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What is this tool for?

This tool serves two purposes: 

  1. It provides a set of questions for council to ask applicants before a pre-application meeting, to ensure they have sufficient information and to determine if a meeting is necessary.
  2. It includes a triage map that council can use to decide if a pre-application meeting is appropriate or not based on the answers to the questions.

Instructions for use

The tool can be edited and customised to reflect the appropriate triage questions, and the correct process for triaging pre-application requests in your council.

Updating text on the questions and map?

The goal of this tool is to ensure council has all the information they need to run a pre-application meeting, and that pre-application meetings are being facilitated for the appropriate proposals. Questions should be amended and updated to reflect the information your council needs to gather prior to a pre-application meeting. The triage map also needs to be updated to reflect the process in your council.

Where should the questions, and the map be available?

  1. Ideally, your council's website should have a webform with triage questions. The answers to these questions should be automatically available in your software.
  2. If your website and software cannot handle this, you may need to send the questions manually to applicants who request a pre-application.
  3. The triage map is an internal document for decision-making and should be easily accessible within the council's internal systems.
  4. New planning department staff and relevant admin staff should receive this guide during their onboarding to ensure they understand and follow the correct process immediately.

Tips to get the most out of this tool

For this tool to be most effective at your council, we recommend:

  • Customising the questions and process map to reflect the correct process at your council
  • Ensure planning and admin staff are familiar with the location and content, so they can assist applicants with the questions if needed and follow the steps in the process map.
  • Remove highlighted text prior to publishing the template internally
  • Store a copy where it can be easily located, noting again that the map is an internal council document.

Ensuring there is sufficient information prior to holding a pre-application meeting will ensure that maximum benefit is achieved at the meeting. Ensuring there is a consistent approach to determining the necessity of pre-application meetings across the planning department will ensure the time and resources of council and applicants are used effectively.

Page last updated: 10/01/24