NEW SOUTH WALES COURT ISSUES JUDGEMENT FOR FLUFFY INVESTMENTS V/S COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SYDNEY CASE

Australia, July 9 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement:

1 COMMISSIONER: These Class 1 proceedings arise as a result of the deemed refusal, by the Council of the City of Sydney, of Development Application D/2024/568 which seeks consent for the demolition of the existing building and construction of a 5-storey co-living development on the site at 23 Hughes Street, Potts Point, Lot 8 DP 10682.

2. These proceedings have been brought to the Court pursuant to s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act).

3. The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34(1) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act) between the parties, which was held on 24 April 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference.

4. After the conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to acceptable terms of a decision in the proceedings. This decision involved the Court upholding the appeal and granting development consent to the development application subject to conditions.

5. As part of this agreement, pursuant to s 38 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (EPA Regulation), the Council agreed to the applicant amending the development application to adequately address the Council's contentions.

6. Under s 34(3) of the LEC Act, I must dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the parties' decision if that decision is one that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions. The parties' decision involves the Court exercising the function under s 4.16 of the EPA Act to grant consent to the development application. There are jurisdictional prerequisites that must be satisfied before this function can be exercised, which the parties identified and explained to the Court. From this I note the following points.

Jurisdictional matters

7. The development application was made with the written consent of the owner of the land.

8. The application was adequately notified from 29 July to 27 August 2024. 33 submissions were received in that time, and 6 residents made oral submissions at the commencement of proceedings. Based on the amended application, the parties submit, and I accept, that the development as amended adequately responds to the concerns raised in these submissions.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197424ea1e69c5fcb3f5d3fd)

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