Nature Strips & Footpaths

Consent under Section 138 of the NSW Roads Act 1993 is required for any works or activities in a public reserve, public road way or footpath (nature strip).

Section 138 of the NSW Roads Act requires that all activities undertaken within Council's road reserve be approved by Council prior to the activities being undertaken. This includes landscaping the footpath area in front of residential homes.

Landscaping on Nature Strips

Council's Landscaping Guidelines and Application (PDF, 2.6 MB) are in place to assist residents who wish to undertake landscaping within the nature strip adjacent to their property.

One of the main considerations for a resident undertaking landscaping works is how their landscaping may impact on pedestrians and road users, particularly in relation to reducing sight lines or access.

Broadly, what is not allowed?

Residents will be asked to fix up their nature strip if;

• because of the landscaping, pedestrians can't walk along the nature strip and are forced to walk on the roadway
• the vegetation on the nature strip stops people when they are backing down their driveway, from being able to see pedestrians that are walking along the footpath/nature strip or cars travelling down the road that they are backing into and potentially cause an accident.
• the landscaping has trip hazards which could cause pedestrians to trip over and potentially hurt themselves.

If any one or more of these hazards exists, the owner of the property will be asked to rectify the hazard.

What if my nature strip is identified as non-compliant?

Residents will be given a reasonable amount of time depending on the risk to fix the hazard or if the hazard presents an immediate unacceptable risk to the public, Council may assist in making the area safe or removing the hazard.

If Council is required to remove the hazard because it presents an immediate unacceptable risk to the public and/or the resident is unable to rectify the hazard, Council may seek reimbursement from the party responsible for the hazard. This would be merit based and only likely to occur on very rare occasions if at all.The Local Government Act also includes provisions for issuing penalty notices for non- compliance, but the issuing of penalty notices in respect to landscaped nature strips would be an absolute last resort and only implemented after all other opportunities for addressing the risk was exhausted.

Permits

You will need to apply for permits to landscape on your nature strip, these can be found on our Roads and Nature Strip Permits page.

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