Pre-submission meetings aren’t just bureaucratic checkboxes. They’re reconnaissance missions where you gather intelligence, build relationships, and create the conditions for inevitable approval. After 40 years without a single rejection, I’ve learned these meetings distinguish developers hoping for approval from those who design projects that are likely to be approved design.
What You Need to Know:
- Pre-submission meetings are gathering intelligence, not a forum for presentations.
- Preparation means addressing objections early, not merely preparing to answer questions.
- Council relationships are strategic infrastructure that develop over time.
- Listening to what isn’t spoken is more important than what is actually said.
- Early alignment eliminates entire categories of downstream risk.
I’ve never had a development application turned down in 40 years.
That track record isn’t due to luck. It’s all about understanding what a pre-submission meeting involves.
Most developers view these meetings as just bureaucratic formalities. A box to tick before submitting applications. They attend hoping to convince the council that their project is feasible.
I walk in already knowing it does.
The key difference is in preparation, listening, and understanding; approval processes with pre-submission meetings are much quicker when used correctly.
Here’s what 40 years of pattern recognition has taught me about the structural mistakes developers make before they walk into the room.
What Is the True Purpose of a Pre-Submission Meeting?
The preparation gap causes structural weaknesses that become expensive later.
I’ve noticed developers come to pre-submission meetings with incomplete ideas, expecting the council to steer them. They outline problems and look for solutions, using the meeting as the starting point for their thinking process.
That approach ensures friction.
The meeting is reconnaissance. You’re gathering intelligence about system dynamics, political realities, and unspoken constraints. You’re reading body language. You’re listening for what the council doesn’t say as much as what they do say.
But you can’t gather intelligence without doing the work first.
When I prepare for a pre-submission meeting, my team has already sorted out the issues the council will raise. We’ve dealt with height, bulk, shadows, and traffic before anyone raises them. We’ve stress-tested viability. We know the concept works.
The meeting confirms what we already know.
Research shows that pre-application advice helps prevent refusals or resubmissions of issues that could have been resolved beforehand. But that only works if you’ve identified those issues before the meeting.
Most developers haven’t.
Core Insight: The meeting is reconnaissance, not a presentation. You’re collecting intelligence while reaffirming what already works.
What Does the Council Know That You Don’t?
The council knows things you don’t. They’re aware of which community groups are active, which applications face obstacles, and the political climate around development in your area.
That information is available at pre-submission meetings, but only if you’re asking the right questions.
I seldom speak in these meetings beyond the opening. I ask about local community action groups and inquire about difficulties other developers face with approvals. You’d be surprised what council officers will tell you about issues with other applications.
That intelligence shapes how I organise projects.
When I learn that another developer was refused due to shadow impacts on residential properties, I design my project to cast shadows over infrastructure instead. When I find a community group is active about traffic concerns, I route access through slip roads rather than residential streets.
Information asymmetry turns into an advantage when you’re listening.
My consultants handle technical discussions. I gather information and build relationships. That role clarity matters because pre-applications were created to avoid adversarial planning, helping property owners work with councils rather than oppose them.
Most developers see councils as foes. Foes don’t lend a hand.
Councils are my mates. They guide me through the process promptly and help me avoid the mistakes other developers make.
What This Means for You: In your pre-submission meeting, ask about issues with other projects. That information becomes your design advantage.
When Is the Best Time to Request the Meeting?
When you ask for a meeting, the reason matters more than what you say during it.
For a development application:
I’m ready once the concept building envelope is established, driveway positioned, entry point decided, and at least one floor plate sketched. That’s the minimum for a productive discussion.
For a rezoning:
The timing is different. I need to ensure the proposal is workable before I approach the council. I develop a simple idea and assess its viability. If it’s promising, I talk to the council without revealing the idea.
That sequence is important.
In a rezoning situation, our initial meeting covers the ideology behind the concept. We talk about where we want to do things and why, as well as our approach to site layout. To speak with authority on this, we need to have already tested it successfully. When we meet with the council, we all come across as brilliant by explaining how the entire layout works together.
If we present the plan to them from the start, we’ve done so without any input from the council.
Poor choice.
The council must join us on a discovery journey to achieve the outcome we need. That journey follows a sequence. Timing decides whether the council becomes a collaborator or a barrier.
