Castle Constructions Pty Limited v Willoughby City Council [2013] NSWLEC 1024

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Castle Constructions Pty Limited v Willoughby City Council [2013] NSWLEC 1024 Hearing dates: 11-12 February 2013 Decision date: 15 February 2013 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Morris C Decision: Appeal upheld Catchwords: Development application: 24 hour gymnasium, amenity, security, parking, trial period Legislation Cited: Willoughby Local Environmental Plan 1995; Willoughby Local Environmental Plan 2012 Texts Cited: Willoughby Development Control Plan 2005 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Castle Constructions Pty Limited (Applicant)

Willoughby City Council (Respondent) Representation: Mr M R Hall (Applicant)

Mr A Pickles (Respondent) Mr P McLachlan McLachlan Thorpe Partners (Applicant)

Ms K Lau King & Wood Mallesons (Respondent) File Number(s): 11238 of 2012

Judgment 1Castle Construction P/L lodged Development Application 2012/363 with Willoughby Council on 3 October 2012 seeking consent to relocate the inter-tenancy wall between lot 34 and lot 38 so as to reallocate the floor space of those tenancies and fit out and occupying tenancy 34 (as altered) for the purpose of a gymnasium, which is to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Council refused consent and Castle is appealing that decision. 2The contentions in the case are whether sufficient parking has been allocated to the tenancies and whether the proposed use will result in unacceptable amenity impacts to residents of the development in terms of noise, disruption, safety and security. The contentions in relation to insufficient information and the need for owner's consent were addressed through the provision of additional information during the hearing and subsequently were not pressed by the Council.