Do utility services need to be shown on the DA plans?
Yes, utility services should generally be identified on the DA documentation where they are relevant to the proposal. However, for a typical ACT dual occupancy, a separate detailed Utilities Services Plan is not automatically mandatory in every case. The ACT Minimum DA Documentation Guideline marks some documentation as required only “if relevant or requested.”
For a dual occupancy, the plans should give the planner enough information to understand where the existing services are and whether the new dwellings will interfere with them.
This can include things such as sewer, stormwater, water, electricity and other existing/proposed utility infrastructure, particularly where they affect where you can put the dwellings, driveway, retaining walls or landscaping.
You don't necessarily need a separate complicated engineering utilities drawing for every DA. The utility information can sometimes be incorporated into the relevant plans. ACT's DA naming guidance specifically says that a Utilities Services Plan details existing and proposed utility services.
The important practical issue is clearances. For example, if a sewer line or utility easement runs through the block, you can't simply draw a dwelling over it because the building otherwise meets the planning setbacks. Utility access and protection requirements still need to be dealt with. ACT Planning expressly recognises easements, utility infrastructure access/protection spaces and plumbing/drainage clearances as separate constraints.
So for a dual occupancy DA, I would normally want the site documentation to identify any utility infrastructure that could affect the proposed development, rather than leaving it until building approval.
Reference: Planning (Minimum Development Application Documentation) Guideline 2026 (No 1) (NI2026–13)
Where this question is kept
| Dual Occupancy Q&A | #451 | agrees | 18/08/2026 |