Ku-ring-gai DCP Updates: What Homeowners Need to Know About Landscape Plans
Ku-ring-gai Council has made a number of changes to its Development Control Plan in 2026, including new controls for dual occupancies and updates relating to tree and vegetation preservation. For homeowners preparing a DA, the landscape plan is becoming an increasingly important part of the application.
If you’re planning a new house, dual occupancy, secondary dwelling or other residential development in Ku-ring-gai, it’s worth understanding what Council expects to see in your landscape documentation.
Ku-ring-gai’s Development Control Plan has been amended several times during 2026. A new Part 5 – Dual Occupancy came into effect on 5 March 2026, while amendments to Part 13 – Tree and Vegetation Preservation took effect on 30 April 2026. Further amendments responding to NSW housing reforms took effect in August 2026. (KRG NSW)
For landscape plans, however, many of the requirements are not simply about where you put plants.
They are about demonstrating how the proposed development responds to the site’s existing landscape, topography, trees, soil and drainage.
What does Ku-ring-gai expect to see on a landscape plan?
Ku-ring-gai Council’s own Development Application Guide provides a useful summary of what a landscape plan should demonstrate.
The Council states that landscape plans are to show the existing and proposed landscaping and earthworks associated with the development.
Importantly, this includes:
Existing levels
Finished levels
Contours
Embankments and grades
The extent of cut and fill
Existing trees and other vegetation
Proposed landscaping
Relevant site structures and landscape elements
Levels and contours are to be referenced to Australian Height Datum (AHD). (KRG NSW)
That means a landscape plan for Ku-ring-gai shouldn’t simply be a planting plan with some paving and lawn added to an architectural site plan.
It needs to communicate what is actually happening to the site.
Cut and fill matters
Ku-ring-gai is characterised by heavily vegetated residential areas and sites with significant changes in level.
That makes earthworks an important part of landscape design.
A proposed backyard might look simple in plan, but if the finished level is substantially different from the existing ground, the proposal could involve:
Excavation
Imported fill
Retaining walls
Terracing
Steps
Drainage changes
Impacts on existing trees
Changes to adjoining properties
Showing existing and finished levels allows Council to understand how the landscape proposal is responding to the existing site rather than simply creating an arbitrary flat platform.
For a sloping site, this can be one of the most important pieces of information on the landscape plan.
Trees are a major consideration
Tree and vegetation preservation is particularly important in Ku-ring-gai.
The DCP includes a dedicated Part 13 – Tree and Vegetation Preservation, and Council amended the introduction to this part in April 2026 to clarify its application. (KRG NSW)
Existing vegetation therefore needs to be considered early in the design process.
A landscape plan should clearly identify relevant existing trees and vegetation and coordinate the proposed landscape works with their retention or removal.
This is especially important where new buildings, pools, driveways, retaining walls or other structures are proposed close to established trees.
A landscape plan that simply draws new planting over the top of an existing tree without addressing the relationship between the two isn’t going to provide Council with the information it needs.
Deep soil is also important
For larger residential developments, Ku-ring-gai places considerable emphasis on deep soil landscaping.
Council’s DA Guide states that a separate deep soil plan is required for residential flat building and multi-dwelling housing developments where necessary to demonstrate compliance with the DCP.
The plan needs to identify the areas being counted as deep soil, as well as areas excluded from the calculation because of structures or other constraints. (KRG NSW)
This is where landscape documentation becomes more than simply an aesthetic exercise.
The location of buildings, basements, driveways, paths, pools and other structures can all affect the amount and location of usable soil available for planting.
For larger developments, the landscape plan and deep soil plan therefore need to be closely coordinated with the architectural plans.
What about a typical new house?
For a homeowner building a new house in Ku-ring-gai, the landscape documentation will generally need to respond to the specific characteristics of the site.
A relatively flat site with limited vegetation and minimal earthworks may be relatively straightforward.
A steep, heavily vegetated site can be considerably more complicated.
The latter may require the landscape plan to coordinate:
Existing significant trees
Proposed tree retention
New planting
Finished ground levels
Retaining walls
Steps
Driveways
Stormwater infrastructure
Pool areas
Deep soil
Boundary interfaces
The important thing is that all of these elements work together.
New dual occupancy controls make this even more relevant
Ku-ring-gai introduced a new Part 5 – Dual Occupancy into its DCP, effective from 5 March 2026. This forms part of Council’s response to the NSW Government’s housing reforms. (KRG NSW)
Dual occupancies can create more complicated landscape outcomes than a conventional single dwelling.
Two dwellings on one site can mean more driveways, more private open space, additional structures and greater pressure on the remaining landscaped areas.
At the same time, existing trees and the site’s natural topography still need to be considered.
That makes early landscape planning particularly valuable.
Don’t leave the landscape plan until the end
One of the easiest ways to create problems during a DA is to treat the landscape plan as something that gets added after the architectural design has been completed.
By that point, the building footprint, driveway, pool, retaining walls and stormwater infrastructure may already consume much of the available site.
The landscape designer is then left trying to fit meaningful landscaping into whatever space remains.
For Ku-ring-gai projects, it makes more sense to coordinate the landscape response with the architectural design from the beginning.
The survey, architectural plans and existing tree information provide the foundation for a landscape plan that can demonstrate how the development fits into the site.
A better landscape DA plan is not necessarily a more complicated one
It’s worth remembering that more information doesn’t automatically mean a better drawing.
The objective is to make the proposal clear.
For a simple site, that might mean a straightforward landscape plan with existing and proposed levels, relevant trees, planting, hard surfaces and basic landscape details.
For a more complex site, additional information may be required to properly communicate the earthworks, tree retention, deep soil and level changes.
The documentation should be proportionate to the project.
What does this mean for Ku-ring-gai homeowners?
If you’re preparing a DA in Ku-ring-gai, don’t think of the landscape plan as simply a document showing where the garden will go.
It can also demonstrate:
How the development responds to the existing site.
That includes the site’s trees, topography, soil, drainage and existing landscape character.
Getting this information right can make the DA easier for Council to assess and can reduce the risk of having to revise the landscape documentation later in the process.
Need a landscape plan for your Ku-ring-gai DA?
If you’re a homeowner preparing a development application in Ku-ring-gai and need a professional landscape plan, Fast Landscape Plans provides quality landscape documentation for a simple fixed fee.
For $500, Fast Landscape Plans prepares landscape plans for development approvals across Australia, including new homes, granny flats, dual occupancies, pools, decks, retaining walls and other residential projects.
There are no hourly rates or complicated quoting process.
You provide your project information and architectural plans, and a professional landscape plan is prepared for your development application.
Quality landscape plans. Fixed $500 fee. No complicated quoting.
Comments