In East Gippsland Shire, the driveway on your own land is usually your business, but the crossover where it meets the road, the bit over the kerb and nature strip, generally needs council approval and has to be built to the shire’s spec. Get that part wrong and you can be asked to tear it out.
Updated September 2026.
It depends which part of the driveway you mean. The driveway on your own land is usually your call. The crossover where it meets the road is a different story, and it’s worth understanding that difference before you pour anything.
The private driveway versus the council crossover
The driveway on your own land is one thing. The crossover where it meets the road is another, and they are treated differently.
The section that runs across your property, from the house or shed down toward the boundary, is generally yours to build. There can still be planning or building rules that apply, depending on your block, but the driveway surface itself is usually your call.
The crossover is the piece that sits between your boundary and the road: the section over the kerb, the channel and the nature strip. That land is council’s, not yours. Because it is council land and it affects the road and the drainage in the street, a new or widened vehicle crossing in East Gippsland Shire generally needs council approval before it goes in, and it has to be built to the shire’s standard.
That is the part people miss. You can own the driveway and still not be allowed to lay the crossover however you like.
How the East Gippsland Shire process generally works
At a high level, a vehicle crossing in East Gippsland Shire follows three steps: you apply to council, you build to their spec, and council inspects it. The detail sits with the shire, so check their current requirements before you commit.
The general shape of it looks like this:
- Apply first. You lodge an application with East Gippsland Shire for the vehicle crossing before any work starts. Council checks the location, the sightlines, the drainage in the street and whether the crossing suits the road.
- Build to spec. If it is approved, the crossover has to be built to the shire’s standard: the width, the profile over the kerb, how it ties into the channel and the levels. These are set by council, not by preference.
- Inspection. Council inspects the finished crossing, and sometimes the base before the pour, to confirm it was built to the approved spec.
We’re deliberately not quoting form numbers, fees or exact dimensions here, because council requirements change and we’d rather you work off the current source than a stale figure. Check the East Gippsland Shire website or ring the shire on 03 5153 9500 for the current vehicle crossing requirements, or ask us and we’ll point you to the right place.
If your frontage is on a main road
If your property fronts a main road or a declared highway rather than a local council street, the road authority may be involved as well as, or instead of, the shire. In Victoria that authority is the state road agency (currently the Department of Transport and Planning, which took over the old VicRoads functions).
That matters because the approval, the sightline requirements and the crossing standard can be stricter on a main road, and the process can run through a different body. On a quiet residential street it is almost always straight council. On a highway frontage near Bairnsdale or out on a main road through the smaller towns, check who the responsible road authority actually is before you apply. We can help you work that out on site.
Why getting it wrong is expensive
A crossover built without approval, or built off-spec, is not a paperwork problem you can smooth over later. Council can require it to be removed and rebuilt at your cost.
Concrete is unforgiving that way. Once a crossover is poured to the wrong width, or the levels do not match the channel, or the drainage does not work, the fix is a demolition and a re-pour, not a patch. That is real money and real time lost, on top of the original job. Doing the approval first is cheaper than doing the crossing twice.
Where we come in
We build the crossover to the shire’s approved spec and coordinate the dig and the pour so it passes inspection. One team handles the excavation, the base, the formwork and the concrete, which means the levels tie in and nothing gets lost in a handover between two contractors.
We will not lodge the application as you, that stays with the property owner, but we will build to the spec that gets approved, and we will flag early if your frontage looks like a main road situation that needs the road authority involved. It is part of how we quote a driveway: we look at where the crossover lands, what the ground is doing and what council will want, before we give you a number.
If you’re planning a new driveway anywhere around Bairnsdale or the wider shire, get us out for a look. We’ll walk the frontage, tell you honestly whether the crossover needs council approval, point you at the current East Gippsland Shire requirements, and quote the build in writing after the visit. Get a quote and start with the right paperwork, not a crossover you might have to pull out.
