Changes to Council Inspection Practice Directions

Changes to Practice Direction 8 – Council Swimming Pool Safety Inspections (Practice Direction 8), and Practice Direction 9 – Council Inspections (Practice Direction 9), have been released by the State Planning Commission, with the updates to come into effect on 1 July 2025.

Practice Direction 8

This establishes the requirements for the inspection of swimming pools and swimming pool safety features.

Version 5 of Practice Direction 8, released on 10 April 2025, introduces a number of changes.

Mandatory Inspections – Part 2, Clause 2

Prior to the new changes, councils were required to inspect 100% of safety features for all swimming pools within 10 days of a council being notified of completion.

Version 5 has delineated the inspection timeframes between metropolitan and regional areas, with the inspection timeframes now being 10 days and 15 days, respectively, for each area.

Inspections, within the above timeframes, are also now to be undertaken upon notification of the completion of the swimming pool or its safety features, or the pool being filled with water.

‘Filled with water’ is now defined as a swimming pool that has a water level exceeding a depth of 300mm.

Version 5 also establishes that any period between the time that a council has requested access to the property for the purposes of undertaking an inspection and the granting of such access, is not to be included in the time within which the council is required to undertake the inspection.

Counting inspections – Part 4, Clause 2

Councils must still meet the mandatory inspection requirements by conducting one inspection. An additional inspection of the same property at a later stage is not to be counted towards the mandatory requirements, but will instead be acknowledged by the Commission as having been undertaken in pursuit of the achievement of the object of the Practice Direction.

Practice Direction 9

Practice Direction 9 establishes the requirements for councils to carry out inspections of development in their respective areas.

Version 3 of Practice Direction 9, also released on 10 April 2025, makes significant amendments to inspections for different classes of buildings, and further clarifies the level of accreditation required for authorised officers undertaking these inspections.

Mandatory inspections – Part 2, Clause 2

A council must take reasonable steps to ensure that each inspection is carried out to include an inspection of several elements, including any ‘primary structural elements’ as may be present and reasonably accessible at the time of inspection.

While previously not defined, Version 3 introduces a definition for ‘primary structural elements’ as meaning any component of the primary load bearing structure of a building including footings, piles, foundations, framing, columns, girders, beams, joists, roof trusses and wind or seismic bracing.

Inspections generally – Part 2, Clause 4

Inserted as a new subclause, the mandatory inspection requirements now also apply to buildings constructed off-site, including relocated buildings (to be inspected following placement or relocation).

Counting inspections – Part 2, Clause 5

Also inserted as a new subclause, only building work which is completed within the relevant reporting year can be considered for contributing towards the percentage of mandatory inspection requirements for that reporting year.

Additionally, where a development application contains multiple building works (whether of the same class or different class) an inspection of each individual building work may be counted for the purposes of the percentage in the relevant building class table, discussed further below.

General requirements – Part 3, Clause 1

The Practice Direction has further clarified the expectations regarding the qualifications, skills, and knowledge of authorised officers completing these inspections.

The level of accreditation held by an authorised officer undertaking inspections should be considered in line with any limitations or conditions of accreditation. Where accreditation has been obtained through a building supervisors registration pathway, it will be subject to the condition that the holder will not carry out inspections outside of the exclusions or limitations of their Building Supervisors Licence.

Appendix 1 – Table of Mandatory Inspection Requirements

Appendix 1 contains several tables that outline the inspection requirements for different classes of buildings.

Previously only referring to Class 1 and Class 2-9 buildings, as well as farm buildings, an additional Table 4 for Class 10c buildings (private bushfire shelters) has been added in Version 3.

100% of building work for Class 10c buildings completed in the relevant reporting year must be inspected, and may be inspected at any time during construction or on completion of the work.

Further, Table 2 for farm buildings has been amended to specify different inspection requirements. Where Practice Direction 9 previously required a minimum of 50% of building work within the council area to be inspected, Version 3 now stipulates inspection requirements for a minimum of 33% of farm sheds and 75% of farm buildings completed in the relevant reporting year.

Take home messages

Whilst not operational until 1 July 2025, it is important for authorised officers to understand the changes within Practice Directions 8 and 9 and how they may impact resourcing and the inspection practices of their council.

Authorised officers should take careful note of the new timeframes in which inspections must take place, as well as the amended inspection requirements for different building classes.

For more specific information on any of the material contained in this article please contact Gavin Leydon on +61 8 8210 1225 or gleydon@normans.com.au.