Australia, July 10 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 11:

1. This class 1 appeal is brought under s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) following the deemed refusal by Northern Beaches Council of development application DA2024/0944.

The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34(1) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act) between the parties, at which I presided on 26 February 2025.

At the conciliation conference, the parties reached in-principle agreement as to the scope of amendments required for the parties to reach terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties, subject to time being granted for certain amendments to the development subject of the development application. The parties continued to work towards amending plans and finalising documents on several occasions which could then be finalised and incorporated into agreed conditions of consent.

The Respondent, as the relevant consent authority, has approved under section 38(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021, to the Applicant amending Development Application DA2024/0944 in accordance with the following amended plans:

Table omitted can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19742d6c995f9d2faf53c1f1)

5. This agreement between the parties involves the Court upholding the appeal and granting development consent to the development application subject to those agreed conditions of consent.

6. A signed agreement prepared in accordance with s 34(10) of the LEC Act was filed with the Court on 28 May 2025. The parties ask me to approve their decision as set out in the s34 agreement before the Court. In general terms, the agreement approves the development subject to amended plans that were prepared by the Applicant and noting that the final detail of the works and plans are specified in the agreed conditions of development consent annexed to the s34 agreement.

7. Under s 34(3) of the LEC Act, I must dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the parties' decision if the parties' decision is a decision that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions. The parties' decision involves the Court exercising power under s 4.16 of the EPA Act. In this case, there are jurisdictional prerequisites that must be satisfied before this function can be exercised in order to allow the Court to make the agreed orders at [27].

Jurisdictional prerequisites

8. The subject site is two allotments legally described as Lot 3 in DP26902 (12 Boondah Road) and Lot 4 in DP 26902 (10 Boondah Road) Warriewood. The site is irregular in shape and is approximately 2.04 hectares. The site has a frontage of 162.5m along both lots on Boondah Road which provide vehicle access to the site. The depth of the site is approximately 81.32m along the northern boundary and 153.62m along the southern boundary.

9. The site is jointly owned, and consent has been provided by both owners:

* 10 Boondah Road Warriewood (Lot 4 in DP26902) by Henry Fraser Pty Ltd (Applicant).

* 12 Boondah Road Warriewood (Lot 3 DP26902) by Cassius Investments Pty Ltd.

10. The Development Application was notified publicly between 30 July 2024 and 27 August 2024. Four submissions were received. The Amended Development Application was informally renotified to objectors and no submissions were received.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19742d6c995f9d2faf53c1f1)

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