After your application has been accepted by Council for lodgement a preliminary assessment of the proposed development will be undertaken by Council's development assessment staff. Council will contact you to discuss the outcomes of this. At this stage, Council can only provide preliminary and general feedback about the application and the assessment process.

Following a preliminary assessment applications are allocated to an assessment officer who will undertake a detailed assessment of the development, in accordance with the requirements of theEnvironmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and theEnvironmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000.  

As part of the detailed assessment, the application will be referred internally to other relevant Council officers to seek technical advice and externally to government agencies, where required. If the application is required to be publicly exhibited this will be undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 and Council's Community Participation and Engagement Plan.

Application Tracking

Council's DA Tracker allows you to track recently submitted development applications and modification applications.

In relation to development applications and modification applications, the information provided represents some key milestones in the application process and displays some associated application documents, but is not intended to be a detailed history. In this regard, the portal displays application documents for development applications submitted on and after the 4th January 2013 and for modification applications submitted on and after the 1st of January 2018.

Persons wishing to confirm information in detail should contact Council via email or by calling us on 02 6648 4000 during business hours.

To track or search an application, please visit Council's DA Tracker.

The matters that Council must consider as part of the assessment of a development application is limited to those specified in Section 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Matters that are outside of the scope of 4.15 cannot be considered as part of the assessment of a development application. 

Summary of assessment process

There are many inputs into the development assessment process. The assessment process is summarised in the following diagram:

Requests for additional information

To enable the proper assessment of the application Council may request that the applicant provide additional information.

To ensure that applications can be processed in a timely manner it is important that you address all of the matters raised in Council's request for information.

If the requested information is not provided to Council within the timeframe specified, you will be asked if you intend to address the matters raised. A further timeframe for providing the required information may be agreed upon with Council. If the required information is not provided within the specified timeframe Council will proceed to determine the application based on the information provided. 

How should additional information be provided to Council?

​All additional information prepared for an application must be provided to Council by the applicant. Additional information that is provided to Council must be emailed to us at coffs.council@chcc.nsw.gov.au. Please ensure that the email and attached information references the relevant application number (provided to you on lodgement of the application).

To comply with legislative requirements all information associated with development applications must be captured in Council's corporate record system. Please do not email information directly to or cc assessment officers. Please note that Council's email account is continually monitored and information emailed to this account is passed on to relevant officers for action.

To ensure that your application can be processed in a timely manner it is important that your application is properly prepared and addresses the required matters. For further information in relation to application preparation please see the Preparing your Development Application page.

Assessment officers typically deal with many applications at a time. Council's assessment resources are best directed towards assessing applications. Frequent emails and calls to Council officers slows down this process. Council officers will provide you with feedback about your application at necessary points in the process.  Council's obligations in terms of communication are to the applicant. To assist with the efficient processing of applications all enquiries relating to applications must come from the applicant only.