Byron Shire Council — Development Application Data
A live snapshot of development activity in Byron Shire Council — sourced from NSW Government open data and the 413,770-DA Plan Advice corpus. Refreshed automatically. Data reflects the most recent NSW Planning Portal open-data feeds, counted application by application.
Determination outcomes
Real approval, refusal and withdrawal rates from finalised DAs in the Plan Advice enriched corpus.
Based on the 72.4% of DAs in our Byron Shire Council corpus with a confirmed determination. Applications still under assessment, and any whose outcome the council has not published, are excluded rather than estimated.
How long a DA takes in Byron Shire Council, and who decides it
Counted from every application Byron Shire Council determined in the last 5 years, as published in the NSW Planning Portal open data. Timelines are lodgement to determination, so they include the time spent waiting on the applicant.
An application determined under delegation is decided by the assessing officer. Anything referred to a panel or the elected body is decided in a public meeting and adds a meeting cycle to the timeline. Where the council recorded only “Council” it did not say which, so that row is left as published.
4.8% of applications in Byron Shire Council sought a clause 4.6 variation to a development standard, and 3.2% of those variations were granted (5 of 157). 4.1% of DAs lodged were withdrawn before a determination was made. On the CDC side, 31.8% of certificates lodged were rejected rather than accepted, at an average declared cost of $1,098,499.
Why DAs get refused in Byron Shire Council
Grounds cited across 110 refused applications, read from the council's own notices of determination. Most recent determination indexed: October 2025. Most refusals cite several grounds at once, so these overlap.
Behind each ground above sits the verbatim paragraph the assessing officer wrote, the LEP and DCP clauses it was tested against, and the address and DA number so you can pull the notice yourself. 613 grounds across Byron Shire Council are indexed this way.
See the grounds in fullConditions you should expect
Approval is not the finish line — every consent arrives with conditions. This is what Byron Shire Council actually imposes, measured from the consent notices it has published.
Conditions marked costs money are the ones to budget for — contributions, bonds, specialist reports and public-domain works.
| 98% | Appoint a principal certifier | |
| 98% | BASIX commitments | |
| 96% | Construction certificate before works start | |
| 94% | Security bond or damage depositCOSTS MONEY | |
| 93% | Section 68 Local Government Act approvalCOSTS MONEY | |
| 89% | Stormwater / on-site detentionCOSTS MONEY | |
| 87% | Waste management plan | |
| 85% | Construction management plan | |
| 85% | Build in accordance with the approved plans | |
| 85% | Erosion and sediment control | |
| 81% | Heritage controlsCOSTS MONEY | |
| 81% | Restricted construction hours |
Based on 54 approvals with a published notice of determination · 4 of the conditions above carry a cost. A condition on most approvals is effectively standard; it is not a guarantee of what any individual consent will say.
Development type mix
What people are building in Byron Shire Council. Ranked by DA volume.
Development cost distribution
Estimated development cost ranges reported on Byron Shire Council DAs.
Byron Shire Council DAs — common questions
Answered from this council's own determinations. Where a council has not published a figure, the question is left out rather than guessed.
How many development applications does Byron Shire Council handle?
Plan Advice holds 5,862 development applications for Byron Shire Council, 627 of them lodged in the last 12 months. The figures on this page are counted from that register, not estimated.
How long does a DA take in Byron Shire Council?
The median assessment time is 88 days. That is the council's own reported figure from the NSW Planning Portal league tables, so it covers every DA they determined — not a sample.
How long does the council take to determine a DA in Byron Shire Council?
The median is 88 days from lodgement to determination across 3,291 applications determined in the last 5 years, and the slowest fifth take 188 days or more. The NSW median is 60 days. Counted from the NSW Planning Portal open data, so it covers every application — not a sample.
Who decides development applications in Byron Shire Council?
33.4% of determinations were made by council staff under delegated authority. council (delegation not specified) determined 64.4%. Anything referred to a panel or the elected body is decided in a public meeting, which adds a meeting cycle.
Does Byron Shire Council approve clause 4.6 variations?
4.8% of applications sought a variation to a development standard, and 3.2% of those were granted (5 of 157 in the last 5 years).
Can I use a CDC instead of a DA in Byron Shire Council?
23.2% of approvals in this LGA went through as complying development (987 certificates in the last 5 years), and 31.8% of CDC applications lodged were rejected rather than accepted. A CDC only applies if the proposal meets every development standard in the Codes SEPP.
What share of DAs does Byron Shire Council approve?
81.8% of the 4,765 determined applications we hold were approved and 3.3% were refused. We can read a determination for 72.4% of this council's DAs; the rest are counted as unknown rather than assumed approved.
Why are DAs refused in Byron Shire Council?
Across 110 refused applications, the grounds cited most often are contrary to the public interest (s4.15(1)(e)) (84 refusals), insufficient information submitted by applicant (44 refusals), site not suitable for the development (s4.15(1)(c)) (69 refusals). These are read from the council's own notices of determination, and most refusals cite several grounds at once.
What kinds of development are most common in Byron Shire Council?
The most frequent application types are erection of a new structure (994), alterations and additions to residential development (984), alterations or additions to an existing building or structure (911).
How often is a clause 4.6 variation used in Byron Shire Council?
264 applications — 4.5% of the register — sought a clause 4.6 variation to a development standard.
Most recent development applications
Sampled from the NSW Planning Portal open-data feed.
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