Town Planning Advice
Written planning advice on what a site can actually support, before you buy it, design it or lodge anything.
- A clear read on whether your project is permissible, difficult or not achievable
- Advice in writing, so you can put it in front of a bank, a board or a vendor
- Delivered before the design is locked in, when changing course still costs nothing
- If the answer is no, you'll get it straight
The expensive mistakes in planning almost never happen at lodgement. They happen months earlier, when someone buys a site on an assumption, or briefs an architect against a control nobody checked.
Prestige Town Planning provides written planning advice on sites and proposals across Australia. What the zone permits, what the overlays and constraints do to it, where the proposal will meet resistance, and whether it is worth taking further.
The work is deliberately front-loaded. We read the planning instrument that applies to your site, check the proposal against it, and set out what you’re dealing with in plain terms rather than a summary of clauses you already can’t interpret.
Sometimes that advice confirms a site is better than you thought. Sometimes it stops a purchase. Either result is worth more than the fee, and we’d rather deliver the second one early than take you through a lodgement that was never going to work.
Why Choose Prestige Town Planning
Advice you can actually act on
You get a position in writing, not a phone call you have to take notes on. It sets out what is permissible, what requires justification, what the likely conditions look like, and what the realistic path to approval involves. That is a document you can hand to a financier, a business partner, a vendor or your architect.
We read the controls, not the sales copy
Agents' assumptions about development potential are frequently wrong, and zoning alone tells you very little. We check the zone, the permissible uses, the height and floor space controls, the overlays and the site-specific constraints (heritage, flood, bushfire, contamination, easements, vegetation) and tell you which of them actually bite on your proposal.
Honest reads, not over-promises
If a site can't support what you want to build, you'll hear it early. We'd rather lose a brief than walk a client into a refusal, and we don't bill for work you don't need.
Advice that connects to what comes next
If the project proceeds, the same team runs it. You aren't re-briefing a new planner who has to learn the site from scratch, and nothing gets lost between the advice and the application.
Our Town Planning Advice Services
Different questions need different depth. Part of the first conversation is working out which of these you actually need, and whether you need one at all.
Pre-purchase planning due diligence
Assessment of a site before you exchange or settle: zone and permissible uses, development standards, overlays and constraint mapping, and whether the thing you intend to do with it is achievable. The cheapest planning advice you will ever buy is the advice that stops the wrong purchase.
Development potential and highest and best use
For owners and investors asking what a site is capable of rather than whether one specific idea works. We assess the range of uses and yields the controls would support, and which of them are realistically approvable rather than theoretically permissible.
Written planning advice and planning opinions
A formal written position on a proposal, prepared to be relied on and shared. Used by buyers, developers comparing sites, architects briefing clients, and owners who need something defensible before they commit capital.
Approval pathway advice
Whether a project is exempt development, qualifies as complying development, needs a full development application, or needs whatever the equivalent is called in the state your site sits in. This determination changes the cost and timeline of everything downstream, and it is one of the most common things to get wrong.
Constraint and overlay assessment
Detailed reads on the constraints that most often derail proposals: heritage items and conservation areas, flood planning levels, bushfire-prone land, acid sulfate soils, contamination, biodiversity and tree controls, easements and rights of way.
Variation and non-compliance assessment
Where a proposal breaches a development standard, we assess whether the breach can be justified and how strong that argument is, including Clause 4.6 variation requests in NSW. A proposal that needs a variation is not automatically dead, but it is a different conversation.
Site comparison for developers and investors
Where you’re weighing several sites, comparative planning advice across all of them, so the decision is made on approvability and yield rather than on price and hope.
Second opinions
Review of planning advice you’ve already received, whether from another consultant, an agent, a builder or a council officer. Worth doing when the advice you’ve been given is the basis for a large decision, or when it doesn’t sound right.
Advice after a refusal
An independent read on whether a refused or stalled application is worth appealing, amending or abandoning, before you commit to the cost of any of them.
