Whyte v Jourdant & Anor [2009] NSWLEC 1030

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Whyte v Jourdant & Anor [2009] NSWLEC 1030

APPLICANT Colleen Whyte PARTIES : RESPONDENT Grant Jourdant and Catherine Jourdant

FILE NUMBER(S) : 21058 of 2008

CORAM: Thyer AC

KEY ISSUES: TREES (NEIGHBOURS) :- Flood Gum to be removed and dead wood to be prunded from two Tallow-wood trees.

LEGISLATION CITED: Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006

DATES OF HEARING: 03/02/2009

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 3 February 2009

APPLICANT Ms C. Whyte, litigant in person LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES:

RESPONDENT Mr G. Jourdant and Mrs C. Jourdant, litigants in person

JUDGMENT: THE LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Thyer AC

3 February 2009

21058 of 2008

Colleen Whyte v Grant Jourdant and Catherine Jourdant

JUDGMENT The extemporaneous decision was given on 3 February 2009. This written judgment includes the findings given on-site, relevant observations and background information. 1 ACTING COMMISSIONER: Three eucalyptus trees are growing in the north-eastern corner of the backyard of 74 Taloumbi Road Coffs Harbour, each about 1 m from the common boundary of the adjoining property to the east. Mr and Mrs Jourdant are the owner occupiers of 74 Taloumbi Road. They have owned the property since 1995.

2 Mrs Whyte is the owner occupier of the adjoining property to the east. She bought her property in about 1986 soon after it was built. Her backyard had been excavated into the hillside, and a concrete block wall about 2 m high built to retain the backyard of 74 Taloumbi Road and the railway land, prior to her purchase. The three trees were growing at the time she moved in, the northern two were about three quarters their present size and the southern tree about half its present size.