Frequently asked questions

DCA is part of the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

DCA provides a single, coordinated response to referrals for development applications to support development assessment. It brings together expertise across government to ensure key matters in the development approval process are considered efficiently and consistently.

For other planning pathways, including State significant development and planning proposals, DCA provides technical advice where it has in-house expertise and this is provided through established assessment processes.

DCA responds to referrals for a wide range of development types, including residential, commercial, industrial and infrastructure development where NSW Government input is required.

DCA coordinates technical expertise across NSW Government to provide responses to referrals on key matters, including:

• environment, biodiversity and heritage
• natural hazards and resources
• transport and infrastructure
• water and flooding.

For local development applications, DCA coordinates internal expertise and, where required, engages with relevant NSW Government agencies to assess the referral. While DCA has in-house capability to address most matters, there may be instances where specialist input from another agency is needed. In these cases, DCA works with that agency to obtain and integrate their advice, providing a coordinated response back to the consent authority.

DCA does not coordinate input from organisations outside the NSW Government (such as Commonwealth entities or utility providers). Consent authorities will continue to engage directly with these bodies where required.

DCA’s post-consent service is focused on housing developments only.

DCA provides support to unblock delays after development consent for eligible residential developments.

This includes resolving delays with conditions, approvals or agency matters that may be preventing construction or occupation—such as controlled activity approvals, construction and occupation certificates, or conflicting government advice. For eligible residential matters, DCA’s Post Consent Team may provide case management style support, working with councils, State government or utility providers to move approved housing projects forward.

A referral is the process where a consent authority seeks expert input from a Government agency or body to inform development assessment.

There are 3 types of referrals:

• Consultation – the consent authority must consult and consider the response.
• Concurrence – the consent authority must obtain agreement.
• Integrated development – the consent authority must obtain general terms of approval (GTAs).

See the new referrals framework and integrated development for more information.

A referral or technical input from DCA may be required where a development raises matters that need input from NSW Government.

For local development, this input is provided through formal referrals made by councils where referral requirements are triggered under Chapter 4 of SEPP (Planning Systems) 2021 or an Act.

For other proposals, such as State significant projects and planning proposals, technical input is provided through established assessment pathways led by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

This can include development that:

• affects major infrastructure such as roads, rail corridors, ports, airports or utilities
• is located near drinking water catchments or important waterways
• impacts State listed heritage or declared Aboriginal places
• involves risks such as bush fire, mine subsidence or hazardous industries.

NSW Government agencies play an important role both during and after the development application process.

Agencies are responsible for issuing separate licences and approvals under their own legislation, as well as carrying out compliance and enforcement activities after development consent has been granted.

These approvals are often needed before construction can begin or before works can be carried out. For example, approval may be required for:

• connecting development to water and sewer infrastructure
• undertaking works on or near public roads
• impacting waterways, heritage items or other regulated assets

These approvals are separate to development consent and are applied for directly with the relevant agency or authority.

DCA does not issue these approvals. Where integrated development applies, DCA instead provides general terms of approval (GTAs) as part of the development application process, which set out the conditions that must be met to obtain the separate approval. The applicant must still apply to the relevant agency to obtain that approval.

Agencies also continue to:

• set and maintain policy and technical frameworks (such as bushfire protection, heritage and environmental standards)
• perform their regulatory, compliance and enforcement functions
• provide their own customer service and point of contact functions for matters outside the referral process.

DCA applies agency frameworks when responding to referrals, but does not replace agencies’ statutory roles.

Councils (as consent authorities) make the final decision on local development applications. In making their determination, councils must consider all relevant matters, including responses to referrals from DCA and other bodies.

Councils are responsible for:

• assessing development applications against local planning controls (e.g. LEPs, DCPs and local policies)
• identifying referral requirements for development and modification applications
• making referrals to DCA or other relevant bodies
• managing the application process, including requesting additional information from applicants where required
• collecting and processing relevant fees
• notifying the public, receiving submissions and responding to community enquiries
• making the final determination (approval or refusal) and imposing conditions of consent
• managing reviews of their own determinations, appeals and deemed refusal matters.

Fees apply to referrals to DCA for local development and some modification applications.

