How to Write a DA Objection
There are few rules when it comes to making a development application objection or submission. Your goals should be to:
convey your concerns clearly, prioritising those that matter most;
provide information necessary to make sure the concern can be understood;
make it clear what outcome you are seeking – outright rejection or amendments?
What to include in your DA objection
Whether you use your council’s online form or write from scratch, it’s important to make sure the following are included:
the assessment officer’s name, the DA number and the DA site address (all should be on the notification letter and/or notice), then (assuming this is what you are doing) ‘- objection.’
Explain the relationship between your house/apartment and the DA site. For example, ‘I live at no. 2 Smith Street, which is to the immediate south of the DA site.’
Briefly explain the layout of your property and how it relates to the DA proposal. If you have a floor plan or even a hand drawn sketch, that can help. Photographs can be very helpful too.
Now explain your concerns. It’s a good idea to list these in dot point first, then detail your concerns under the separate headings below. Set out your major concerns first, before moving on to more general concerns. Keep it as short and to the point as possible.
It’s helpful to include your contact details in case council needs to access your property to understand your concerns. Note: make sure to read and be comfortable with your council’s privacy policies concerning submissions and how visible these will be to the applicant and other members of the community.
While content is more important than presentation, do make sure your submission reads easily, eg your sentences aren’t too long, you have paragraph breaks etc. Typed is definitely preferable to handwritten. Council officers have to read hundreds of DA objections - you want yours to stand out because it is easy to read and remember.
Important points for your DA objection or submission
Keep your DA objection/submission objective and avoid emotive statements. It’s a good idea to write your DA objection, sit on it for a day, then read it again before hitting ‘send’. While you are re-reading, also whittle out every word and statement that simply adds ‘bulk’ without advancing your case.
Focus on what concerns you. This could be overshadowing, the impact of a new development on the streetscape, or the demolition of a heritage item – these are all fine to include as long as it’s you that’s worried about them. But don’t veer off to discuss things that affect other people (eg, my friend John Smith’s house is going to be completely overshadowed…).
After you have made your dot point list of concerns, review those at the bottom. Are they really important enough to include? Will they really “make a difference” If not – cull them. A long shopping list of objections can water down the relative importance of the three or four things that really matter to you.
You don’t have to read the town planning controls, but it will usually help you if you understand what they anticipate and require – and therefore, what you might reasonably expect in terms of how they protect your residential amenity. Learn about town planning controls here. Find out why controls are sometimes varied here.
However if you don’t have the time or don’t understand the planning controls, don’t worry. It’s the council assessment officer’s job to assess your concerns in the context of the planning controls that apply.
Be realistic. If you live in a residential flat zone then residential flat development is likely to be approved in some shape or form, and with that will come impacts that are different to what you’d expect with a neighbourhood of single dwelling houses; more traffic and parking impacts and so on. Likewise, if you’ve moved into an apartment in a shopping centre there’s going to be noise from the sorts of activities that normally go on in shopping centres. In other words, don’t object to things that inevitably come from how the site is zoned. Instead, concentrate on particular aspects of the design, siting or operation of the proposed development that impact you.
Be constructive. If you can see a solution to your problem suggest it.
Be reasonable and respectful. A DA objection is not the place to criticize a council officer’s performance or your neighbour’s (or a developer’s) past or present behaviour.
Think twice before including…
Avoid material that adds little or no weight but simply makes for a longer, harder read. There are few absolutes, but things we’d avoid:
Loss of property value. In most residential DAs this will not be treated as a valid environmental planning ground.
Construction impacts. Everyone’s nightmare, but a proposed development is unlikely to be refused simply because it’s going to be noisy, dusty etc. Development consents usually include conditions over construction impacts. It’s sufficient to note you’re concerned, and to support the need for an appropriate condition.
Quoting large chunks of the LEP and/or DCP – the assessment officer at council knows these provisions. If a planning control supports your objection then it’s ok to paraphrase it, but best not to quote the entire control.
Any personal criticisms, whether in respect of the applicant/developer, the council staff or any neighbour. It will be treated as irrelevant, at best. A DA objection is also not the place to criticize council for accepting a DA - if the DA is properly documented, the council is obliged to deal with it.
‘Shouty’ writing. So unless strictly for formatting purposes, no CAPS, no underlining, and no inappropriate use of !!!!!??? etc.
