El-Hachem v Bankstown City Council [2014] NSWLEC 1039

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: El-Hachem v Bankstown City Council [2014] NSWLEC 1039 Hearing dates: 23-24 February 2014 Decision date: 05 March 2014 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Morris C Decision: Appeal upheld Catchwords: Development application: Villas, SEPP 1 objection, amenity Legislation Cited: Bankstown Local Environmental Plan 2001; State Environmental Planning Policy No 1 - Development Standards; Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Cases Cited: Wehbe v Pittwater Council [2007] NSWLEC 827 Texts Cited: Bankstown Development Control Plan 2005 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Joseph El-Hachem (Applicant)

Bankstown City Council (Respondent) Representation: Mr P Clay SC (Applicant) Mr V Conomos Conomos Legal (Applicant)

Mr A Seton Marsdens Law Group (Respondent) File Number(s): 10628 of 2013

Judgment 1Mr El-Hachem lodged Development Application 676/2011 (application) with Bankstown City Council seeking consent to demolish an existing dwelling house and associated outbuildings and construct four villa homes with strata subdivision. The council refused consent and El-Hachem is appealing that decision. 2The issues with the case are whether the development breaches a development standard and if it does, whether it is appropriate to vary that development standard and if the amenity of the proposed dwellings is satisfactory or the proposal represents an overdevelopment of the site and has unreasonable impacts on neighbouring properties.