Granny Flat - driveway needed?

Hi,

My father in-law is half-way through building a Granny flat for his newly married son + daughter in-law.
It has been first approved as a shed with septic, running water, but no internals.

A DA for conversion to a granny flat was applied for through the local council. The council are now stating that a 5 inch thick sealed driveway is needed from the road access to the granny flat.

The property is a RU4 - rural residential block on 3.5 acres with the the GF 90m and 70m set back from the road + existing house respectfully. There is no exiting sealed driveway for the existing house.

Obviously putting a 90m driveway in is not ideal and a huge waste of money.

Anyone come across a similar issue?
Is there anyway around the coucil's requirement?
 
I thought in NSW, the restrictions and requirements around granny flats were somewhat relaxed.

@Dean you may need to specify state/locale?
 
In NSW under the afforable housing SEPP, there is no need to provide additional parking for the granny flat. I would expect this means a driveway is not needed, and just a path is sufficient/
 
I thought in NSW, the restrictions and requirements around granny flats were somewhat relaxed

The property is in NSW. I thought this too, but nothing is relaxed when it comes to our local council. The NSW government suggest that its a breeze

In NSW under the afforable housing SEPP, there is no need to provide additional parking for the granny flat. I would expect this means a driveway is not needed, and just a path is sufficient

Thanks Dave, Yes the logic is (although council with logic is an oxymoron) that if no parking is required, then no driveway is required. And whos to say that a car is needed to be driven up their and not just a short walk, thus a simple path would suffice..?

Does the SEPP over rule in this case? The main issue is
"AHSEPP provisions for secondary dwellings donot apply to rural zones"
Although this is Rural 'residential'...
 
Hi,

My father in-law is half-way through building a Granny flat for his newly married son + daughter in-law.
It has been first approved as a shed with septic, running water, but no internals.

A DA for conversion to a granny flat was applied for through the local council. The council are now stating that a 5 inch thick sealed driveway is needed from the road access to the granny flat.

The property is a RU4 - rural residential block on 3.5 acres with the the GF 90m and 70m set back from the road + existing house respectfully. There is no exiting sealed driveway for the existing house.

Obviously putting a 90m driveway in is not ideal and a huge waste of money.

Anyone come across a similar issue?
Is there anyway around the coucil's requirement?

If it's RU4 it doesn't qualify under the Affordable rental Housing SEPP I'm afraid because it's rural zoning. (same for RU1 to RU5). So a DA was the way to go but of course under a DA Council can mandate whatever they want to :(

I'm actually very pleasantly surprised they allowed a detached granny flat at all in that zone. What Council area is it?
 
DA Council can mandate whatever they want to.... I'm actually very pleasantly surprised they allowed a detached granny flat at all in that zone. What Council area is it?

Its in Wollondilly Shire Council.

I suppose negotiating with the council may be necessary.

I'm guessing speaking to a private certifier may also be useful.

Would you suggest talking with NSW land and environment about over-ruling and/or with NSW planning?

Or maybe wait a few years untill the SEPP has been revised to include rural zones...? :(
 
Its in Wollondilly Shire Council.

I suppose negotiating with the council may be necessary.

I'm guessing speaking to a private certifier may also be useful.

Would you suggest talking with NSW land and environment about over-ruling and/or with NSW planning?

Or maybe wait a few years untill the SEPP has been revised to include rural zones...? :(

What stage of the approval process are you at there? Is it approved already? If so, Wollondilly CC cannot impose any new conditions on the consent... Or was the driveway requirement written in the conditions and your dad didnt see it? Stipifying the driveway thickness seems a little odd to me. Ive never heard of that before. Feel free to give me a call if you need any help. My numbers on the website (see websitelink below).
 
Its approved as a shed but the DA for conversion to dwelling/granny flat has not been approved yet. I think the driveway requirement may have been missed or not explained to him by the the private certifier he had been using.

Thanks Brazen for your time and helpful repsonses. Much apreciated.
 
Back
Top