EL-BAYEH v BLACKTOWN CITY COUNCIL [1997] NSWCA 101

EL-BAYEH v BLACKTOWN CITY COUNCIL

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

MASON P, MEAGHER and POWELL JJA 25 February 1997, 19 March 1997

[1997] NSWCA 101

Resumption of land — compensation for — Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991, s56(1).

FACTS

The appellant appealed the quantum of an award of compensation for resumption of the appellant's land by the respondent made 3 September 1993 by Bannon J. The appellant argued that the quantum was not a proper sum having regard to the market value of the land, as provided for in the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991, at s56(1) because (a) the trial judge should have considered the adjustment of comparable sales by the appellant's valuers and disallowed the adjustment made by the respondent's valuer; and (b) evidence of the value of the land adjacent to that of the appellant's and resumed at the same time for the same purpose should have been relied upon despite the absence of description as to that land's size, shape, dimensions or utility.

HELD

(1) Appeal to the Court of Appeal lies only in respect of a question of law, and here, where his Honour's decision is correct and no question of law is involved, the appeal must fail.

(2) S56(1)(a) of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 prohibits consideration of comparable sales as formulated by the appellant's valuers and the alleged comparable sale figure of the respondent's valuer was accepted as a notation of an anomaly, not an adjusted value.

(3) Without description of the adjacent land, the trial judge could not find its value of any, or even little, assistance.

Mason P I agree with Meagher JA.

Meagher JA This is an appeal from an award of compensation made by Bannon J. Part of the appellant's land at Blacktown was on 3 September 1993 resumed by the respondent Council. The land in question was zoned Light Industrial 4(6) under the Blacktown Local Environment Plan. The resumption was for a public purpose, being the implementation of a drainage scheme for part of the industrial area at Huntington. The respondent Council has a Development Contribution Plan under s94AB of the Environment Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to finance the drainage scheme.