Monday 29 June 2026

Central Coast Council are rolling out a new initiative to improve the assessment timeframes of Development Applications on 1 July 2026. Council have been working hard to improve their assessment timeframes over the past year, which has shown results in the reduction of applications currently under assessment. 

Parker Scanlon’s Town Planning Team recently attended a workshop on Council’s proposed new Accelerated Development Application (ADA) pathway which provided great insight in how the system will work moving forward. Central Coast Council’s ADA pathway has been modelled off the City of Newcastle’s system, with adjustments to suit Council’s own requirements and current capabilities. 

The ADA pathway is available to those applications which are compliant or ‘mostly compliant’, small variations will be accepted, with a 5% limit on any variations to the development standard of Council’s Local Environmental Plan. Proposals lodged under this pathway must predominately comply with Council’s Development Control Plan, with minor variations considered. The process will involve lodgement of the required plans and reports, including a Statement of Environmental Effects in Council’s provided templates and an ADA checklist for the development direct to Council’s ADA team, rather than on the NSW Planning Portal. This team will then undergo a Pre-check of the proposal and provide a letter of advice on if the application can proceed under this pathway or if a standard Development Application is required, this will have a 10 day turnaround. 

If the proposal passes the ‘Pre-check’ it can be considered as an ADA, being subject to a 15 day approval turnaround if notification is not required, or a 25 day turnaround if notification is required or referral to Ausgrid. This is great news for developers on the Central Coast who have previously experienced hurdles with the assessment and approval timeframes within the LGA. Whilst there will still be certain developments and/or sites that will trigger the need for the standard Development Application process, it is anticipated that assessment turnarounds will be improved overall, since the generally compliant applications are now handled by a separate team. 

Parker Scanlon’s Town Planning Team are excited to to begin lodging applications under this new pathway from 1 July 2026. Contact us today for assistance with your next development on the Central Coast.