Australia, Sept. 6 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 5:

1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal pursuant to s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) (EPA Act), brought by Roscoe St By HSN Pty Ltd (the Applicant), against the deemed refusal of Development Application DA-379/2024 (the DA) by Waverley Council (the Respondent).

2. At the date of its lodgement on 6 August 2024, the DA sought consent for demolition of the existing semi-detached dwellings, tree removal, and construction of a four-storey residential apartment building with basement car parking and affordable rental housing at 27-29 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach (the site).

3. The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34 of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (NSW) (LEC Act) between the parties, which was held on 16 and 26 June, and 3 July 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference.

4. During the conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to the terms of a decision in these proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties. The agreement involves the Court upholding the appeal and granting development consent to an amended DA, subject to conditions.

5. Of particular note, the proposal has been amended by agreement between the parties to resolve the contentions raised by the Respondent. These contentions included issues of excessive building bulk and scale, inadequate setbacks, a failure to exhibit design excellence, an inadequate level of residential amenity available to some proposed apartments, unacceptable impacts upon neighbouring dwellings including overshadowing, loss of outlook and views, inadequate visual privacy and cross viewing, excessive tree loss, inadequate deep soil and landscape, and inadequate vehicle parking, amongst other contentions.

6. Agreed, design amendments have now been made to improve the proposed building's relationship to the site and its context. Changes have been made to reduce the overall bulk and scale of the proposal, particularly the extent and geometry of the balconies as they present to the site's side and rear boundaries. Other issues such as visual privacy, cross-viewing, and vehicle access have been resolved.

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 the function under s 4.16 of the EPA Act to grant consent to the amended DA.

8. There are jurisdictional prerequisites that must be satisfied before this function can be exercised.

9. In that regard, I am satisfied the DA was made with the consent of the owner of the land, evidenced within the Class 1 Application accompanying this matter.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1985f0828a0c7932be7af2b3)

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