Strategic Principle: For rezonings, discuss ideology before presenting concepts. Council becomes engaged in solutions they help identify.
How Do You Prepare for a Pre-Submission Meeting?
Laying out your case before the conversation begins shapes what can happen in the room.
My team concentrates on the issues the council and community will face. For a recent project, we anticipated height would be a concern. So, we staggered the height both vertically and horizontally, using different facade designs and features to highlight changes and minimise bulk.
My planners said we’d get a maximum of five stories, possibly seven somewhere.
I asked for ten.
We sat through that meeting for 45 minutes while everyone discussed the concept for the rezoning, the reasons why it was suitable, and the relevant benefits. Height was never mentioned until the Planning Director asked “how high.”
I had been listening to everything in the meeting and was aware of what was being avoided in conversation. The height wasn’t an issue as long as we justified how it was appropriate.
My planners didn’t catch what was said. I did. That was my job.
The preparation made that moment possible. We’d already engineered conditions where objections couldn’t form. Shadows fell over infrastructure, not homes. Traffic used the slip road. Facade articulation broke up the bulk.
The council couldn’t object because we’d sorted out the objections before they developed.
That’s what preparation is all about. You’re not just getting ready to answer questions; you’re preparing to prevent them from being asked.
Preparation Framework:
- Identify actual constraints: height, bulk, shadows, traffic.
- Engineer solutions prior to the meeting.
- Design projects that prevent objections from forming
- Pay attention to what’s not being talked about.
Bottom Line: Preparation involves removing objections during the design phase, not just readying answers for foreseeable questions.
How Do You Interpret Council Signals During a Meeting?
Decoding council signals and unspoken constraints demands being present in a way most developers don’t.
Body language, humour, and face-to-face discussions are important. This can’t be done online, via phone, or in email. Face-to-face meetings let you read the room and use humour to lighten heavy situations.
I use the start of every meeting to ease tension. I tell a funny story about anything, or praise someone for something. It doesn’t matter who. I just need to lower the tension levels.
That allows genuine conversation to happen.
Example:
In one pre-DA meeting, our planner was 30 minutes late. Council officers were unhappy. They thought it was highly unprofessional. I agreed, but I had to make the most of the limited time we had.
We did the hurried obligatory discussion and were rushed out at 4:45pm. On the way out, I quickly spoke to the cranky planner. He was looking at his watch, saying how he had to get to soccer training since he was the 10-year-old kids’ coach.
I told him that was incredible and thanked him for doing something I would love to do but my job didn’t let me.
He was happy to get a thank you.
Relationship established. The next time we talked, I was the bloke who respected him for being a kids’ soccer coach.
That moment meant more than any technical point we could have squeezed into those final seconds.
Reading the Room Means:
- Always showing up in person
- Lowering tension at the beginning
- Discovering the human side of the bureaucrat
- Building relationships that endure beyond the meeting
How Do You Organise Follow-Through After the Meeting?
The meeting becomes part of the project infrastructure when you see it as the start of a relationship, not just a transaction.
For development applications:
I argue that planning controls and minor breaches should be managed with “this for that” type responses. A professional relationship is still necessary, allowing the council officer to discuss openly any issues that arise during assessment.
You accomplish this through as much face-to-face contact as possible.
Regarding rezonings:
You’re entirely at the council’s mercy. There are no safeguards for you. You must be easy to work with to handle tough negotiations. Everything is up for negotiation.
The key is building a strong and reputable relationship where the council will listen to your argument.
That relationship doesn’t begin at the meeting. It starts with how you show up, how you listen, how you respond to feedback, and how you follow through on what you said you’d do.
Council needs to be involved throughout the journey to prevent unexpected decisions or comments from catching anyone off guard. The meeting is just one milestone along that path, not the final stop.
Key Point: Relationships are strategic infrastructure. Forge them through consistent face-to-face engagement, not just transactional interactions.
What Benefits Does Early Alignment Offer?
Early alignment reduces whole categories of subsequent risk.
Getting the structure right from the start prevents problems from escalating. You won’t be uncovering fundamental issues at the DA stage. You won’t be redesigning after community consultation. You won’t be arguing with council about principles you should have aligned on months earlier.
The ending is part of the beginning.