Multiple, repetitive submissions where you have simply added or amended text/material from your original submission. If you really feel you need to raise something new later on, simply explain your new points and state you want these read in conjunction with your original submission. Or re-submit the original letter with the changes highlighted. You want the council assessment officer to spend their time concentrating on your concerns, not on administering a mound of paperwork!
Finding the information
You will be able to inspect the DA plans and supporting documentation at your council’s offices. Most councils also have good DA tracking systems which allow you to look at the documents online: either look for ‘DA Tracker’ on the council’s website or shortcut this by entering a google search “[Your council’s name] DA tracking.’” If you have already received a notification letter this will tell you more on how to access relevant information, as well as the details of the assessment officer who has responsibility for the application and the hours during which they are available to answer queries.
Where to start
It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the survey and architectural plans first.
The survey is a drawing prepared by a registered surveyor and shows the details of the site and adjoining properties ‘as is.’ It should usually include details of:
Site area and dimensions;
Site improvements - the position of existing buildings, fences etc as well as RLs for building elements such as floor levels, eaves and roof ridgelines.
RLs (reduced levels) over both the topography of the site and buildings on it;
The location and indicative canopy spread of trees (NB an arborists report, if submitted, will generally provide greater detail over things like tree height and canopy spread);
Details of buildings surrounding the site, including their position and (ideally) the location and sill and top heights of windows and other openings.
The architectural plans will include, at the least:
Floor plans for each level of the new building (or alterations/extensions).
Sections, which are essentially ‘slices’ through the building. The section lines (ie the place where the ‘slice’ is made) should be marked on the floor plans.
Elevations, which are the external ‘sides’ of the proposed new building or work. Pay close attention, obviously, to the elevation/s that is/are facing you, and to how the levels (RLs) of the building and elements within it (windows etc) relate to the levels and features (windows etc) of your own property. The levels of your property might be found either on the architectural plans, or the survey plan.
A site plan, which shows how the DA site/property relates to its neighbours. Site plans are notoriously variable in terms of quality of information displayed. It is often better to check the Survey plan, prepared by a registered surveyor.
Once you have an understanding of the plans, read the statement of environmental effects (‘SEE’). These, again, vary a great deal in terms of quality, however this document should, at the least, explain:
What planning controls apply,
The performance of the proposed development against those controls, including whether any controls are proposed to be varied,
Key issues and environmental impacts. These might include privacy, overshadowing, view loss, visual bulk, streetscape, heritage, tree loss…the list of potential impacts while not endless, is certainly very long.
Bear in mind this is the applicant’s statement. Council’s assessment officers will make their own assessment of compliance, impacts etc. and may take a different view to the applicant. The SEE, however, is useful in that it most likely (although not always) flags what environmental impacts the development raises and what properties are likely affected. Armed with this knowledge as well as your own review of the architectural plans you can now explore other supporting documents which deal with the particular impact you are concerned with. Supporting documents commonly of interest in residential DAs include:
Overshadowing diagrams - usually found in the package of architectural plans. Learn about shadow diagrams here.
View impact analysis - view impact diagrams might be included in the architectural plan package. Alternatively, there might be a separate report by an expert in this field. Learn about view impact analysis here.
Traffic and parking - this is usually the subject of a report by a traffic engineer.
Tree impacts - often the subject of an arboriculture report which will identify which trees need to be removed, protected etc.
Stormwater management - this will usually be in a separate set of engineering drawings. If flooding is an issue, there will also be a separate report by an expert in this field.
Geotechnical report - this provides data on what ground conditions underlie the DA site. This is usually a requirement for large DAs, ones where significant excavation is involved and/or where there is risk of ground movement/slip.
Heritage report - required where development affects or is in the vicinity of heritage items listed under the council’s LEP and potentially for development within conservation areas.
Acoustic reports - required for noise generating developments such as child care centres, shopping centres etc. Be warned, these reports are invariably very hard to read!
You don’t understand the DA documentation?
The EPA Act and EPA Regulation 2021 set out a variety of requirements for documentation of DAs. The NSW Government fact sheet on what needs to be included can be found here www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-02/application-requirements.pdf
A council can reject a DA if it is not made in the proper form (bear in mind if the DA is made in the proper form, the council is obliged to deal with it!) This however needs to occur within 14 days of lodgement which will be before any neighbour notification period will have concluded.
If you do not understand the impact on your property from the DA documentation, options available to you include:
Explain the difficulty in your submission on the DA, and - if it’s a case of the documents being illegible, poorly presented or in some other way deficient ask if clearer documents can be requested from the applicant.
