Skip bins in Randwick and Woollahra

An approval with conditions

Randwick City Council says its approval is needed for a number of activities in a public place, under section 68 of the Local Government Act 1993. One of them is putting a skip bin or other waste storage container on a public road, a footway, a nature strip or any public place. Another is putting a shipping container, or any other article or enclosure, out on a road, a footway or a public place.

1. ApplyAn application form goes to Council’s Health, Building and Regulatory Services department, with details of what is proposed and the fees. For a skip, the page links an application for placing a waste storage container in a public place, and applications with their fees can be lodged at Council’s Customer Service Centre or by email.
2. AssessmentCouncil weighs public safety, traffic management, how safe and convenient things stay for pedestrians, environmental amenity, and any regulations, standards and guidelines that apply.
3. Written approvalIf the activity is acceptable, the applicant receives a written approval, which generally carries standard conditions and conditions specific to the site, and those must be kept to. The page also links a form for requesting an extension of an approval.

Missing approval, or breaking its terms, is an offence under the Local Government Act 1993 that may lead to legal proceedings, a notice, an order or a penalty infringement notice.

When more than Council is involved

Randwick’s page says approvals, licences and permits may also be needed from other public authorities, agencies and service providers, and names Transport for NSW and NSW Police among them. Where an activity is on, or affects, a state or regional road, it advises consulting the state roads agency it names, NSW Police and Council’s Integrated Transport Department as early as possible, so the approvals are in place first. If the activity affects traffic flow or closes all or part of a roadway, Council also needs a traffic control plan.

The annual approvals

Randwick’s page lists skip providers that hold an annual approval to place their bins on Council’s roadways, subject to conditions and limits of their own. As read on 9 October 2026, the page gave those approvals as running until 30 June 2026, while the page itself was last updated on 23 September 2026. Whether a given provider’s approval has since been renewed is not on the page as read; a hire business can tell you whether it holds a current one.

Licensed providers, and a yearly form

Woollahra Municipal Council’s form is for placing waste storage containers, skip bins among them, in a public place anywhere in the Woollahra local government area. It is an activity application under section 68 of the Local Government Act 1993, Part C3, and this version runs from July 2026 to June 2027.

How often

Applications are made every year for approval to carry out the activity.

Fee

As at 9 October 2026, $2,165, paid with the application.

Insurance

A certificate showing Council indemnified for not less than $10,000,000 against all public risk, attached to the application.

Applicant

The form has room for a company name and an ABN or ACN, each marked “if applicable”.

Before lodging

Council recommends talking first with its Coordinator, Regulatory Services, and says an appointment is essential.

Woollahra Council licenses the businesses that provide skips, and says only those licensed companies may place a skip on the roadway, and only in approved locations. Its form for placing waste containers in a public place is applied for once a year, with one fee of $2,165 as at 9 October 2026 paid with each application. A skip in a park, a reserve or on a footpath needs the Council’s written approval.

Two questions for a hire business in the east

Randwick’s page gives no set number of days for a skip application, though its approval has to be obtained for the activity. Elsewhere in these guides, Hunter’s Hill asks for seven business days’ notice and Willoughby takes at least ten business days to process an application. The North Shore guide has both, the guide to a skip on the road sets out what a skip must look like once it is there, and the permit guide has the other eleven councils’ answers in one table.

Two questions cover most of it. In Randwick, does the business hold one of Council’s annual approvals for its roadways, and is it still current? In Woollahra, is it one of the providers Council has licensed? For anything beyond that, your council is the place to ask.