Road Reserve

A freshly sealed, glossy asphalt road winds through a suburban neighbourhood lined with green trees and trash bins

A range of activities in the road reserve require a permit from Council or the NSW Government's Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), before these activities commence.

The road reserve includes roads, footpaths, kerbs and gutters and the nature strip.

Council has an approval role in relation to the following activities:

  • Constructing a new footpath crossing, or reconstructing one that is damaged
  • Opening and/or excavating the road reserve
  • Occupying the road reserve, including for waste containers.

Applications for the above activities can be initiated at Council’s Online Services portal, by following the link to Lodge An Application and then Roads and Park Infrastructure.

Also note that:

  • Applicants might also need a Road Occupancy Licence from RMS if in certain circumstances, including for works on State or regional roads, on bus lanes or close to traffic signals. Find out more and view a full list of these roads(PDF, 2MB).
  • A range of fees, insurance and other requirements may need to accompany applications.
  • The fee for road opening permits includes the cost for Council to permanently restore all surfaces once works are complete. Unless previously approved in writing, applicants are not permitted to carry out permanent restoration using their own contractors.
  • Urgent applications must be submitted before 9am on the business day (that is Monday to Friday) prior to the day of the proposed occupancy.

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