your DA might be determined sooner or later. I wouldn’t sign a lease or lock in a construction date based on the target alone.
And “determination” means council has made a decision. It could approve the DA, attach conditions, grant deferred commencement consent or refuse it.
The delay I see most often starts with a neighbour’s submission about the size, appearance or overshadowing of a proposed build. A design that pushes a planning control can also need more justification or changes. Neither automatically means a refusal, but both can add time.
The public league table counts calendar days from formal lodgement to council’s decision, including weekends and time spent waiting for more information from the applicant. If you’re arranging a rental, it’s the full time elapsed that matters.
What's the difference between submitting and lodging a DA?
Here’s a distinction that catches people out.
Submitting a DA through the NSW Planning Portal doesn’t automatically mean it’s been formally lodged that day.
Council checks first whether the application has enough information to enter the assessment process. They review the documentation, request anything that’s missing, and issue an invoice. Formal lodgement generally happens once the application’s accepted and the fee’s paid.
We might submit through the Portal on a Friday and receive the formal acceptance letter two weeks later. We let clients know when we’ve submitted and when council has formally lodged the DA, because the determination benchmark begins at that second point.
The Order sets a separate seven-day average for councils to move DAs from submission to formal lodgement. Your application can still take longer. We prepare the documents and answer questions promptly, but I include this stage when talking through your timeline.
Are NSW council assessment times actually improving?
Yes, and the numbers back it up. According to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, the statewide average DA assessment timeframe dropped from 115 days to 84 days between the 2024 expectations and 31 May 2026, a 31-day improvement.
We’ve recently seen some residential DAs determined in six to seven weeks after lodgement. In the past, 12 to 13 weeks was more familiar to us. These are examples from our projects, rather than a measured average of Gardner applications.
Council performance is now published in a monthly council league table, filterable by council, region, development type and reporting period. Far more useful than a single statewide average.
Here’s how several of the Sydney councils we commonly work with stack up, based on the August 2026 snapshot published 8 September 2026:
Council | Average submission-to-lodgement time | Average assessment time after lodgement |
|---|---|---|
Bayside | 4 days | 70 days |
City of Sydney | 4 days | 49 days |
Inner West | 3 days | 94 days |
Randwick | 3 days | 76 days |
Waverley | 9 days | 67 days |
Woollahra | 7 days | 98 days |
Use the table to see how councils have been tracking, then look at the live league table before making plans. The August figures cover each council’s mix of applications; they don’t predict how long your particular renovation or new home will take.
What happens when a council falls behind?
The Department uses Planning Portal data to see how long councils are taking. When one falls behind, it can investigate the reasons and work with the council on improvements.
In 2026–27, that support will focus partly on councils averaging 90 days or more and on how many applications meet the expected timeframe.
A council may have to explain its results and make changes, with stronger measures available if performance does not improve. That’s more accountability than a target sitting on a page.
How are councils being supported to make faster decisions?
The NSW Government is offering up to $200 million over three years in infrastructure grants to eligible councils that reduce or maintain low assessment times. The funding rewards better performance; it doesn’t promise a quicker decision on your application.
There’s also a statewide Accelerated Development Assessment Program, which aims to determine suitable low-impact DAs in under 10 working days. If your project is small and straightforward, it’s worth asking whether it could qualify.
I’m encouraged by the applications we’re seeing come through sooner. The targets may help that continue. There’s also talk of AI helping councils assess applications, but I haven’t seen reliable figures showing its effect at the councils we work with. For now, I treat that as a possibility, not a timeframe to plan around.
Will all home renovations now qualify for fast-tracked approval?
No. Your pathway still comes down to your property and what you’re proposing.
Some minor work is exempt development, needing no planning approval at all if every relevant standard is met. Some renovations, additions and new homes may qualify for a Complying Development Certificate (CDC), combining planning and construction approval for straightforward development that meets predetermined standards, generally faster than a DA. If a proposal doesn’t satisfy all complying-development requirements, or the land is excluded from that pathway, it needs a full Development Application (DA) assessed on its planning merits.
