Demolition rules in Northern Beaches Council

First, which plan covers your street

Northern Beaches Council still uses the plans of the three councils it replaced. It has four local environmental plans and four development control plans: Manly 2013, Pittwater 2014 with the Pittwater 21 DCP, Warringah 2011, and Warringah 2000, which covers a small area around Oxford Falls and Belrose. Council’s planning maps show which applies to your property.

On the NSW planning maps, Brookvale, Dee Why and Forestville fall under the Warringah plan, Manly, Balgowlah and Clontarf under the Manly plan, and Palm Beach, Avalon Beach, Mona Vale and North Narrabeen under the Pittwater plan.

What a demolition application needs

Council’s lodgement requirements (form 2060, updated October 2026) are specific about demolition.

• A demolition plan with every application involving demolition, showing the parts to be demolished with a dotted line.
• A waste management plan, following council’s waste guidelines and the waste section of your area’s DCP: Pittwater 21 B8, Warringah C8 and C9, or Manly 3.8.
• A statement of heritage impact where the land has a heritage item or is in a heritage conservation area.
• In the Pittwater area, a coastal risk management report from a qualified coastal engineer where the coastal controls apply.

• DA or CDC: the NSW approval routes

Complying development on the Beaches

Council lists demolition as a type of complying development, and says a CDC may also need a bushfire assessment report and a geotechnical assessment where they apply.

Council will not approve tree removal for a complying development certificate, so if trees have to come out for the job, plan for that before choosing the CDC route.

Heritage in Manly and Pittwater

The Manly DCP needs an assessment of potential heritage significance with any demolition DA, and says council is unlikely to approve demolishing a heritage item unless it is incapable of reasonable reuse. The Pittwater 21 DCP asks for an archival recording of a heritage item where works are likely to have an adverse impact on it.

Manly has around 200 listed heritage items inside the suburb boundary on the NSW planning maps, and conservation areas cover more than a quarter of Palm Beach.

Trees

On the Northern Beaches, trees under 5 metres tall, trees within 2 metres of an approved building and species on council’s exempt list can be removed without a permit. Any tree on a heritage item or in a conservation area needs one.

Bonds, dilapidation video and permits

Council takes a security deposit before work starts to cover its road reserve and assets, and a digital video dilapidation report of council infrastructure is prepared by council or the applicant. The Manly DCP adds that demolition waste can’t be stored on the footpath without approval, and waste dockets are kept on site.

• Hoardings, scaffolding, site fencing and site offices on public land: a hoarding permit under section 138 of the Roads Act (form 4017).
• Skip bins and building waste on the road: form 4051.
• Works zone: form 4052. Building materials on the footpath: form 4121.

Asbestos, and telling the neighbours

Council says known asbestos is removed by licensed asbestos removal contractors and goes to an EPA-licensed facility, naming Kimbriki. Our jobs include asbestos taken out of a storage room and laundry in North Narrabeen.

When council notifies a DA, letters go to adjoining owners and owners across the street, with a sign on the site and at least 14 days’ exhibition. Demolishing a heritage-listed building is advertised development, so it also goes on council’s website.

• Asbestos removal in Sydney

Suburbs in Northern Beaches Council

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

• Demolition in Brookvale
• Demolition in Dee Why
• Demolition in North Balgowlah
• Demolition in Forestville
• Demolition in Manly
• Demolition in Freshwater
• Demolition in North Narrabeen
• Demolition in Palm Beach
• Demolition across the Northern Beaches
• House demolition in Sydney