Demolition rules in Hornsby Shire Council

DA or CDC in Hornsby

Hornsby’s DA guideline (November 2025) says all development other than exempt or complying development needs a DA, and lists demolishing a building or structure as a DA type. A demolition DA lists a hazardous materials survey report and a waste management plan covering the demolition.

For complying development, council points to the state Demolition Code. A CDC needs a waste management plan that sets out the quantity of waste, and is lodged through the NSW Planning Portal. Council asks to be notified through the Portal at least 2 days before work starts.

• DA or CDC: the NSW approval routes

Heritage items and characteristic buildings

Part 9 of the Hornsby DCP (amended June 2025) says heritage items should not be demolished, and that poor condition is not a justification. In conservation areas, characteristic buildings should be retained, while non-characteristic buildings may be demolished and replaced, with development consent.

A heritage impact statement goes with a DA on a heritage item or in a conservation area, and the DA guideline asks for a heritage impact assessment for demolishing a building in a conservation area.

The Beecroft–Cheltenham conservation area

The Beecroft–Cheltenham conservation area has controls in addition to the general conservation area controls (DCP 9.7). On the NSW planning maps it covers almost all of Cheltenham’s land, about half of Beecroft and around a sixth of Pennant Hills. Beecroft has more than 110 listed heritage items inside the suburb boundary, and Hornsby itself about 95.

Tree protection distances

All trees in a conservation area or on a heritage item are protected. Elsewhere, trees under 3 metres (outside native vegetation) and trees within 3 metres of an approved building’s foundations are exempt, but those exemptions don’t apply in a conservation area. Tree work that is part of a DA is assessed with the DA.

Part 1 of the DCP sets how close work can come to a tree, by its trunk diameter at breast height:

• 800 mm or more: 9 metres
• 400 to 800 mm: 7 metres
• 400 mm or less: 4 metres
• Any work within 10 metres of an existing tree needs a tree protection plan with the DA.

The waste plan: 80% reused or recycled

The DCP sets a minimum reuse and recycling rate for demolition and construction waste, currently 80%, and the demolition stage of council’s waste plan is completed for any demolition. Asbestos and other hazardous demolition materials go to authorised waste depots.

We sort the materials on site and keep the dockets, so the figures on the plan can be backed up.

Skips, hoardings and work zones

Hornsby’s permit page covers the street side of the job.

• Skip bins on the footpath, nature strip or road shoulder need council approval. A skip on private property needs no application and no fee, which is how we prefer to work where the block allows.
• Hoardings are applied for online, with fees from council’s fees and charges.
• A work zone takes about 28 days to process, needs $20 million public liability cover, and the signs cost $24.50 per metre per week from 1 July 2026.
• Whoever opens a road pays to restore it.

Neighbours, and asbestos on Hornsby jobs

Hornsby lists demolition among the development types excluded from public exhibition, but council still notifies adjoining residents.

Our jobs include asbestos eaves over a covered outdoor area in Thornleigh, where we sealed the walls, doors and windows with plastic before taking the sheeting down.

• What sets the price of asbestos removal

Suburbs in Hornsby Shire

These rules apply across the council area. Each suburb page has the local planning picture and how we work there.

• Demolition in Hornsby
• Demolition in Cherrybrook
• Demolition in Beecroft
• Demolition in Cheltenham
• Demolition in Pennant Hills
• Demolition in Thornleigh
• Demolition in Normanhurst
• Demolition in Berowra
• Demolition across the North Shore
• House demolition in Sydney