This page covers Ku-ring-gai together with the lower North Shore: Willoughby, Lane Cove, North Sydney and Mosman. The suburbs are close together and the houses are similar, and that is exactly why the pool fences here have so much in common.
The number to keep in mind is 18,000. That is how many pools Ku-ring-gai Council has told its own program it is dealing with, and it is a reminder of how common a backyard pool is in this part of Sydney.
Most of them arrived in the same way. A 1920s or 1930s house was built on a generous block, and at some point between the 1960s and the 1980s a pool was dug into the backyard. The timing was not a coincidence: the backyard pool became standard across this part of Sydney through the 1960s and 1970s, well before the current safety requirements existed.
That matters, because a fence built in the 1970s was built to the standards applied in the 1970s. Many of the pools on the North Shore are protected by a fence that has never been required to meet the current standard, and the owners are often surprised by what that means on paper.
Ku-ring-gai and the lower North Shore at a glance
- Ku-ring-gai Council runs a swimming pool barrier inspection program, which commenced on 29 October 2013, and has stated that Ku-ring-gai has over 18,000 pools in its local area.
- Suburbs I inspect include Gordon, Killara, Lindfield, Pymble, Roseville, St Ives, Turramurra, Wahroonga, Chatswood, Artarmon, Castle Cove, Castlecrag, Middle Cove, Willoughby, Naremburn, Northbridge, Lane Cove, Lane Cove West, Longueville, Northwood, Greenwich, Cammeray, Cremorne, Crows Nest, Kirribilli, Neutral Bay, North Sydney, Waverton, Wollstonecraft, Mosman, Balmoral, Beauty Point and Clifton Gardens.
- Ku-ring-gai formalised its heritage conservation areas in 2013, and tree preservation controls apply across much of the area, so landscaping and trees near a pool are not always simply the owner's to move.
- Rock sits close to the surface in places, particularly around Mosman, Cremorne, Northbridge and Castlecrag, so posts cannot always be set to depth and blocks often fall away from the street.
- Ku-ring-gai's inspection priority puts child care and family day care facilities first, then pools registered but not marked as compliant, then pools not inspected in ten years, then pools not inspected in five years.
What this area does to a pool fence
Age is the first factor. A fence that has been standing since the 1970s has had fifty summers. Timber has rotted at the base, steel has corroded through at the posts, springs have lost their tension and gates have dropped on their hinges. The design may also be from a different era of thinking about child safety.
Heritage and trees are the second. Ku-ring-gai's heritage conservation areas were formalised in 2013, and trees and gardens are often part of what makes an area significant. A pool fence that needs to change can run into questions about what is visible, what can be removed and what needs approval.
Sandstone and slope are the third. Where rock sits close to the surface, posts cannot be set to depth, fences shift, and rock ledges provide exactly the kind of step a small child is looking for. On the steep blocks, height measured from outside the pool area becomes a genuinely difficult measurement to get right, especially after landscaping.
Fourth, the mature gardens. These are big blocks with hedges, garden beds, trees and established landscaping. Hedges are not barriers, and a garden bed against a fence removes height on the pool side. In older North Shore gardens, more of the non-climbable zone is occupied than owners realise.
Who can issue the certificate here
Your council administers the Act in its area, keeps the record of pools, investigates complaints and inspects under its adopted program. You are not required to use the council. An accredited certifier can carry out the inspection and issue the same certificate, which is pulled from the NSW Swimming Pool Register either way.
Ku-ring-gai also operates a hierarchy of inspections, and it is worth understanding where a pool sits in it. Mandatory work comes first: inspections following a complaint, an application for a certificate, an exemption application, an owner's own request, or a notice from an accredited certifier who was not satisfied with what they found.
Premises with more than two dwellings, and tourist and visitor accommodation, sit in that mandatory group and are inspected at least once every three years. Random inspections of the general pool population happen where resourcing allows, working down from pools with no current certificate.
Book, and you get one certifier the whole way through. The person who answers your call is the one who turns up, makes the call on the day and signs the certificate.
What I check here
I work out the history first, because on a North Shore property it usually decides the answer. When the pool went in, whether the fence has been replaced or repaired, whether the boundary has moved, and whether any exemption or older standard is in play.
Then the fence as one system. Height measured from outside the pool area at every point along a run that is rarely level. Gaps under, between and through panels. Gates for self-closing, self-latching and outward swing, with the latch release at 1.5m and the shield where a tubular gate needs one. The 900mm non-climbable zone, inside and out, including the hedges, garden beds, sandstone ledges, retaining walls, air conditioning units and pool equipment that fill a mature garden.
Then the house and the boundary: doors and windows that open toward the pool area, and whether any part of the boundary fence is carrying barrier duty. What the visit covers is on the inspections page, and the numbers are in the fence rules guide.
If something does not pass
On the North Shore the common findings are a fence that is short on the pool side after decades of garden build up, a timber post that has rotted through at ground level, a gate that will not latch because the ground has moved, and a hedge being relied on where a fence is required. If something does not pass and it is minor, we work out how to put it right there and then.
You leave with your certificate the same day either way, and where the pool does not pass the certificate of non-compliance sets out exactly what needs to change.
Frequently asked questions
My property is in a heritage conservation area. Does that limit what I can do to the fence?
It can. Heritage controls may apply to what is visible from the street or to landscaping and trees that contribute to the significance of the area, and Ku-ring-gai formalised its heritage conservation areas in 2013. Where a pool fence has to be upgraded, that is usually a change you want to have thought through before spending, and I will flag it on site if it applies.
Are there exemptions I should know about in Ku-ring-gai?
Council lists exemptions that can apply for some pools built before 1 August 1990, for certain waterfront properties, for indoor pools and spa pools, for very small and very large sites, and in some circumstances involving disability. Whether an exemption actually applies to your pool is a separate question from whether it exists, so it is worth checking properly.
Do you inspect pools at child care centres or day care in the area?
Ku-ring-gai puts child care and family day care facilities at the top of its inspection priority list, ahead of private residential pools. If you operate that kind of facility, the inspection requirements are more involved and worth planning around.
The pool is above ground. Does the pool wall count as the barrier?
No. The wall of an above ground pool is not a barrier on its own. Above ground pools need a compliant barrier around them in the same way an in ground pool does, unless a specific exemption applies to the pool.
My council area is Willoughby, Lane Cove, North Sydney or Mosman, not Ku-ring-gai. Do you still cover it?
Yes. This page covers Ku-ring-gai together with the lower North Shore councils of Willoughby, Lane Cove, North Sydney and Mosman. The rules come from the same Act and Regulation, and the local conditions are broadly similar, but the practical detail can differ from one address to the next.
Sources
- Ku-ring-gai Council, swimming pools
- Ku-ring-gai Council, Swimming Pool Barrier Inspection Program (PDF)
- Swimming Pools Act 1992 (NSW)
- Swimming Pools Regulation 2018 (NSW)
- NSW Swimming Pool Register, owner checklists
- Standard AS 1926.1-2012, Swimming pool safety: Safety barriers for swimming pools
Last reviewed 12/10/2026. Practical information from a registered certifier, not legal advice.