• $1,100 per referral to DCA.
• Fees are based on the number of referral matters (e.g. 2 concurrences = $2,200).
• $550 per referral for certain complex modification applications under section 4.55(2) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

No fee is charged for:

• minor modification applications with no or minimal environmental impact
• referrals under the Sydney Water Act 1994 or Hunter Water Act 1991.

Yes. Applicants may seek a review of certain decisions made by DCA.

This applies where a condition of consent requires something to be done to the satisfaction of DCA. In these cases, an applicant may request a review of the specific DCA requirement or decision.

The review is limited to that specific decision. Any review of the overall development determination must be undertaken by the consent authority (e.g. council), which is responsible for the final decision on the application.

The review is undertaken by DCA under a separate process. Further procedural details, including applicable fees, will be published separately.

Development applications and modification applications are referred based on the date they were lodged.

Applications lodged before 1 July 2026 (in‑flight applications) will continue to be assessed under the referral provisions that applied at the time of lodgement. Referrals for these applications will continue to be made directly to the relevant agencies, which will retain responsibility for providing general terms of approval, concurrence or consultation responses through existing processes.

The fees and statutory timeframes that applied at the time of lodgement will also continue to apply.

Applications lodged on or after 1 July 2026 will be referred under the new referrals framework.

If a non‑minor amendment is accepted after 1 July 2026 for an in‑flight application, the lodgement date will reset to the date the amendment was submitted. In these cases:

• the new referrals framework will apply
• any existing referral cases in the Planning Portal will be automatically cancelled
• councils will need to submit new referrals to the relevant referral authorities, including DCA, where required
• the referral check process will apply for referrals to DCA.

Pre‑lodgement technical advice is intended for proposals where NSW Government statutory inputs are likely to be required and where early issue identification would reduce assessment timeframes.

DCA may provide pre‑lodgement technical advice where it has relevant in‑house technical expertise.

For pre‑lodgement technical advice may be guided by the following principles:

• Homeowners and small scale development should seek pre‑lodgement advice from their local council in the first instance. DCA does not provide a direct pre‑lodgement service for routine local development.
• Local development (via councils): Councils may seek early technical input from DCA where the development is likely to have multiple State referrals, raises significant technical issues, and where DCA has relevant in‑house expertise. Where this is not the case, engagement should occur directly with the relevant technical agency.
• State significant projects: Proponents may access DCA technical advice after SEARs have been issued and before lodgement of the EIS, where DCA has relevant in‑house expertise. DCA does not coordinate pre‑lodgement advice across all agencies.

DCA will consider requests on a case‑by‑case basis and may prioritise matters with the greatest complexity or potential to benefit from early technical input within its areas of expertise.

Any pre‑lodgement advice is general in nature and does not bind the consent authority or replace formal statutory referrals.

The Planning Portal Technical Support team can assist with issues in the portal:

• Phone: 1300 305 695
• Email: [email protected]

Please also visit the Support hub.

For local development, councils identify whether a referral to DCA is required.

Before making a formal referral, councils must submit the application to DCA for a referral check. This allows DCA to confirm:

• whether a referral requirement applies
• whether sufficient information has been provided.

It can take place either before or after the application is formally lodged with council, providing flexibility in how councils manage the process. This step does not form part of the statutory referral timeframe.

If DCA has not responded within 2-business days, councils can proceed with formally referring the application to DCA, ensuring the referral check does not delay the council assessment process.

Once the application is formally referred through the NSW Planning Portal and any required fees are paid, the referral timeframe begins.

DCA:

• coordinates expertise across NSW Government
• assesses the referral(s)
• provides a single, consolidated response to the referral(s).

A referral check is not required for referrals relating to modification applications.

DCA and other organisations generally have 28 calendar days to respond to a local development referral.

The timeframe:

• starts when the referral is made through the Planning Portal and fees are paid
• pauses if additional information is requested
• restarts once that information is provided.

If no response is received within the timeframe, the consent authority may proceed to determine the application.

Once a formal referral is submitted, if additional information is required to complete an assessment, DCA may issue a request for information and council will issue this to the proponent. When this occurs, the 28-day timeframe is paused, and the timeframe restarts once the information has been provided.

