Wollongong councils and businesses scramble after duplicate image glitch hits planning portals this week

Development applications lodged through the NSW Planning Portal have been affected by a duplicate image replacement fault this week, with files submitted by Wollongong City Council applicants among those hit hardest. The glitch, which caused uploaded site photos and architectural drawings to be overwritten by duplicate images from unrelated applications, has been traced to a backend processing error in the portal's document management system.

The timing is awkward. With BlueScope Steel's Port Kembla transition works generating a wave of associated industrial and residential applications across the northern suburbs, and the Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation fielding a surge in development enquiries tied to the regional housing pipeline, any disruption to document processing ripples quickly into project scheduling.

What happened and where

The fault appears to have affected applications submitted between June 29 and July 2. Wollongong-based architectural practices working out of Crown Street and the West Wollongong business precinct reported that clients began receiving automated notifications on July 1 flagging document irregularities on their lodged DAs. The University of Wollongong's campus planning team, which has active applications for student accommodation works on Northfields Avenue, confirmed it was among those checking submissions for affected files, though the extent of any impact on those specific applications was still being assessed as of Friday.

Firms relying on the portal for submissions to Wollongong City Council's assessment team said the practical consequence is that planners cannot formally begin the clock on statutory assessment periods until clean document sets are re-uploaded and verified. Under NSW planning legislation, the standard assessment period for most local development applications is 40 days from the date of formal lodgement acceptance. Any delay in that acceptance step pushes completion dates accordingly.

The Illawarra Business Chamber has flagged the issue to its members after receiving calls from builders working on projects in the Fairy Meadow and Corrimal corridors, areas where residential DA activity has been elevated through the first half of 2026. Small builders and owner-developers, who typically lack in-house planning staff to monitor portal notifications, are most exposed to the delay.

Re-lodging documents and what comes next

NSW Department of Planning and Environment guidance circulated on Friday instructs affected applicants to log back into the Planning Portal, verify each uploaded document against the application reference number, and re-upload any file showing an incorrect image. Applicants are advised to use the portal's support ticket system to flag affected DAs directly, rather than contacting council assessment teams individually.

Wollongong City Council's development enquiry counter at 41 Burelli Street has been fielding walk-in questions about the issue since Thursday morning. Council's online service page notes that pre-lodgement meeting bookings can still proceed during any portal disruption, which gives applicants a way to keep projects moving while document issues are resolved.

For projects tied to the Port Kembla Renewable Energy Zone precinct — where several infrastructure applications were lodged in the June 30 window ahead of a state government planning framework review scheduled for August — the delay adds to an already compressed timeline. Applicants in that precinct were working toward construction mobilisation ahead of the summer wet season.

Practitioners say the fastest path through is to act early this coming week. Checking application status before Wednesday gives applicants enough lead time to re-upload documents, wait for the automated verification cycle — which typically takes 24 to 48 hours — and still recover most of the lost assessment time before the end of July. Anyone with a DA lodged in the affected window who has not yet received a notification should check their portal inbox regardless, since not all affected applications appear to have triggered an automated alert.