Auto news on Youtube Sep 8 2017

- Hello, it's Amelia here, the Undercover Architect.

I had a question recently, about whether if your plans

are being drawn up by a licensed building designer,

will they still need council approval?

The two of those things actually don't have

any real relationship to each other.

Whether or not your project will need council approval

is going to be totally dependent on your local council,

and its requirements for work on your property,

and your block of land.

Often the best way to find this out

is actually to have a look at your local council website,

most Australian council websites

will have frequently asked questions,

with fact sheets or information on the website,

answering questions like,

"Does my project need council approval?",

or, "What is a development application?",

"What is a development approval?",

and, you'll be able to start there

in terms of getting a bit of an understanding about

what's going to impact your property,

and your plans for your property,

and whether they're going to need council approval.

Failing that, if you can't actually find

that information on your council website,

you can just pick up the phone to your local council.

Often the person who answers the phone

will be able to give you some information

or point you in the right direction.

Sometimes you can even get to have a conversation

with one of the council town planners,

who can give you specific information for your property.

Of course it's always more useful if you can call them

and say "Look this is what I'm thinking about doing,

"and this is what I need to know",

rather than just asking them an open-ended question.

If you're working with a design professional though,

the best thing to do is to actually

get their help in finding this out,

Design professionals will be able to find

that information usually themselves quite quickly,

or they may have experience of working in your council area,

or working in similar councils.

Council rules all come off a state-based legislation,

and they all come off a federal-based legislation.

So what I've actually found

in working with clients all over Australia,

is the rules are often quite similar,

they're just explained in slightly different ways,

or, they're located in different places, but,

I can usually find the information

for every council around Australia,

by looking on a website, or picking up the phone

and speaking to a local town planner.

Your professional will know the questions to ask,

they'll know the information that they need to know

to create a project, a renovation design for you,

that will or won't need council approval

and what's going to trigger

needing council approval for your project.

Whether or not you need council approval

is often linked to where you live,

what the quality and character of that area it is,

be it if it has some historical heritage quality

in terms of having a lot of old homes in it.

If you're changing your street elevation

because that will have an impact on how the street looks,

so that can often trigger council approval.

If you're extending your property, going up or going out.

because that will have an impact on your neighbours.

Council are charged with guarding the quality

and character of your whole suburb that they oversee,

and so, they take on the responsibility of representing,

I suppose, your community and your neighbours,

in terms of managing what each individual

does on their site.

And so if you think about it from that point of view,

you can start to understand why certain things

are going to need council approval,

because it's about the impact on other people,

as well as protecting the quality

of the area that you love living in.

I hope you found that helpful, I'll see you later, bye.