Watkins Road Development Pty Ltd v Newcastle City Council [2018] NSWLEC 1079

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Watkins Road Development Pty Ltd v Newcastle City Council [2018] NSWLEC 1079 Hearing dates: Conciliation conference on 18 January, 9 and 15 February 2018 Date of orders: 21 February 2018 Decision date: 21 February 2018 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Dickson C Decision: See (5) below Catchwords: DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION: subdivision and erection of 15 dwellings; conciliation conference; agreement between the parties; orders Legislation Cited: Land and Environment Court Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Waktins Road Development Pty Ltd(Applicant) Newcastle City Council (Respondent) Representation: Solicitor: Julien Castaldi, Laycock Burke Castaldi Lawyers (Applicant) James Marshall, Newcastle City Council (Respondent) File Number(s): 2017/263947 Publication restriction: No

Judgment 1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal against the refusal by Newcastle Council of development application DA/2017/00307. The application sought consent for demolition, erection of 15 dwellings, site works and subdivision. The works are proposed at 28-30 Watkins Road, Elermore Vale. 2. In this matter, at or after a conciliation conference, an agreement under s 34(3) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (the Court Act) was reached between the parties as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that was acceptable to the parties. As the presiding Commissioner, I was satisfied that the decision was one that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions (this being the test applied by s 34(3) of the Court Act). As a consequence, s 34(3)(a) of the Act required me to "dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the decision". 3. The Court Act also required me to "set out in writing the terms of the decision" (s 34(3)(b)). The orders made to give effect to the agreement constitute that document. 4. In making the orders to give effect to the agreement between the parties, I was not required to make, and have not made, any merit assessment of the issues that were originally in dispute between the parties. 5. The final orders to give effect to the parties' agreement under s34(3) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 are: 1. The appeal is upheld. 2. Development application DA/2017/00307 seeking consent for the construction of residential town houses on land described as 28-30 Watkins Road Elermore Vale is determined by granting development consent subject to the conditions in Annexure "A". 3. No order as to costs. ……………. D M Dickson Commissioner of the Court Annexure A (105 KB, pdf)