Expert referrals

What are internal referrals?

Depending upon the complexity of each application, numerous internal referrals, such as to our Engineers, Arborists (trees), Heritage Officers, Fire Safety Officer, Building Surveyors and Environmental Health Officers, etc. may be necessary.

Each of these professionals then undertakes a review of the application documents relevant to their considerations. For example, acoustic reports will be sent to the Environmental Health Officers to review.

What are external referrals?

To meet legislative requirements, referrals may be necessary to NSW Departments and Authorities (Transport for NSW (TfNSW), etc.) that provide Integrated Referral conditions (General Terms of Approval). In some cases, concurrence is required to be given before we can grant any development consent.

Any one of these experts or external referral bodies may require additional information from the Applicant. If this is necessary, we will communicate this to you as soon as we are made aware of the necessity for such information.

Can conflicts between experts occur?

It is not uncommon for there to be conflict between some internal and external expert professionals since they all look at each application within their own fields of expertise. For example our Arborist may insist on retention of a street tree whilst our Engineers may insist that a driveway be relocated clear of an intersection, which would mean the tree has to go. Your application should seek to address these types of conflicts by good design. We will seek to negotiate solutions with you where conflicting requirements occur.