Wollongong City Council v Australian Iron & Steel Pty Limited [1988] NSWLEC 15

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Wollongong City Council v Australian Iron & Steel Pty Limited [1988] NSWLEC 15 APPLICANT Wollongong City Council PARTIES : RESPONDENT Australian Iron & Steel Pty Limited FILE NUMBER(S) : 40227 of 1987 CORAM: Holland J KEY ISSUES: :- LEGISLATION CITED: Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, 1979. Ryde Municipal Council v. The Royal Ryde Homes (1970) ; CASES CITED: Leichhardt Municipal Council v. Terminals Pty. Limited (1970) ; Slough Estates Ltd. v. Slough Borough Council (1970); Shell Company of Australia Ltd. v. Parramatta City Council (1972) DATES OF HEARING: DATE OF JUDGMENT: 09/22/1988

LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES:

JUDGMENT:

HIS HONOUR: The question for decision is whether blast furnace slag from the Port Kembla steelworks of Australian Iron and Steel Pty. Limited (respondent) is "waste materials" within the meaning of condition 6 of a determination of a development application made by the Minister for Planning and Environment on 25 July 1985 pursuant to s.101 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, 1979.

The development application made 20 January 1984 was for approval to be given to the construction and operation of what was called "an emplacement" for the long term disposal of the steelworks' industrial waste on a large area of the respondent's land at Wongawilli about 14 kilometres south west of the steelworks on the coastal plain below the Illawarra escarpment.

Condition 6 reads:-

"6. All waste materials shall be hauled to the site by rail PROVIDED THAT the Minister may approve road haulage during any period he considers to be an emergency."