Research confirms that early stakeholder engagement reduces resistance and builds trust from the start. But that only works if you understand what you’re doing in these meetings.
You’re not after approval. You’re creating the circumstances where approval is unavoidable.
You’re not showing a finished plan. You’re seeking advice on a discovery journey where they become invested in the solution.
You’re not answering questions. You’re designing projects where the questions aren’t asked.
That’s the strategic architecture most developers overlook. They see pre-submission meetings as mere formalities when they ought to be the cornerstone of everything that follows.
Get it right from the start, or face bigger costs later.
I’ve built a 40-year track record based on that principle. The pre-submission meeting is where that principle either holds or falls apart.
Most developers realise that too late.
The Advantage of Compounding:
- Early alignment stops issues from developing.
- Getting the structure right from the start prevents expensive rework.
- Council collaboration outperforms adversarial approaches
- Strategic relationships build gradually over time
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I bring to a pre-submission meeting?
For development applications, bring your concept building envelope, driveway location, entry point, and at least one floor plate sketch. For rezonings, don’t bring drawings to the first meeting. Bring the ideology of your concept and be prepared to discuss where you want to do things and why.
How long before lodging should I organise a pre-submission meeting?
Request the meeting only after you’ve stress-tested its viability and addressed the issues the council will raise. The meeting confirms what you already know works. If you’re still working out your concept, you’re not ready.
Should I bring my whole consultant team to the meeting?
Bring your planners for technical discussions, but understand that your role differs. While consultants focus on technical points, your task is to gather intelligence, build relationships, and listen for what isn’t being said.
What questions should I ask the council in a pre-submission meeting?
Inquire about local community groups. Find out what challenges other developers face with approvals in your region. Check the political climate concerning development. This information influences how you arrange your project.
How can I tell if the council is on board with my proposal?
Listen for what they don’t say. If council spends 45 minutes discussing your idea without raising objections to specific parts, those parts aren’t the real restrictions. Pay attention to what’s being avoided in the talk.
Can I organise pre-submission meetings by phone or video call?
No. Face-to-face meetings are essential. You need to read body language, use humour to lighten tension, and build interpersonal relationships. This can’t be done remotely.
What’s the difference between pre-submission strategies for DAs versus rezonings?
Development applications operate within the approved framework. You’re disputing planning controls and minor breaches. Rezonings address impacts that are not currently allowed. You’re entirely in council’s hands, so relationships and collaborative discovery are more important.
How can I transform the council from an adversary into a collaborator?
Stop seeing them as enemies. Councils lead you through the process and help you avoid mistakes other developers make. Build relationships through regular face-to-face contact. Take them on a discovery journey where they become invested in your solution.
Key Takeaways
- Pre-submission meetings are reconnaissance efforts where you gather intelligence about system dynamics, political realities, and unspoken constraints.
- Preparation involves engineering projects where objections cannot arise, not just preparing responses to predictable questions.
- Pay attention to what the council doesn’t mention. Silence and avoidance signal what isn’t a restriction.
- Timing is crucial. For rezonings, talk about ideology before presenting concepts so the council is more engaged in finding solutions they contribute to.
- Relationships are strategic infrastructure. Grow them through face-to-face engagement, not just transactional interactions.
- Information asymmetry turns into an advantage when you inquire about issues in other projects and apply that intelligence in your design.
- Early alignment prevents whole categories of future risk. Get the structure right from the start, or face much higher costs later.
Conflict-of-Interest & Commercial Disclosure: LEFTA Corporation Pty Ltd advises clients across Australia and may seek future joint-venture opportunities at some of the sites discussed. Views expressed are personal and do not represent any current client mandate.
General Advice Disclaimer: This article is based upon the personal experiences of the Author. No portion of this article is intended to provide legal, financial or professional advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute or replacement for the services of qualified professionals, legal, financial and insurance experts. The Author, its publisher, agents, servants, contractors, employees and representatives will, under no circumstances, be liable for any special or consequential damages that result from the use of, or any attempt to use, the information contained herein. You are solely responsible and accountable for any actions, decisions and results by your use of the information contained herein. You agree not to attempt to hold the Author and LEFTA Corporation Pty Ltd liable for any such decisions, actions or results, at any time, under any circumstances.
