Council guide · NSW

Byron Shire Council

What a house block can carry in Byron Shire Council's area — the dual-occupancy minimums, the granny-flat rule and the C4 controls, read from the Byron Local Environmental Plan 2014 on legislation.nsw.gov.au, and whether the state Low and Mid-Rise rules reach here.

800 m²dual-occupancy minimum lot

no LEP minimumfrontage

60 m² or 35%granny flat (the greater)

Dual occupancy (two homes on one lot)

Cl 4.1E — 800 m² for an attached or detached dual occupancy in R2 and R3 (a manor house or multi-dwelling housing 1,000 m² in R2); no LEP frontage minimum (Council's DCP applies); much of the shire is flood- or bushfire-mapped; outside the state Low and Mid-Rise area.

Secondary dwelling (granny flat)

Byron LEP cl 5.4(9) — the greater of 60 m² or 35% of the house’s total floor area, parking excluded. Under the state Housing SEPP a granny flat of up to 60 m² can also go through the ten-day complying-development route on a lot of 450 m² or more, with a 12 m frontage, where the land is not flood, bushfire or heritage constrained.

C4 Environmental Living

In the C4 Environmental Living zone: a house is permitted; no dual occupancy; no secondary dwelling; no semi-detached pairs. The state Low and Mid-Rise rules do not apply in C4.

Low and Mid-Rise

Outside the Six Cities region. The state Low and Mid-Rise rules do not apply in Byron Shire Council's area — the Byron Local Environmental Plan 2014 and Council's DCP alone govern what a lot can carry. The state granny-flat and Pattern Book routes still apply where the land is not flood, bushfire or heritage constrained.

Constraints that change the answer

Bushfire-prone land (RFS map), flood-control lots, heritage items and conservation areas, and landslip risk all take a lot out of the fast-track routes and into a full DA. Much of the shire is flood- or bushfire-mapped; read the constraint chips on your result before anything else. Easements, covenants and sewer mains are not on the public maps — a title search and a Sydney Water or council water check are always needed.

Approval routes

Complying development (CDC) — a private certifier issues it in days where the design meets every state standard; no neighbour notification.
Pattern Book — the NSW pre-approved designs, ten-day approval, subject to survey (slope) and the site tests.
Development application (DA) — lodged with Byron Shire Council through the NSW Planning Portal; weeks to months, neighbours notified, merit assessment against the LEP and DCP.

Useful links: byron.nsw.gov.au · NSW Planning Portal (lodge a DA or CDC, spatial viewer) · legislation.nsw.gov.au (search the LEP by name).

A residential street in Byron Shire Council's area — **Suburbs** — Bangalow, Billinudgel, **Binna Burra**, **Broken Head**, Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay, Coopers Shoot, **Coorabell**, Eureka, **Ewingsdale**, Federal, Goonengerry, Hayters Hill, Huonbrook, Koonyum Range, Main Arm, **Mcleods Shoot**, Middle Pocket, Montecollum, Mullumbimby, Mullumbimby Creek, Myocum, Nashua, **New Brighton**, Ocean Shores, Palmwoods, Possum Creek, **Skinners Shoot**, South Golden Beach, Suffolk Park, **Talofa**, The Pocket, **Tyagarah**, Upper Coopers Creek, Upper Main Arm, **Upper Wilsons Creek**, Wanganui, Wilsons Creek, Yelgun.