The pathway is one of the first things we investigate. A CDC is worth checking where the site and design meet every requirement; trying to make an ineligible project fit can cost time in redesign. A DA allows a proposal to be assessed on its merits, but its timing is less predictable. We check the site and controls before settling the approach, so you know which process you’re actually planning around.
For a broader explanation, see our guide to council approvals in Sydney.
What can still delay a residential DA?
Faster targets won’t remove the complications of a particular site or design. The issues we look for early include:
- incomplete drawings or inconsistent information across documents
- a proposal that exceeds height, floor-space-ratio, setback or landscaped-area controls without adequate justification
- heritage, flooding, bushfire, biodiversity, contamination, easement or aircraft-noise constraints
- missing BASIX documentation or specialist reports
- late coordination between designer, surveyor, engineer, planner and other consultants
- neighbour objections requiring further assessment or design responses
- state-agency referrals or integrated-development requirements
- slow or incomplete responses to a council request for additional information
- significant design changes after lodgement
We aren’t council. We can’t choose the assessing officer or stop a neighbour making a submission. We can show you where a design may raise questions, coordinate the application and respond when council asks for more. That is where we can prevent avoidable back-and-forth.
Three projects from our work show how different the outcome can be.
On one application, the owners chose to push several planning controls. We talked through the risk with them early, and they decided to go ahead. That meant bringing in a town planner for a clause 4.6 statement and preparing extra shadow diagrams. Council’s deferral letter then raised four points. Each one needs a proper response, because leaving any unanswered can lead to further delay or refusal. The application is still being assessed. Pushing a control can be worth it for the home you want, so if you go down that path, build extra time into your plans.
On another project, the property sat just outside a heritage conservation area, directly across the road from it. Council still wanted the design to follow the conservation guidelines. We worked through each request and pushed back where we felt the guidelines didn’t apply. It took close to 18 months, and the approved design ended up very close to where we started. Sometimes a delay has nothing to do with the application itself.
We’ve also had a residential DA in Randwick determined in a matter of weeks. We prepared the application carefully, and other things lined up too. The assessing officer’s workload and whether anyone objects can make a difference, so I wouldn’t hold this result out as a standard timeframe.
How can homeowners help reduce avoidable approval delays?
There are still useful things we can do before and after lodgement:
1. Investigate the property before settling the design
Zoning is only the starting point. We also review the local environmental plan, development control plan, relevant state policies, title restrictions, site conditions and property-specific constraints.
2. Choose the DA or CDC pathway early
The pathway affects the design rules, documentation and consultants required. Settle it while the design is developing, not after the drawings are done.
3. Prepare one coordinated submission package
Plans, BASIX commitments, engineering advice, the Statement of Environmental Effects and specialist reports should all tell the same story. Contradictions between documents invite questions and rework.
Our council-ready house plans checklist covers the typical documents in more detail.
4. Address likely variations clearly
Where a proposal doesn’t meet a numerical planning control, explain the extent of the variation and its planning and environmental impacts. A variation isn’t automatically acceptable just because it’s minor.
5. Respond to council questions quickly and completely
When council asks for more information, we coordinate a complete response and keep the client updated. The public league table counts the time spent waiting, so a prompt response can reduce the elapsed time. Repeated calls alone won’t resolve a planning question; we follow up at sensible intervals and focus on getting council what it needs.
6. Keep the construction budget connected to the design
Approval is only useful if the design is still within reach financially. We can review preliminary construction costs with Gardner Construction while the plans develop, so you can make decisions about scope before lodging a design you may need to change.
More on how scope, approvals and buildability affect design fees in How Much Does a Draftsman Cost?
Where does council approval fit in the full project?
