Condon v Scott [2021] NSWLEC 1160

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Condon v Scott [2021] NSWLEC 1160 Hearing dates: 30 November 2020 Date of orders: 6 April 2021 Decision date: 06 April 2021 Jurisdiction: Class 2 Before: Galwey AC Decision: The Court orders: (1) The application regarding the palms is refused. (2) The application regarding the cypress hedge is granted. (3) The Respondents are to engage, at their expense, a suitably experienced tree maintenance contractor with all necessary insurances to undertake periodic pruning of Tree 12 (comprising of 19 individual Cupressus × leylandii 'Leighton Green' otherwise known as Leighton Greens as depicted on the Tree Location Plan Attachment 1 to the Tree Dispute Application filed 1 October 2020 (The Plan)) so that Tree 12 does not exceed a height of 6.3 metres at any given time when measured from the ground level within 9 Bolingbroke Parade Fairlight. Catchwords: TREES (DISPUTES BETWEEN NEIGHBOURS) – neighbouring hedges – palms – cypress – whether the trees form a hedge – obstruction of views – whether the obstruction is severe – whether the applicant's view has become severely obstructed – no orders made for palms – consent orders for cypress Legislation Cited: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW), Pt 2A, ss 14A, 14E, 14F Cases Cited: Breen v Caronna [2008] NSWLEC 293 Steber v Job [2019] NSWLEC 1308 Wisdom v Payn [2011] NSWLEC 1012 Texts Cited: Review of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW), Attorney General, November 2009 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Phillipa Mary Condon (Applicant) Michael Leslie Scott (First Respondent) Pamela Diana Scott (Second Respondent) Representation: Counsel: D Loether (Solicitor) (Applicant) J Cole (Solicitor) (Respondents)