Explain your concerns based on your understanding of what the plans present – or simply state ‘I’m very worried about ‘X’ and the plans are unclear as to how I’m affected’. Flagging a concern will better ensure the issue will be looked at by the council’s assessment officer, who will bring their own professional knowledge and experience to that task.
Obtain professional town planning assistance – this might be in simply helping you understand the plans/DA documents etc or in preparing a submission to the council on your behalf.
You need more time to prepare your DA objection?
Ring, or send an email to the nominated assessment officer and ask for an extension. In the majority of cases, DA reports are not written immediately after the close of the neighbour notification period and providing the request is reasonable (say, one or two weeks) in most cases an extension will be possible - but make sure to ask first and get something in writing to confirm an extension will be granted.
You can, of course, send in a preliminary submission with a dot point list of the issues that concern you with the DA, indicating that you will provide further details when you have had more time to complete your review of the documentation. Generally though, it is better to have a single, well drafted and considered DA submission than two (or more) submissions from the same person, so perhaps use this route if you have difficulty contacting the assessment officer or in obtaining confirmation that an extension will be granted.
What if I don’t have a problem with the DA?
You do not, obviously, have to make an objection to a development application just because you’ve been notified. Your neighbour will obviously appreciate it if you don’t object to their DA (and will no doubt be delighted if you offer a letter of support). Keeping good neighbourly relations is a benefit all round.
There are, however, circumstances where it’s a good idea to make a submission on a DA, even if you are supportive (or generally supportive) of it.
You’re generally supportive, but you’d like a couple of things changed.
If you’re generally ok with what is proposed but would like to have a couple of things changed - eg a window relocated or screened, or a proposed large tree on the landscape plan moved to avoid impacting your view - it’s a good idea to raise this with your neighbour (or developer) first (preferably in discussions before the DA is submitted). If you can both agree on changes and the plans are amended then your submission to council need only say ‘we’ve agreed that this change should be made and I support the DA subject to this amendment being incorporated in any approved plans.’
Do bear in mind, however, that an agreement between you and your neighbour (or a developer) is not the end of the matter. The assessment officer will still need to be satisfied the amendment is reasonable, taking the relevant planning controls into account. They will also want to ensure an amendment that benefits you does not adversely impact others or have other undesirable consequences.
There are aspects of the DA’s design you particularly like or support
If there is something in particular about a DA that you like or support it is a good idea to let Council know through a DA submission. Two reasons:
It records that you have an interest in the DA (so if plans are amended and need renotification you’re more likely to be included); and
It makes the council aware of your position on the design aspect in question and reduces the risk that conditions or design amendments might be imposed with consequential negative impacts to you; for example, a condition requiring a privacy screen to avoid overlooking (which you’re not so bothered about) when the privacy screen then interferes with your harbour view.
Should I discuss the DA with the applicant?
Even if the proposed development is something you are instinctively opposed to, there are potential benefits to opening a line of communication with the applicant:
Develop an early understanding of what is proposed.
Give yourself more time to prepare and inform yourself.
Tell the applicant your concerns. That gives them the opportunity to design to minimise or avoid those impacts.
Whether the applicant is a professional property developer or your neighbour, it is in their interests to obtain their development approval as quickly as possible. If there is something that can be done to avoid or minimise impacts and resident objections, many will be happy to make amendments. The earlier in the design process the applicant knows what the concerns are, the easier it is to design to avoid or minimise impact.
Find out more at Should I Speak to the Applicant?
What about ‘form DA objection letters’ and DA petitions?
It is entirely up to you if you want to sign a form letter or petition, however a name on a petition (or generic form letter) will not convey your concerns with quite the same weight as an individual DA objection or submission.
If you want to sign a form letter but include revised text explaining your specific concerns then add your text in track change or highlight so it is clear to the assessment officer that a unique submission is embedded.
Should I get a town planner to submit my DA objection?
As a general rule, it is not necessary to engage a professional town planner to prepare your DA objection or submission and it won’t necessarily make your case any more compelling. Concerns expressed from the heart will often make a greater impression with the decision makers.
A qualified planner town planner might, however, be of benefit when;
you have difficulty in understanding the plans and/or supporting documents and how you are affected;
The proposed development and its impacts are particularly complex;
you suspect impacts have been presented inaccurately in the DA documentation;
You don’t understand the planning controls;
You want to make verbal submission to the decision makers, but don’t feel confident about public speaking.
Check out Engaging a town planning expert to find out where to find a town planner and what things to consider before engaging one.