McFarlane v Newcastle City Council [2015] NSWLEC 1165

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: McFarlane v Newcastle City Council [2015] NSWLEC 1165 Hearing dates: 5 May 2015 Decision date: 19 May 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Morris C Decision: Appeal upheld Catchwords: CONSENT ORDERS: dwelling house, matters raised by objectors, impact on adjoining properties Legislation Cited: Newcastle Local Environmental Plan 2012; Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Texts Cited: Newcastle Development Control Plan 2012 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Bruce McFarlane (Applicant) Newcastle City Council (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Mr G Long, Long Legal Pty Ltd (Applicant) Mr J Marshall, Newcastle City Council (Respondent) File Number(s): 10172 of 2015

Judgment 1. Mr McFarlane lodged Development Application DA2014/0522 with Newcastle City Council on 13 May 2014 seeking consent to demolish a pool house building and erect a two storey dwelling, pool and cabana. The council refused consent and he is appealing that decision. 2. The issues between the parties have been resolved and they are seeking Consent Orders from the Court.

The site and locality 1. The application relates to land known as Lot 22 DP 1195074, No 15C Wrightson Avenue, Bar Beach. It is an elongated, wedge-shaped, battle-axe allotment with an area of 872sqm of which approximately 304sqm comprises an L-shaped access handle leaving a developable area of around 567.4sqm. The widest point of the site is at the entry off the handle and is approximately 18m and tapers to 8.17m at the rear. The side boundaries of the developable area are 44.345m (south-east) and approximately 43m (north-west). 2. The access handle also services a multi-unit housing development and a dwelling house (No 10B Wrightson). 3. The site is centrally located in a block bound by Wrightson Avenue, Memorial Drive and Parkway Avenue and adjoins a total of 10 residential properties. Those properties contain single storey dwelling houses ranging from older style single storey dwellings to large, recently constructed two and three storey dwellings. 4. Development in the vicinity of the site is similar and includes a number of residential flat buildings.