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Court considers that a ‘stop work notice’ may mean that an owner is not responsible for pollution from premises
A Council’s notice to a landowner to cease all construction and earthworks on a premises may mean that the landowner would no longer be taken to be responsible for pollution from the premises from the time of the notice because the landowner…
When is an administrative decision ‘irrational’?
The Court of Appeal recently handed down the decision of Arnold v Minister Administering the Water Management Act 2000 [2014] NSWCA 386 which considered whether a decision by the Minister administering the Water Management Act 2000 (‘WM Act’) to make a…
Flexible biodiversity offsets allowed for major projects
In my earlier post, I reported on the role of biodiversity offsets in the development assessment process. It is now clear that biodiversity offsets still have a clear role to play. The Office of Environment and Heritage (‘OEH‘) has recently published a…
First Performance Improvement Order Issued to Strathfield Council
The Division of Local Government has just published on it’s website the first ‘performance improvement order’ (‘Order‘) issued by the Minister for Local Government under s438A of the Local Government Act 1993 (‘LG Act‘). The Order was issued to Strathfield…
A reduction in funding for the Local Infrastructure Growth Scheme
The NSW State Budget for 2014-2015 released on 17 June 2014 indicates that $60 million has been allocated for the Local Infrastructure Growth Scheme (‘LIGS‘), down from $99 million in 2013-2014. Given the purpose for which the LIGS was established, it…
Is there still a role for biodiversity offsets in development assessment?
Biodiversity offsets are often proposed to address environmental impacts of development. However, a recent court decision indicates that when assessing proposed development, offsets are not to be preferred over avoidance and mitigation strategies. It is therefore worthwhile considering the role…
Court upholds Warkworth mine extension refusal – Immediate and some long term implications
Following on from our earlier post which can be found here, the Court of Appeal’s decision in Warkworth Mining Limited v Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association Inc [2014] NSWCA 105 not only finds that there was no legal error in Preston CJ’s decision…
Court of Appeal upholds refusal to approve Warkworth mine extension
The Court of Appeal in Warkworth Mining Limited v Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association Inc [2014] NSWCA 105 has today dismissed an appeal against a Land and Environment Court judgement that refused project approval to extend the Warkworth mine located in the…
Grapevine effect of social media is recognised in defamation case
A District Court judge in Mickle v Farley [2013] NSWDC 295 has recognised the grapevine effect of social media in assessing the amount of damages to be awarded in a defamation case.
‘Getting the balance right’ for CSG reforms
In October 2013, the NSW Government introduced measures to protect certain residential land and buffer zones around that land from new coal seam gas development. In January 2014, these exclusion zones were extended to cover land in villages which meets…
New BASIX targets – No change to housing affordability?
The NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure has published new Building Sustainability Index (‘BASIX‘) targets for public comment. The NSW Government’s view is that the new BASIX targets will not affect housing affordability. However, a newspaper article from the Sydney Morning Herald on…
Can we bank on the future of biobanking?
The biobanking scheme in NSW commenced in July 2008. Since then, only 21 biobanking agreements have been entered into to create biobank sites and only 7 biobanking statements have been issued. A review of the scheme is currently being undertaken…
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