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REMINDER: Footpath hazards – when is a Council protected from Liability under the Civil Liability Act?
In a recent decision, the District Court found that a Council was not liable to a plaintiff who had tripped on a raised paver in a park in Redfern. This case is a useful reminder of the various protections councils…
ALERT: Housing SEPP transitional provisions corrected to apply ADG to former SEPP65 pending DAs
The Government has amended State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (Housing SEPP) to correct an oversight which had meant that neither Chapter 4 of the Housing SEPP nor the former SEPP 65 applied to relevant residential apartment DAs made prior…
Bill to Increase Penalties for POEO Act Offences & Give Additional Powers to the EPA Introduced into NSW Parliament
Yesterday, the NSW Government introduced the Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation and Penalties) Bill 2024 (Bill). The Bill proposes the most significant amendment to the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) since its commencement. The Bill is intended…
Consent granted to development in breach of development standard not invalid – again
In Lahoud v Willoughby City Council [2023] NSWLEC 117, the Land and Environment Court applied the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in El Khouri v Gemaveld Pty Ltd [2023) NSWCA 78 in rejecting a challenge to a consent granted…
Changes to Defamation Law: New Exemptions and Defences for the Digital Age
In a world where anyone can post content online, including anonymously, the traditional understanding of a ‘publisher’ for the purposes of defamation law has been a vexed issue. Several High Court decisions in recent years have tried to define who…
Taking enforcement action? Make sure you have identified the correct perpetrator
Before taking enforcement action, it is critical for the enforcement agency to identify the correct perpetrator. A failure to do so may result in the validity of the enforcement action being successfully challenged or defeated. This issue regularly arises in…
Reminder: The modification of a development consent is not the ‘grant of a development consent’
The power of a consent authority to modify a development consent is set out at sections 4.55 (for modification of consents generally) and 4.56 (for modification of consents granted by the Court) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979…
Physical commencement – unlawful preparatory works in breach of condition of consent
Establishing whether a development consent has lapsed often involves a question about whether the works undertaken on the site have been “physically commenced”. However, it has long been established that works purportedly undertaken that are unlawful because they are in…
Environment protection licence refused despite general terms of approval
The Land and Environment Court recently handed down a decision dealing with the interrelation between the integrated development regime established under Div 4.8 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1975 (EP&A Act) and the regime for the provision of…
The LEC finds a Local Planning Panel determination valid, despite the Panel being incorrectly constituted
Last week the Land and Environment Court determined that a Local Planning Panel’s (LPP) decision to refuse development consent was valid, despite one member of the LPP being invalidly appointed. This is the first judgment considering the implication of an…
IPC Advice on Short-Term Rental Accommodation – Key Takeaways
Short-term rental accommodations (STRA), such as those offered through Airbnb and other similar online platforms have become increasingly popular in tourist destinations across Australia, particularly in desirable coastal regional locations. However, the rapid growth of the STRA industry is thought…
Does it matter whether a DA complies with the LEP?
It is usually thought that if a planning instrument such as an LEP contains a clause to the effect that “consent must not be granted unless…”, an application must either comply with the specified condition, or be granted a dispensation,…
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