Planning input into feasibility
Developers model feasibility on assumptions about approval timeframes, likely conditions, developer contributions and the cost of the planning work itself. We supply those inputs as considered estimates rather than optimistic guesses, so the numbers the decision rests on are the right ones.
Not sure if it's worth getting advice yet?
That uncertainty is usually the sign that it is. Tell us the address and what you’re thinking of doing, and we’ll tell you whether there’s a real question to answer.
Our Advice Process Explained
We don’t just answer the question. We put the answer in writing, so you can act on it, share it and rely on it. Here’s how it runs.
The Brief
You tell us the site and what you want to do with it, including the constraints you already know about. We'll tell you upfront whether the question needs formal advice or can be answered in a conversation.
Scope &
Fixed Fee
We set out what the advice will cover and quote a fixed fee before any work begins. You know the cost and the deliverable before you commit to either.
Controls
Check
We work through the planning instruments, mapping and constraint data that apply to the site, and test the proposal against them.
Written
Advice
You receive the advice in writing: what's permissible, what's contestable, what's not achievable, what the approval pathway looks like and what it will realistically take.
What
Happens Next
We walk you through it, answer the questions the document raises, and set out the options. If it proceeds, we scope the next stage. If it doesn't, that's a valid outcome and there's no obligation attached to it.
Who This Advice Is For
- Developers pursuing multi-unit residential, mixed-use, commercial or industrial projects
- Business operators opening, relocating, expanding or fitting out premises, including hospitality, retail, medical, childcare, education and fitness
- Commercial property owners and investors testing what a site can support
- Architects and designers who want the council pathway managed while they focus on the design
- Property owners planning a dwelling, dual occupancy, extension or secondary dwelling
- Buyers doing planning due diligence before they exchange
If you’re still at the “is this even worth pursuing” stage, that’s the cheapest point in the whole process to get an answer. Ask before the site is bought, not after.
Proven Results That Speak for Themselves
With hundreds of successful projects across Australia, our numbers say it all.
Town Planning Advice FAQs
What is town planning advice, exactly?
It is a professional assessment of what a site or a proposal can achieve under the planning controls that apply to it. Prestige Town Planning delivers it in writing, covering permissibility, the development standards that apply, the constraints on the site, the likely approval pathway, and an honest view on the difficulty of getting it approved.
Do I need planning advice before I buy a property?
Not always, but the cost of skipping it is asymmetric. A contract with a due diligence period is the cheapest moment to find out that a site can’t support the thing you’re buying it for. If you’re buying on the basis of a development assumption, get it checked.
What do I actually receive?
A written document you can rely on and share, plus a conversation to work through it. The scope is agreed before we start, so you know what it will and won’t cover.
How much does town planning advice cost?
We scope each request and quote a fixed fee upfront, because the effort varies enormously between a straightforward permissibility question and a constrained site with multiple overlays. You will know the cost before any work is done.
How quickly can I get it?
That depends on the complexity and on how quickly the mapping and instrument data can be pulled together. If you’re working to a due diligence deadline, say so at the first call and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s achievable in the time available.
What if the advice is that my project won't work?
Then you’ve saved yourself the cost of a design, a lodgement and a refusal. That’s a legitimate and useful result, and it’s the reason the advice exists. Where there’s a version of the project that would work, we’ll set that out too.
Does getting advice commit me to using you for the application?
No. The advice is a standalone piece of work. If you want us to run the application afterwards we’ll scope that separately, and if you’d rather take the advice elsewhere it’s written to be used by anyone.
Can you review advice I've already been given?
Yes. Second opinions are a normal part of what we do, particularly where the earlier advice came from someone with an interest in the transaction proceeding.
Do you give advice on sites outside NSW?
Yes. Most of our work runs through New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and we take on projects in other states as well. The controls differ by state, but the question you’re asking doesn’t.
Get the answer before you spend on the assumption
Tell us the site and what you have in mind. We'll tell you whether there's a question worth paying to answer, and what it would take to answer it properly.