Council-Compliant Crossovers and Driveways in Melton

Yes. Melton City Council issues a Permit to Create or Interfere with a Vehicle Crossing, and it applies whether you are building a new crossing, widening an existing one or removing one. The crossing sits in the road reserve, which is council-controlled land, so the work cannot be approved retrospectively the way some private-property work can. The permit is separate from any planning or building permit your new home needed. We lodge the application as part of the job — confirm the current requirements with Melton City Council, as local laws and fee schedules are reviewed periodically.

Council charges a set application fee that depends on whether the works are classed as minor or non-minor and on the speed limit of the street. In the 2025-26 schedule listed on the national ABLIS register, minor works on a road below 50 km/h were $153.94 and non-minor works $388.99. Councils review fees each July, so treat those as an indication and check the current schedule with Melton City Council. The contractor also has to carry at least $10 million in public liability insurance to work in the road reserve.

Most residential driveways in the area land somewhere between $80 and $150 per square metre for plain reinforced concrete, and higher for exposed aggregate or coloured finishes. A typical single driveway plus a compliant crossing usually runs into several thousand dollars once excavation, base, mesh, the pour and the permit are counted. The variables that move the number most are how much fall there is across the block, whether the old slab has to come out and be carted away, and how far the pour is from where the truck can stand.

All three. Concrete is still the most common choice in the estates and the only material council accepts for the crossover itself, but behind your boundary the driveway is your call. We lay hot mix asphalt driveways and resurfacing, and build layered crushed rock and toppings driveways for rural and acreage blocks. Each has its own page explaining where it makes sense, what it costs and how it behaves on Melton's clay, and we will tell you honestly which one suits your block rather than the one we happen to be laying that week.

Allow around ten business days for council to assess a straightforward crossing application, though this varies with volume and with how complete the submission is. Construction itself is usually two to three days on site — excavation and base one day, formwork and pour the next — and then the concrete needs about seven days before you drive on it, and around 28 days to reach full strength. The honest timeline from first call to parking on it is generally three to five weeks.

It is extremely common in the Melton growth estates. Volume builders frequently exclude the driveway and the crossing from the base contract, or include only the crossing and leave the driveway to you. Some estates also have a developer design guideline that specifies finishes or setbacks, which sits on top of the council permit. Check your build contract and your estate's design guidelines before you get quotes, and send us both — it changes what we can propose.