Newcastle City Council — Development Application Data
A live snapshot of development activity in Newcastle City 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.
How long a DA takes in Newcastle City Council, and who decides it
Counted from every application Newcastle City 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.
6.7% of applications in Newcastle City Council sought a clause 4.6 variation to a development standard, and 50.9% of those variations were granted (266 of 523). 6.2% of DAs lodged were withdrawn before a determination was made. On the CDC side, 18.2% of certificates lodged were rejected rather than accepted, at an average declared cost of $354,751.
Development type mix
What people are building in Newcastle City Council. Ranked by DA volume.
Development cost distribution
Estimated development cost ranges reported on Newcastle City Council DAs.
Newcastle City 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 Newcastle City Council handle?
Plan Advice holds 10,052 development applications for Newcastle City Council, 1,422 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 Newcastle City Council?
The median assessment time is 55 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 Newcastle City Council?
The median is 55 days from lodgement to determination across 7,469 applications determined in the last 5 years, and the slowest fifth take 126 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 Newcastle City Council?
27.3% of determinations were made by council staff under delegated authority. council (delegation not specified) determined 71%. Anything referred to a panel or the elected body is decided in a public meeting, which adds a meeting cycle.
Does Newcastle City Council approve clause 4.6 variations?
6.7% of applications sought a variation to a development standard, and 50.9% of those were granted (266 of 523 in the last 5 years).
Can I use a CDC instead of a DA in Newcastle City Council?
28.2% of approvals in this LGA went through as complying development (3,058 certificates in the last 5 years), and 18.2% 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 kinds of development are most common in Newcastle City Council?
The most frequent application types are alterations or additions to an existing building or structure (2,130), erection of a new structure (2,128), dwelling house (1,939).
How often is a clause 4.6 variation used in Newcastle City Council?
628 applications — 6.25% 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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