Berrigan Shire Council’s development application register now updates itself every six hours
Snapshot
- Customer
- Berrigan Shire Council
- Industry
- Local government
- Go live
- 21 September 2026
- Key result
- Automatic updates every six hours
Summary
Berrigan Shire Council used our ePlanning.io platform to publish current development applications straight from its planning system. It replaces a manual process.
About Berrigan Shire Council
Berrigan Shire Council serves the townships of Berrigan, Finley, Barooga and Tocumwal in the Southern Riverina, on the NSW side of the Murray River. Its workforce consists of ~100 people and the Planning and Development team has six staff covering planning, building and compliance.
The challenge
In April 2026 Council’s CEO wanted a simple table published on Council’s website to show the community what development applications have been received and are active.
A list kept by hand. A technical officer created a table in a Word document, pulling details of the development applications from Altitude (Council’s planning system), and once a week they added any new development application received and deleted any determined development applications.
2-3 people for one update. Each week the list went between the officer and the Manager and communications team, with calendar reminders to make sure that the list was updated and that it was published on Council’s website.
Out of date on arrival. The list was prepared on the Wednesday, Thursday or Friday for publishing on a Monday morning, so it was never fully current or accurate.
What we did
We connected Altitude directly to Council’s website using ePlanning.io, the integration platform we built for councils.
Automatic updates. ePlanning.io acts as middleware: software that sits between two systems and passes information across. Every six hours it collects every development application in Altitude still awaiting a decision.
A table on the existing website. A small piece of code, added to Council’s current website displays the table. No new website was needed; integration with the existing systems was paramount.
Only what was asked for. Each entry shows the application number, NSW Planning Portal reference, submission date, address and proposal description. Search stays switched off, as Council preferred.
Better address matching. We fixed how the system matches land parcels described with a section number, so more applications show their real address.
How we worked
Council came to us because it already knew our work: we built the connection that brings all building and planning applications from the NSW Planning Portal into Council’s systems in 2025.
Before go-live, we showed Council staff the list that the system would publish. Council’s technical officer checked it against her manual version. That first check found 15 development applications had been determined directly in the NSW Planning Portal but had not been closed off in Altitude. It highlighted an internal process issue and resulted in refresher training for staff. It also highlighted to staff the importance of checking the proposal description and the Lot & DP / site address that an applicant manually types into the NSW Planning Portal, when they lodge a development application.
Adam Gatt, our Manager for Local Government, led the build.
“This project is probably very small compared to other projects that the project team are doing, and yet they always make us feel important … and, the aftercare, and post go live support, is fantastic - next level.”
The results
Time back every week. Having an automated list (Planning Register) saves Council’s technical officer valuable time in their working week and removes the weekly handover to the communications team to manually publish the list on Council’s website.
Current, not last week’s. The register refreshes every six hours, replacing a weekly list that was prepared days before it appeared online.
A clear rule for staff. Anything marked live in Altitude now publishes automatically, so planning staff need to ensure that once determined, a development application is closed off, and, they review what an applicant has typed in, promptly, as the list is automated and public facing.
Some checks still need a person. Automation doesn’t guarantee accuracy and some details that are manually typed in by an applicant into the NSW Planning Portal need review and editing, however this takes far less effort than maintaining the list by hand.
“I think our Planning Register could demonstrate to other rural councils of our size that you don’t have to necessarily have the bells and whistles (of an application tracker).”
What’s next
The list (Planning Register) gives Council a base to build on, and staff expect to add extras (such as more filters or more app tracker functions) gradually.
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