Publicly available information

How to access Council information

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act) requires that certain information must be made publicly available by the City of Coffs Harbour (the City). This is also referred to as “open access information”.  We must include this information on our website and if this is not possible, access is provided in another way free of charge.

This information is listed below and how it can be accessed.  Also note that where * appears, you should refer to the additional notes at the end of this page.

If the information you seek is not included in the following table, you should contact Council on 02) 6648 4000 who can advise you on:

  • where the information is located on our website
  • which of our technical or professional staff can assist you
  • how to request access to information
Information Type
Available on Council's website, free of charge
Available to be copied at Council's Customer Service Centre, subject to copying charges
Available to view at Council's Customer Service Centre, free of charge
Available to view at Council's libraries at Coffs Harbour, Woolgoolga and Toormina
General Information
Information Guide(PDF, 567KB)  - The structure and functions of the City of Coffs Harbour
YES

YES
YES
Disclosure Log - Details about the type of information formally released by the City from 1 July 2010
YES
YES
YES
Register of Contracts valued at $150,000 or more that have been awarded to the private sector
YES
YES
YES
Information about Council
YES
YES
YES
Code of Meeting Practice - procedures for all Council and Council Committee meetings.
YES
YES
YES

Councillor Expenses and Facilities Policy

YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Annual financial reports including the Auditor’s Reports
YES
YES
YES
YES
City policies, procedures, interpretations, rules, guidelines, practices or precedents that are used in connection with the exercise of the City's functions that affect the public
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES Partially  
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Agendas and minutes of any committee of Council
YES
YES
Land Register on all land vested in or under the City's control
YES
YES
Register of investments, refer to the monthly Bank and Investments reports to Council Meetings
YES
YES
YES
Register of Delegations on the functions delegated to the Mayor, General Manager and City staff
YES
YES
Register of current declarations of disclosures of political donations of candidates, groups, members of parliament, local government Councillors political parties and political donors can be found on the NSW Electoral Commission website
Register of voting on planning matters
YES
YES
Plans of Management, Local Environmental Instruments and Policies
Local policies adopted concerning approvals and orders
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES

YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Information about Development Applications
Development applications and supporting information received from the applicant*
YES
YES
YES
Records of decisions on development applications *
YES
YES
YES
Approved Plans*
YES
YES
YES
Public submissions *
YES
YES
Any other associated information received from the public or government agencies *
YES
YES
Approval, Orders and other documents
Applications for approval under any Act and supporting information received from the applicant *
YES
YES
Any other associated information in relation to an application for approval under any Act that is received from the public or government agencies *
YES
YES
Records of decisions regarding applications for approval under any Act *
YES
YES
Records of approvals granted or refused, any variation from local policies with reasons for the variation, and decisions made on appeals concerning approvals
YES
YES
Orders given under Act, (e.g. water, building, vegetation, weeds, rangers) *
YES
YES
Records of Building Certificates under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979*
YES
YES
Plans of land proposed to be compulsorily acquired
YES
YES
Compulsory acquisition notices
YES
YES
Leases and licences for use of public land classified as community land
YES
YES

 

Please note that for

1. Pecuniary interest register i.e. returns of the interests of councillors and designated persons

Access to returns in full are available by inspection at our Customer Services Centre as required under the Information Access Guideline 1 - For Local Councils on the disclosure of information September 2019. Find out how to request access to this information

When copies are requested, the City considers it is necessary to redact returns to alleviate any detriment that may be caused to individuals that on balance, are overriding considerations against disclosure. Signatures, residential addresses, the identity of other third party individuals and information that was not required to be disclosed will be redacted from copies of returns when provided to the public.

Redacted copies of returns are available online for the Councillors (in table above) and Council's Executive and Group Leaders(PDF, 37MB) .

2. Development applications and modification applications 

Open access information relates to development applications received, or records of decisions made on, or after 1 July 2010 with the exclusion of :

(a)  the plans and specifications for any residential parts of a proposed building, other than plans that merely show its height and its external configuration in relation to the site on which it is proposed to be erected, or
(b)  commercial information, if the information would be likely to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied it or to reveal a trade secret.

When the GIPA Regulation 2018 was introduced on 31 August 2018, development applications and decisions made before 1 July 2010 were no longer prescribed as open access information for councils but continued to be ‘government information’ within the meaning of the GIPA Act. Access to these development applications and decisions may be pursued informally or formally under the GIPA Act. Find out how to request access to this information.

Also refer to our DA Tracker for access to development applications submitted on and after the 1st of January 2013 and for modification applications from 4th of November 2013. 

N.B. records of decisions may not always be added to the DA Tracker.

3. Third party information received on any application for approval under any Act 

Access to information received from the public or government agencies (i.e. other than the applicant) in relation to any application for approval will be dependent on how they were invited or received by Council. Find out how to request access to this information.

4. In general

Any content may be removed from the open access information listed in the table above if there is an overriding public interest consideration against disclosing it.

The City is not required or permitted to make open access information available in any way that would constitute an infringement of copyright.