Before you can build, there is more to do than wait for council. A typical residential project moves through these stages:
- Initial project discussion and site review
- Planning research and selection of the likely DA or CDC pathway
- Site measure and survey coordination
- Concept design and client revisions
- Preliminary construction-cost review
- Detailed approval drawings and consultant reports
- Submission through the NSW Planning Portal
- Council’s adequacy review, fee payment and formal lodgement
- Notification, referrals, assessment and any requests for further information
- Determination
- Construction Certificate and other pre-construction requirements (DA pathway)
- Appointment of the certifier and commencement of building work
This is why I ask people to think in stages. The council determination target begins at formal lodgement. It leaves out design, reports and the pre-lodgement review; after a DA consent, you will generally still need a Construction Certificate and other steps before building starts.
What do the 2026 planning reforms mean for your project?
The targets make council performance easier to see. You can check how your council is tracking, then plan around the approval steps your own property needs.
After years of lodging residential applications across Sydney, I’ve learned to start with the site: can the design qualify for a CDC, or will it need a DA? That answer tells us which reports and planning issues to investigate.
We’ll then coordinate the plans and consultants, lodge the application and respond to council’s questions. You’ll know when it’s submitted, when council formally lodges it and what we’re waiting on next.
If you’re planning a renovation, extension, first-floor addition or new home in Sydney, get in touch and tell us about your property. We’ll look at the likely DA or CDC pathway, what needs investigating and which steps you can sensibly plan for now.
The council comparison above uses the August 2026 snapshot published in September. This article gives general information; controls and assessment data can change, and advice for your property depends on its site and proposed design.
NSW council approval FAQs
From 1 July 2026, councils are expected to determine DAs within the lesser of their previous financial-year average or an average of 90 calendar days from lodgement. This is a council-wide benchmark, not a guaranteed deadline for an individual application.
How long does a Development Application take in NSW in 2026?
From 1 July 2026, councils are expected to determine DAs within the lesser of their previous financial-year average or an average of 90 calendar days from lodgement. This is a council-wide benchmark, not a guaranteed deadline for an individual application.
Does the 90-day DA target start when I submit through the Planning Portal?
No. The 90-day determination period is measured from formal lodgement. The separate submission-to-lodgement stage has a council-wide expectation of an average of 7 days.
Does "determined" mean "approved"?
No, and this trips a lot of people up. Determination just means council’s made a decision: approval, approval with conditions, deferred commencement consent, or refusal.
Are council DA timeframes measured in business days?
The council DA targets use calendar days, including weekends and public holidays. Some specialised programs use working days, so check which measure a published timeframe refers to.
Does time waiting for more information count in the council figures?
Yes. The public league table counts the full period from lodgement to determination, including days spent waiting for information from the applicant.
Is a CDC faster than a DA?
Generally, yes. A CDC gets assessed against a fixed set of standards rather than going through a full merit assessment. But your site and proposal need to tick every one of the complying-development boxes.
Can I check how quickly my local council is assessing DAs?
Yes. The NSW council league table publishes monthly lodgement and assessment data, filterable by council, region, development type and reporting period.
What's the fastest way to avoid preventable DA delays?
Check the pathway and site constraints before finalising the design. Then lodge plans and reports that agree with one another, and respond fully if council asks for more information.
Do I still need a Construction Certificate after DA approval?
Generally, yes. Development consent approves the development under the planning system; a Construction Certificate confirms the construction documentation complies with building requirements and is consistent with the consent. A CDC combines both.
Can Gardner Design manage the council approval process?
Yes. We check the pathway, prepare the plans, coordinate the consultants, lodge the application and deal with council’s questions while it’s being assessed.
Primary research sources
- NSW Faster Assessments program
- Statement of Expectations Order and explanatory information
- Environmental Planning and Assessment (Statement of Expectations) Order 2026
- Faster Assessments Incentive Program
- NSW council league table
- NSW Government: planning reforms commencing 21 March 2026
- NSW complying development guidance