Excavation in Woy Woy
Most of Woy Woy's residential land is Class 3 on Council's acid sulfate soils map, so works more than 1 metre below the natural ground surface need development consent unless a preliminary assessment confirmed by Council shows no management plan is needed. That is a depth worth checking a pool or a deep service trench against first, and in Woy Woy's Class 2 pockets any work below the ground surface counts.
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Excavation around Woy Woy
Woy Woy is flat sand country. The state soil survey names the suburb in its description of the sand flats around Brisbane Water, where the watertable generally sits within 2 metres of the surface and, on the lakeward side, can be brackish and rise and fall with the tide. It says the loose sands may need compaction and shoring of foundations, and that swampy spots carry a high foundation hazard. Pumping water out of a hole is one of the works Council's acid sulfate rule counts, so a wet dig here is an approvals question as well as a practical one.
Flood mapping covers much of the suburb too, mostly from Council's Woy Woy peninsula floodplain study and, along the foreshore, from the Brisbane Water plan, which also maps flood storage. Council's engagement page describes the peninsula as prone to nuisance flooding that can stay in yards for a couple of days, and for several weeks when the groundwater rises. On flood planning land, cut and fill needs Council's approval.
Permits and Central Coast Council rules
Complying development is narrower here than elsewhere. The Housing Code caps excavation at 1 metre deep on Class 3 or 4 acid sulfate land, and complying development can't be carried out at all on Class 1 or 2 land, so a pool or an extension on those parts of Woy Woy goes through a development application. Check the class for your own lot before the dig is designed.
Source: Central Coast LEP 2022 cl 7.1 and Acid Sulfate Soils Map; Exempt and Complying Development Codes SEPP 2008 cl 1.19(1)(c) and 3.30(2); Central Coast DCP 2022 Chapter 3.1 — confirm current requirements with Central Coast Council.
Our Woy Woy service area
Woy Woy enquiries are passed to an independent provider, who contacts you to see the site and quote.
See all Excavation on the Central Coast. We also work in Umina Beach, where most of the housing is Class 4 rather than Class 3.
Call (02) 4326 8289Last reviewed · Updated · First published