Heasman v Blue Mountains City Council [2006] NSWLEC 115

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Heasman v Blue Mountains City Council [2006] NSWLEC 115

Applicant: Ronald Heasman PARTIES : Respondent: Blue Mountains City Council

FILE NUMBER(S) : 11039 of 2004

CORAM: Roseth SC

KEY ISSUES: Development Application - Subdivision :- ecological issues connected with stormwater runoff

DATES OF HEARING: 12/12/2005, 13/12/2005, 21/12/2005 and 10/03/2006

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 03/10/2006

Applicant: LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Mr C McEwen, SC, Mr S Berveling, barrister Respondent: Mr T Cork, solicitor of McPhee Kelshaw

JUDGMENT:

THE LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Roseth SC

10 March 2006

11039 of 2004 Ronald Heasman v Blue Mountains City Council

JUDGMENT 1 Senior Commissioner: This is an appeal against the refusal by the Blue Mountains City Council (the council) of a development application to subdivide the land under community title into 46 lots (43 residential lots and 3 community lots) and to erect a dwelling on 42 of the residential lots, on lots 1, 2 and 4 DP 593545, known as 21 Stuarts Road, Katoomba.

The site 2 The site is between Stuarts and Wellington Roads, west of Burrawang Street, about 1.8km from the Katoomba train station. It has an area of 12.49ha and contains bushland, disused pasture, a dam and a watercourse. The site slopes down from Stuart Road to form a valley at the centre through which a watercourse runs in a southeasterly direction. The watercourse is an unnamed tributary of Kedumba Creek, which is 200m to the east of the site. 3 Adjoining the site to the northwest and south is low-density suburban development. The Katoomba Golf Course lies to the south of the site.