What counts as the crossover?
Everything from your front boundary out to the road: the strip over the footpath, the nature strip, and the kerb and layback. Inside the boundary the driveway is yours to build. Outside it, you're building on the council's land.
Your driveway is two jobs
The part inside your boundary is yours to build. The crossover sits on council land and needs approval before anyone touches it.
What's under the surface
Most of what you're paying for, you'll never see. A quote that skips the base, the steel or the joints is cheaper for a reason.
A typical driveway, start to finish
Break out and dig
Old concrete comes out and the ground is cut to level.
Base, formwork, steel
Road base is compacted, edges are boxed and mesh goes in on chairs.
Pour and finish
Concrete is placed, screeded and given its surface finish the same day.
Cut the joints
Control joints are sawn in, usually within about a day of the pour.
Cure
Walk on it after a day or two. Keep cars off for about a week.
Timing shifts with weather, access and the size of the job. Your contractor sets the schedule.
Why does the council get a say?
Because of the Roads Act. The NSW Planning Portal puts it plainly: you need approval from the roads authority before you build, repair or modify a driveway or vehicle crossing, and for most streets the roads authority is your local council. On some classified roads Transport for NSW may have to approve it as well.
It's a separate approval to a development application or a complying development certificate. Having one of those doesn't mean the crossover is covered.
Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, side by side
| City of Newcastle | Lake Macquarie City Council | |
|---|---|---|
| What the application is called | Section 138, Application for a Driveway and/or a Road Opening Permit, Type 1 | Minor Public Works application, under "Application for access to property" |
| Where to find it | The council's Forms and Permits page | The council's Driveways page |
| Timing the council gives | Not stated on the forms page. Ask when you lodge | 10 to 15 working days on its web page, 14 to 21 on its fact sheet |
How do you apply in Newcastle?
City of Newcastle lists the form on its Forms and Permits page. Look for the Section 138 application for a driveway, Type 1. The Planning Portal says councils may ask for things like plans, the contractor's details, their public liability insurance and an estimate of cost, so have your concreter's details handy.
One Newcastle wrinkle. Cooks Hill and three parts of Hamilton are heritage conservation areas, and in the Hamilton Residential Precinct the council notes most houses have no garage or on-site parking at all. If you're in one, ring the council before you pay for plans.
How do you apply in Lake Macquarie?
Through a Minor Public Works application on the council's Driveways page. The council is direct about a few things. A development approval doesn't cover the driveway approval. Every driveway needs its own application, and so does replacing an old one. Works can't start without the approval in hand.
Its driveways fact sheet asks for a site plan with the driveway marked on it and a profile from the road to the house showing the natural ground levels. It also says a residential block generally gets one driveway, with a second considered in cases like a corner block with two street frontages.
What if you just build it?
Lake Macquarie's fact sheet spells out the risk: work done without the application can be treated as non-compliant, and in some cases it has to be removed and rebuilt at your cost. The same sheet says the owner carries the cost, the standard of construction and the upkeep of the crossover, and that the council recommends a contractor who's insured and licensed.
That's a lot of concrete to pay for twice.
Does anything else need checking first?
- What's under the footpath. The fact sheet puts it on the owner to check for water, gas and electrical services before any digging.
- Old mines. Driveways are exempt from Subsidence Advisory NSW approval under every guideline except Guidelines 4 and 5, but that exemption is only about subsidence. It doesn't replace the council's approval. Our guide to mine subsidence districts and concrete explains how to check your address.
- Street trees. If a council tree sits where the crossover wants to go, the tree is the council's call, not yours and not the concreter's.
- The road itself. On a Crown road or beside a classified road, Lake Macquarie says other authorities have to approve it too.
Where do we come in?
After the approval, or while you're applying. We don't lodge council applications and we can't speed one up. Tell us where you're up to and we'll send a licensed local concreter who builds crossovers to the council's specification. If you're doing the whole driveway at once, start with getting a concrete driveway quoted.
Replacing an old crossover? The approval comes first there too, before the old one is touched. Breaking out the old concrete can be lined up as part of the same job. And if the only problem is a cracked or lifted footpath panel out the front, that's the council's to fix. Report it to them.
Sources
- NSW Planning Portal: driveway crossing approvals
- City of Newcastle: forms and permits (Section 138 driveway application)
- Lake Macquarie City Council: driveways
- Lake Macquarie City Council: driveways fact sheet
- Newcastle Development Control Plan 2023, section E2 Heritage conservation areas
These are independent sites. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Each was checked in November 2026.