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

1. COMMISSIONER: This is an appeal pursuant to the provisions of s 8.7(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) against the deemed refusal of Development Application No. 2024/342/1, as amended, for alterations and additions to an existing development consent, DA/2019/598/1, by way of a new development application for the construction of a residential flat building of 8 storeys comprising 123 apartments, including 20 affordable housing apartments to be used for affordable housing for 15 years, basement parking for 163 vehicles and ancillary works, (the proposal), at 28B Ingleburn Road, Leppington (the site), by Camden Council (the Council).

The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34 of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act) between the parties, which was held on 28 February 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference. At the conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties. 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 development application. There are preconditions to the exercise of power to grant development consent for the proposal.

Amended application

4. The Council, as the consent authority, consented to the amendment of the application pursuant to s 38(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. The plans and documents comprising the amended application are:

Table omitted can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1968eeb22ec34a0e41a740c2)

Pre-conditions to the grant of consent

Resilience and Hazards SEPP

5. I accept the Council's assessment that the site is suitable for the development, having been historically used for a residential purpose, and that the matters under s 4.6 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resilience and Hazards) 2021 have been addressed (Statement of Environmental Effects prepared by Think Planners dated 13 February 2025 (SEE) Tab 9, pages 26-27, Tab 16 and Tab 19).

6. State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 (SEPP Housing) applies to the proposal at s 15C. The proposal exceeds the minimum affordable housing component of 15% of gross floor area (GFA).

7. I accept the Council's submission that the relevant sections in the Housing SEPP have been addressed in the SEE (Tab 9, pages 31-40), Clause 4.6 (Tab 4), Advice re Contention 1 (i) a and c prepared by Project Lawyers (Tab 20) and Design Verification Statement (Class 1 Application, Tab 13).

8. Under s 43C of SEPP Housing, the relevant authority must consider the quality of the design of the development, evaluated in accordance with the design principles for residential apartment development set out in Schedule 9 and the Apartment Design Guide (ADG). I accept the Council's submission that Part 3 (Siting the development) and Part 4 (Designing the Building) of the ADG have been addressed in the SEE (Tab 9, Pages 41-48), the Design Verification Statement (Class 1 Application, Tab 13), the Architectural Plans prepared by Zhinar Architects dated 14 March 2025 (Tab 1), the Stormwater Plans prepared by SCG Consulting dated 17 March 2025 (Tab 2), and the Landscape Plans prepared by Conzept Landscape Architects dated 19 March 2025 (Tab 3).

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1968eeb22ec34a0e41a740c2)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.