Read the notice before it’s on the fence.

Type your street address at the top of this page and pick it from the list. We’ll show how many applications were lodged within 200 m, 500 m and 2 km of it in the last 90 days, and the latest few. For everything nearby, open the map or the permit history for your address.

Enter your address, choose how far around it to watch (anywhere from 200 m to 10 km; the default is 500 m) and add your email address. We’ll send you a link to confirm. After that, you’ll get one email at about 7 am Sydney time on any morning there’s something new near you. It’s free, and there’s no password or account.

That depends on how busy your area is and how far you watch. When you pick your address, we show an estimate for each distance, such as "about 4 emails a month". You never get more than one email a day, and one email lists up to 50 applications.

Yes, it’s free, and you don’t need a password or an account. We use your email address to send the alerts you asked for, and we never sell it. Alerts may end with a short note from MapView, who run Planning Alerts. Every alert has a one-click unsubscribe link that works without signing in.

A development application (DA) asks for approval to build, demolish, subdivide or change how land is used. Most are lodged with the local council. Each state and territory has its own name for it: development application (DA) in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT, planning permit in Victoria, planning application in Tasmania and development permit in the Northern Territory.

Mostly the name. Both ask for approval to develop land, but each state uses its own term: Victoria says planning permit; New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT say development application (DA); Tasmania says planning application; and the Northern Territory says development permit. The rules and timeframes differ between states and councils.

We collect applications from council planning registers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. We don’t have data for the ACT or the Northern Territory yet. Not every council publishes its register online, so check the councils page to see whether yours has live data.

Open the application from your alert to see its details, and a link to the council’s own page where the council publishes one. Councils take objections, comments and letters of support during a notification or exhibition period. How long that lasts, and how to make a submission, depends on the state, the council and the type of application, so check the council’s page for the closing date.