Construction noise can be very annoying. With more of us working from home, we can be subjected to construction noise nearly all day. To make matters worse, and due to COVID19 orders, construction can now take place seven days a week (including public holidays).
As part of the NSW Government’s response to COVID19 the NSW Planning Minister on 9 April 2020 made the Environmental Planning and Assessment (COVID-19 Development – Infrastructure Construction Work Days) Order 2020.
This order allow demolition and construction work to be carried out on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, without any further approval.
The reason for this amendment was to assist with social distancing on construction sites by spreading construction work over seven days and to help stimulate the economy by keeping construction sites working.
Although construction work is permitted seven days a week, the builder/developer must comply with the times set out for construction in the applicable development application. In other words, a builder cannot work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What is Lane Cove Council’s Standard Construction Hours?
Houses/Commercial
Lane Cove Council normally imposes the following on Development Applications for general building works.
All demolition, building construction work, including earthworks, deliveries of building materials to and from the site to be restricted to the following hours:
- Monday to Friday (inclusive) – 7:00am to 5:30pm
- Saturday – 7:00am to 4:00pm
No work to be carried out on Sundays or any public holidays. (note this has now been overridden by the NSW State Government order).
Apartments
During the construction of the numerous apartments along Mowbray Road, the Lane Cove Council introduced new restrictions for Apartment Developers. In particular certain type of construction work is not permitted on Saturdays.
All demolition, building construction work, including earthworks, deliveries of building materials to and from the site is restricted as follows:-
- Monday to Friday (inclusive) – 7:00am to 5:30pm
- Saturday – 8:00 am to 12noon with no excavation, haulage truck movement, rock picking, sawing, jackhammering or pile driving to be undertaken.
No work to be carried out on Sundays or any public holidays. (note this has now been overridden by the NSW State Government order).
Note: This includes the delivery of materials. Over the years In the Cove has been alerted to numerous incidents of vehicles idling outside a development site before the permitted time (see our cover photo).
Who Do I Contact If Work is Outside the Permitted Hours?
If work is starting before permitted hours or continuing after hours or you believe the noise is excessive your first call should be to the Lane Cove Council. You should call the Lane Cove Council on 9911 3555 and ask for a Ranger to attend the site.
In the Cove Local News – Get in Every Wednesday!!
To make sure you don’t miss Lane Cove info sign up to our newsletter. It comes out every Wednesday at 7.30 pm and includes a wrap up of everything posted on our Facebook site in the previous week.
Did you know that In the Cove has an Instagram page? Yes, we do, and we feature pictures from our roving reporters and our ITC team that do not appear on our Facebook page. Follow us on @inthecove
