Rockdale City Council has lost its appeal against the decision to award substantial damages to a cyclist who suffered severe injury when he rode his bicycle into a boom gate that had been erected by the Council across a public…
The New South Wales Court of Appeal has issued an important reminder that a council’s general power to enter into contracts does not allow it to charge fees other than those struck in accordance with the mandatory procedures for the fixing of fees for…
The Court of Appeal has confirmed a Supreme Court decision which saw a land-locked lot at Earlwood granted an easement over the Council’s community land used for (access to) a park. The fact that the purchaser of the land knew…
What is a residential building?
22 Jul, 2013
The NSW Court of Appeal recently handed down its decision in GrainCorp Operations Ltd v Liverpool Plains Shire [2013] NSWCA 171 throwing into question the line of authority which had previously interpreted the term ‘residential buildings’ (or similar terms) within an…
Refresher: relevant and irrelevant considerations
16 Jul, 2013
A recent Court of Appeal decision, Lo v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2013] NSWCA 180 (Lo), provides the opportunity for a refresher on the permissible scope of relevant and irrelevant considerations; such as, when evaluating a development application (DA).
More on savings provisions
4 Dec, 2012
Further to our blog on the effect of savings provisions in planning instruments on existing use rights, a Commissioner of the Land & Environment Court has also considered the proper interpretation of the savings provision in cl1.8A of the The Hills…
On 9 March 2012 the NSW Court of Appeal delivered judgment in Bellingen Shire Council v Colavon Pty Limited [2012] NSWCA 34. The case concerned the Council’s failure to install guideposts along a stretch of public road delineating the edge…
In Hoxton Park Residents Action Group Inc v Liverpool City Council [2011] NSWCA 349, the NSW Court of Appeal upheld a challenge to the validity of a development consent and made some interesting findings about the consent authority’s obligation to…
Today the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the decision of Biscoe J of the Land and Environment Court regarding the requirements for security under planning agreements in Sweetwater Action Group Inc v Minister for Planning [2011] NSWLEC 106 . We have…
A recent decision of the NSW Court of Appeal – Botany Bay City Council v Saab Corp Pty Ltd [2011] NSWCA 308 – held that a condition of development consent requiring a developer to place telecommunications and electricity cables underground (Cabling…
Conflicting objectives and overlapping purposes – A recent case looks at permissibility under Local Environment Plans
15 Nov, 2011
In a recent decision – Abret Pty Ltd vWingecarribee Shire Council [2011] NSWCA 107 – the News South Wales Court of Appeal has considered the role of objectives in local environment plans as well as how to determine the permissibility of developments with multiple and…
On 18 February 2011, the NSW Court of Appeal (Tobias, Campbell, Macfarlan JJA) delivered an important decision on how credits under s94 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 should be calculated for residential development on land historically used…