GrainCorp Limited v Narrabri Shire Council [2016] NSWLEC 1382

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: GrainCorp Limited v Narrabri Shire Council [2016] NSWLEC 1382 Hearing dates: 5 July 2016 Date of orders: 05 July 2016 Decision date: 05 July 2016 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Hussey AC Decision: The Court orders by consent 1. The appeal is upheld 2. Development Application No. 18/2016 for proposed upgrade of rail siding facilities at 230 Old Turrawan Road, Narrabri is determined by the granting of consent subject to the conditions in Annexure "A". 3. No orders as to costs 4. The exhibits be returned except for 1,2, 5, A, D, E, F Catchwords: Review of condition of consent; restriction on time of train shunting operations, alternative access route Legislation Cited: Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: GrainCorp Operations Limited (Applicant) Narrabri Shire Council (Respondent) Representation: Solicitors: Mr M Cotton (Respondent) Mr A Whealy (Applicant) File Number(s): 2016/162083

This determination was given extemporaneously and has been edited prior to publication Background 1. This appeal relates to a development application that was lodged by GrainCorp seeking consent for the upgrade of an existing grain receivable facility at Old Turrawan Road, Narrabri. The development application sought consent for the replacement of an existing rail siding and the construction of three parallel 290m long rail sidings, and the recommissioning of an existing rail spur. 2. The site is zoned RU1 Rural Primary Production and the proposed works in the development application seek to improve efficiencies associated with a rural industry, which is permissible with consent. 3. According to the Applicant's Statement of Facts and Contentions the proposal will result in a significant reduction in level-crossing blockages within the immediate locality. In the existing situation, there are 18 level-crossing blockages per train which results from the shunting of trains back and forth from Narrabri West holding yard to the Applicant's terminal. There are proposed to be approximately 17 trains shunted per year. The proposal will reduce the number of level crossing blockages from 18 per train to 6 per train. The Applicant estimates this will result in the total time that level-crossing are blocked will be reduced from 54 minutes to approximately 18 minutes per train. 4. The Council granted conditional consent to the proposal subject to 19 conditions, including 19. To require there be no shunting between 7am to 10 am and 3pm to 6pm daily or that the proponent provide an alternate access to Fraser St. 1. The Applicant sought a s82A review of this condition for its deletion. However this was not approved and this appeal is against the refusal of the s82A review application. 2. Subsequently, there have been discussions between the parties and they now agree to consent orders, which delete condition 19 subject to amended conditions. 3. The proposal was originally modified to 15 neighbouring landowners and attracted 2 objections, two from Ms K Halcombe who is a resident of the southern portion of Fraser St and who relies on the crossing for access and is concerned about emergency and general access from business. Another was received from Rev. T Sadler. 4. Both objectors were notified of todays consent orders hearing and Ms Holcombe expressed her concerns via a telephone link, that there would likely be a lot more rail traffic is a result of the proposal and this will restrict access/egress to her property unreasonably. She also questioned the overall impact of the proposal in terms of other users of the siding.