Vehicle Crossing Permit

Check if you need a Planning Permit

You need a Planning Permit if your property or vehicle crossing is affected by planning overlays.

These include:

• Heritage Overlay (HO)
• Road Zone Category (RDZ1)
• Special Building Overlay (SBO1)
• Significant Landscape Overlay (SLO).

Visit the VicPlan website to check for overlays.

Contact Before You Dig

Contact Before You Dig to find out if there are any utility services or infrastructure located below ground, either underneath or near your proposed works. Find out more on the Before You Dig Australia website.

Provide a current 'Before You Dig' report along with your site plan. Ensure the report is no older than 3 months.

Develop a site plan

A clear site plan helps us make a decision about your application and minimise delay.

Find out what to include on our Vehicle crossing site plan page.

Prepare your documents

Gather the following documents for submission:

• Planning Permits if required
• Before You Dig report
• Detailed site plan

Only property owners or contractors may apply for a permit.

Apply online for a Vehicle Crossing Permit

After you apply, we will:

1. Send you a confirmation email
2. Assess the documents provided
3. Contact you if we need more information
4. Conduct a site assessment (see Step 3)
5. Confirm if you need to get written approvals from other public authorities
6. Email your preliminary assessment, if approved.

Allow up to 10 business days for your application to be assessed. It may take longer if we need more information to assess your application or have to refer it to another department at council.

Before starting any work on or near council assets, you need our approval. We'll check your plans to ensure they follow our guidelines.

You might not get a permit if you propose to:

• Build too close to a tree
• Remove or move a street tree
• Change or build over a drainage pit
• Remove 2 or more parking spaces
• Impact a public asset without approval
• Build too close to an intersection or traffic light
• Build 10m from an unmanned intersection
• Build 20m from a traffic-controlled intersection

We will refer your application to the relevant departments on your behalf to determine if more information is needed.

Get approval from other authorities

You might also need approval from other authorities to work near public infrastructure. 

Examples include:

• Utility pits and manholes
• Poles and vents
• Pipes
• Fire hydrants
• Public transport operations.

Read the Vehicular crossings policy, Vehicular crossings procedures and Protection of Council Assets and Control of Building Sites Local Law documents (available under 'Downloads' at the bottom of this page).

If we approve your application, we will issue a Preliminary Assessment.

A Preliminary Assessment is not a permit, so you cannot start your works yet. The permit will be issued after we assess your pre-works notification application (refer to Steps 5 and 6).

Key points about the Preliminary Assessment:

• It’s valid for 18 months.
• It can’t be transferred to another person, company or property.
• It can’t be extended or reinstated once expired.

Your contractor must submit a Vehicle Crossing pre-works notification to us before starting any work. If we approve this, we'll issue a Vehicle Crossing Permit.

As the Permit holder, you are responsible for ensuring all permit conditions are met.

Send your contractor the Vehicle Crossing Preliminary Assessment, standard drawings and other required information so they can complete this step (see 'What to include' below).

Submit a vehicle crossing pre-works notification

What to include

Your contractor must submit a pre-works notification and the following documents 10 to 20 business days before starting work:

• Vehicle Crossing Preliminary Assessment number.
• Compliant Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS) or Traffic Management Plan (TMP) prepared by a qualified person, as required by the Road Management Act 2004 and Road Safety Act 1986, and in accordance with AS 1742.3 2019.
• Certificate of Currency showing a minimum of $20 million in public liability insurance.

Depending on your permit conditions, your contractor may also need to submit:

• A notification letter to residents whose access will be affected by the works
• Department of Transport and Planning (formerly VicRoads) Memorandum of Authorisation if the works or any traffic management devices will be on a state-owned arterial road (find more information on the Transport Victoria website).
• Approval from relevant public authorities to work near their assets.

Read our Protection of Council Assets and Control of Building Sites Local Law 2021 (under 'Downloads' at the bottom of this page) to understand your responsibilities.

Your contractor must arrange a pre-pour inspection with us at least 5 business days before planning to start work. This ensures the vehicle crossing is prepared correctly.

Your contractor should call (03) 9278 4444 to schedule the inspection.

Ensure the vehicle crossing is boxed up and ready according to your permit's standards and specifications.

We’ll inspect the site and let you know if the work can proceed.

If your inspection doesn’t go ahead for any of the following reasons, you will need to reschedule and pay an additional fee:

• The vehicle crossing isn't ready.
• Nobody is onsite.
• Approved traffic management signage isn't in place.

Follow-up inspection

We will conduct a follow-up inspection 3 weeks after the pre-pour inspection.

If there are any issues, we will contact you to discuss how to fix them.