Skip bins on the North Shore

Yellow, orange or white

Willoughby City Council needs a skip bin road permit for a skip or waste container of up to 6 cubic metres on a public road or footpath. Its page sets out the conditions plainly.

Size and colour

No more than 6 cubic metres, and coloured yellow, orange or white so people on foot can see it.

Room to pass

People keep free use of the rest of the footpath, with at least 1.5 metres left clear beside the skip at all times.

Kept clear

It must not cover, or block access to, public or private utilities and drainage pits, or hide traffic signs and controls from view.

On the road

Only in extreme circumstances, and only in daylight.

Timing

At least 10 business days to process, and sometimes longer. An application lodged within 24 hours (one business day) of the works may be refused.

Before it arrives

Works start only after the fees are paid and Council’s approval letter has been received, and approval depends on Council’s engineer being satisfied with what is proposed.

What you send

A photo of the spot or a Google Maps screen grab, which is mandatory, lodged through a MyWilloughby account.

How Willoughby charges

Willoughby charges an application fee when you lodge, then issues a rental fee once it has assessed the application. The rental covers a skip for at most 3 days, with weekends and public holidays counted as one day. Extra fees apply to applications lodged 72 hours (three business days) before the works begin, and a request to change the date costs more again. Where the skip affects metered parking, the standard parking rate is applied to the application. The page links Council’s adopted fees and charges rather than printing the amounts.

One permit, one date, one place

North Sydney Council has a single permit for any business or individual doing works on a Council footpath or road, and skip bins are on its list beside deliveries, excavation and road closures. The permit covers only the approved works, on the date, at the time and in the place it names, and nothing may start until a valid permit has been issued.

Failing to get one, or to keep to its conditions, may bring fines, cancellation or other action under the Local Government Act 1993 or the Roads Act 1993, and Council may cancel a permit where public or residential amenity suffers. Council also offers a template letter for telling neighbours about works that may affect footpaths, roads, parking or access. The page itself gives no skip size, colour or fee.

Private land first

Hunter’s Hill Council’s page expects building waste containers and skips to stand on private property. A skip goes on the road only with Council’s approval, in exceptional circumstances where private property is not possible.

1. Apply earlyAt least seven business days before the date you want.
2. Pay two feesAs at 9 October 2026, an application fee of $238.50 and a permit fee of $483.50 a week, for a minimum of one week.
3. Receive the permitCouncil staff email a copy once it is approved.

Every building waste container or skip on the roadway or footway of a road must show, at all times:

• the supplier’s name and contact details;
• battery-operated yellow flashing lights on the rear panel, where traffic coming up behind can see them;
• safety barriers, reflective tape and cones around it, so that vehicles and pedestrians can see it.

Whoever supplies or hires the skip accepts liability for any damage to footpaths, kerbs, gutters or landscaping when it is placed or removed. Council may order a skip removed, even after approving it, if it or anything around it causes a nuisance or a danger, and clearing any waste left in or around it falls to the supplier or the hirer.

The dimensions

Hornsby Shire Council needs its approval for skips or containers on footpaths, nature strips and road shoulders. On private property there is no fee and no application.

Hornsby also suggests ordering a skip with a cover or a lockable lid, so that other people cannot dump their rubbish in it.

The four side by side

On every one of these pages, a skip on public land needs approval first. After that the councils ask about different things, and the guide to a skip on the road sets their conditions beside those of the other nine. The permit guide has all thirteen councils’ answers on private land.

One thing the North Shore pages share is a reluctance about the road itself. Willoughby allows a skip there only in extreme circumstances and in daylight, and Hunter’s Hill only in exceptional ones where private land will not do.