Hornsby Shire Council — Development Application Data
Development applications in Hornsby Shire Council move relatively slowly, with a median assessment time of 80 days—well above the metropolitan average. The council processed 1990 applications in the past year from a database of 5653 lodgements since 2021, spanning cost bands from small renovations under $100k (2150 applications) to major projects exceeding $5M (145 applications). Clause 4.6 variation requests appear in 7.47% of applications. When the council does refuse development, the most common grounds are public interest concerns under s4.15(1)(e) cited in 14 refusals, followed by stormwater and drainage issues and insufficient information (9 refusals each), then streetscape compatibility and landscaping deficiencies (6 refusals each). Understanding these specific refusal triggers matters whether you're planning alterations and additions (1008 applications), a subdivision (331 applications), or a dual occupancy (254 applications). A Plan Advice AI assessment for your Hornsby Shire property delivers a detailed feasibility report in seconds.
Determination outcomes
Real approval, refusal and withdrawal rates from finalised DAs in the Plan Advice enriched corpus.
Based on the 100% of DAs in our Hornsby 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 Hornsby Shire Council, and who decides it
Counted from every application Hornsby 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.
8.6% of applications in Hornsby Shire Council sought a clause 4.6 variation to a development standard, and 15.7% of those variations were granted (52 of 332). 5.1% of DAs lodged were withdrawn before a determination was made. On the CDC side, 14.8% of certificates lodged were rejected rather than accepted, at an average declared cost of $274,416.
Why DAs get refused in Hornsby Shire Council
Grounds cited across 17 refused applications, read from the council's own notices of determination. Most recent determination indexed: June 2026. 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. 94 grounds across Hornsby 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 Hornsby 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.
| 99% | Appoint a principal certifier | |
| 96% | Build in accordance with the approved plans | |
| 93% | Construction certificate before works start | |
| 91% | Waste management plan | |
| 90% | Erosion and sediment control | |
| 85% | Stormwater / on-site detentionCOSTS MONEY | |
| 77% | Asbestos / hazardous materials handling | |
| 74% | Construction management plan | |
| 74% | Sydney Water approval (Section 73)COSTS MONEY | |
| 70% | Tree protection and arborist supervisionCOSTS MONEY | |
| 61% | BASIX commitments | |
| 60% | Section 7.11 developer contributionsCOSTS MONEY |
Based on 82 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 Hornsby Shire Council. Ranked by DA volume.
Development cost distribution
Estimated development cost ranges reported on Hornsby Shire Council DAs.
Hornsby 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 Hornsby Shire Council handle?
Plan Advice holds 5,749 development applications for Hornsby Shire Council, 2,046 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 Hornsby Shire Council?
The median assessment time is 80 days for FY25-26, after a median 5 days to get the application accepted for lodgement. 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 Hornsby Shire Council?
The median is 56 days from lodgement to determination across 3,709 applications determined in the last 5 years, and the slowest fifth take 106 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 Hornsby Shire Council?
35% of determinations were made by council staff under delegated authority. council (delegation not specified) determined 59.9%, local planning panel determined 3.3%. Anything referred to a panel or the elected body is decided in a public meeting, which adds a meeting cycle.
Does Hornsby Shire Council approve clause 4.6 variations?
8.6% of applications sought a variation to a development standard, and 15.7% of those were granted (52 of 332 in the last 5 years).
Can I use a CDC instead of a DA in Hornsby Shire Council?
45.2% of approvals in this LGA went through as complying development (3,186 certificates in the last 5 years), and 14.8% 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 Hornsby Shire Council approve?
98.6% of the 9,699 determined applications we hold were approved and 1.4% were refused. We can read a determination for 100% of this council's DAs; the rest are counted as unknown rather than assumed approved.
Why are DAs refused in Hornsby Shire Council?
Across 17 refused applications, the grounds cited most often are stormwater, drainage or flooding (9 refusals), contrary to the public interest (s4.15(1)(e)) (14 refusals), streetscape / neighbourhood character incompatibility (6 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 Hornsby Shire Council?
The most frequent application types are alterations & additions (1,015), subdivision (334), dual occupancy (263).
How often is a clause 4.6 variation used in Hornsby Shire Council?
424 applications — 7.38% 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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