Update answer to: For local development applications, applicants should first reach out to council for an update. Council can contact DCA Front Door team for updates on your referral. They can coordinate a response from DCA or other NSW Government agencies to provide status updates, if needed.

For State significant projects, including State significant development (SSD) and State significant infrastructure (SSI), DCA provides advisory inputs on matters where DCA has technical expertise directly to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure as part of the assessment process.

Proponents can engage with DCA regarding their project after Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) have been issued and prior to lodgement of the Environmental Impact Statement through the Major Projects portal.

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) planning officer responsible for the project is the primary contact. You can also submit an enquiry to the DPHI assessment team. You can also visit the State significant projects help pages.

Requests for further information for SSD/SSI projects are managed through DPHI’s established assessment process for State significant projects.

For planning proposals and rezonings, councils should continue to work with their usual DPHI contacts.

DCA advice is provided through established DPHI plan-making processes, including Gateway assessment, exhibition and finalisation.

Where technical input from NSW Government is required, DPHI teams may draw on DCA advice using established Department processes.

Referral requirements that were previously spread across more than 175 environmental planning instruments have been brought together in Chapter 4 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021. 

Some referral requirements still sit outside the SEPP. These include the integrated development provisions in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and consultation and concurrence requirements in the following Acts:

• Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (sections 7.11 and 7.12)
• Dams Safety Act 2015 (section 48)
• Fisheries Management Act 1994 (sections 221ZY and 221ZZ)
• Hunter Water Act 1991 (section 51)
• Marine Estate Management Act 2014 (sections 55 and 56)
• Sydney Water Act 1994 (section 78).

No, DCA will not manage referrals to bodies outside of the NSW Government. This includes referrals in relation to:

• Aboriginal places of heritage significance, which will be provided by local Aboriginal communities.
• Airports, which will be provided by airport operators like Sydney Airport.
• Gas, electricity and high-pressure pipeline infrastructure, which will be provided by the companies that operate the networks.
• Observatory and defence infrastructure, which will be provided by the director of the Siding Spring Observatory and the Department of Defence respectively.
• Ports, which will be provided by operators of Port Botany, Port Kembla and the Port of Newcastle.
• Rail infrastructure managed by bodies outside of the NSW Government, which will be provided by rail authorities such as the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
• Certain development along the Murray River, which will be provided by relevant Victorian councils and agencies.
• The Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Property, which will be provided by the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Advisory Committee.

Consent authorities will continue to refer development applications directly to these bodies.

Under Part 4.3 of State Environmental Planning Policy (Planning Systems) 2021, there are 2 situations where modification applications require referral. They are:

1. Where a modification application introduces a new referral requirement.
2. Where a modification application changes a condition of consent that resulted from a referral.

Where a modification application introduces a new referral requirement

A modification application requires referral if it would change a development consent in a way that, if the modification were a development application, would give rise to a referral requirement that did not apply to the original development application.

Example

A residential subdivision near bush fire prone land was approved by council. Because it was not on bush fire prone land, the original development application did not need to be referred to DCA.

The applicant later submits a modification application to expand the subdivision onto land that is bush fire prone.

Because the modification application would change the approved development in a way that, if it were a development application, would require a referral that did not apply to the original development application, the council must refer the modification application to DCA.

Where a modification application would affect a condition of consent that resulted from a referral

A modification application requires referral if it would affect a condition of consent that resulted from a referral.

If the condition was imposed because of a referral to an agency or group listed below, the consent authority must consult that agency or group.

If the condition was imposed because of a referral to any other body, including a referral to DCA on or after 1 July 2026, the consent authority must consult DCA.

Agencies or groups (other than DCA) that may need to be consulted on modification applications include:

• airport operators
• Australian Rail Track Corporation
• Commonwealth Department of Defence
• Director of Siding Spring Observatory
• electricity suppliers and pipeline operators
• local Aboriginal communities
• local councils or government department in Victoria
• Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Advisory Committee.

Example

A development application next to a railway line was originally referred by council to DCA because it could affect rail safety.

DCA provided advice on how to manage potential impacts on the railway line, which the council included as conditions of consent.

The applicant later submits a modification application seeking to change those conditions.

Because the condition was imposed as a result of a referral to DCA, the consent authority must consult DCA.

No. A new fee will not be charged if the application has already been referred under the same provision.