Wollondilly Shire Council — Development Application Data
With 2992 applications lodged in the past year from a dataset of 7846 DAs since 2021, Wollondilly Shire Council processes a significant volume of development activity for a regional NSW authority. The median assessment time sits at 68 days, giving applicants a clear timeframe for planning decisions. Development standard variation requests under Clause 4.6 appear in just 2.18% of applications, indicating most proposals align with controls or applicants choose not to pursue variations. The development landscape is diverse: while 6148 applications fall under 'Other' categories, dual occupancy proposals account for 721 DAs, followed by alterations and additions at 446. Cost distribution shows 3079 projects under $100k and 2755 in the $100k to $500k range, though higher-value developments are present with 82 proposals exceeding $5M. A Plan Advice AI-powered assessment for your Wollondilly Shire Council property takes seconds to run.
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 Wollondilly 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 Wollondilly Shire Council, and who decides it
Counted from every application Wollondilly 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.
2.4% of applications in Wollondilly Shire Council sought a clause 4.6 variation to a development standard, and 395.6% of those variations were granted (538 of 136). 5.4% of DAs lodged were withdrawn before a determination was made. On the CDC side, 17% of certificates lodged were rejected rather than accepted, at an average declared cost of $334,848.
Development type mix
What people are building in Wollondilly Shire Council. Ranked by DA volume.
Development cost distribution
Estimated development cost ranges reported on Wollondilly Shire Council DAs.
Wollondilly 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 Wollondilly Shire Council handle?
Plan Advice holds 8,004 development applications for Wollondilly Shire Council, 3,058 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 Wollondilly Shire Council?
The median assessment time is 68 days for FY25-26, after a median 7 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 Wollondilly Shire Council?
The median is 32 days from lodgement to determination across 5,393 applications determined in the last 5 years, and the slowest fifth take 93 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 Wollondilly Shire Council?
49.3% of determinations were made by council staff under delegated authority. council (delegation not specified) determined 48.2%, local planning panel determined 1.2%. Anything referred to a panel or the elected body is decided in a public meeting, which adds a meeting cycle.
Does Wollondilly Shire Council approve clause 4.6 variations?
2.4% of applications sought a variation to a development standard, and 395.6% of those were granted (538 of 136 in the last 5 years).
Can I use a CDC instead of a DA in Wollondilly Shire Council?
39.9% of approvals in this LGA went through as complying development (3,799 certificates in the last 5 years), and 17% 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 Wollondilly Shire Council approve?
91.5% of the 6,917 determined applications we hold were approved and 2.7% were refused. We can read a determination for 100% of this council's DAs; the rest are counted as unknown rather than assumed approved.
What kinds of development are most common in Wollondilly Shire Council?
The most frequent application types are dual occupancy (743), alterations & additions (455), subdivision (370).
How often is a clause 4.6 variation used in Wollondilly Shire Council?
172 applications — 2.15% 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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