Australia, July 28 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 27:

1. COMMISSIONER: Pursuant to the provisions of s 4.55(8) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act), these proceedings concern a Modification Application DA136/2023/4 (the MA) made directly to the Court by Concretive BHV Pty Ltd (the Applicant). In these circumstances, Woollahra Municipal Council (the Respondent) is required to exercise certain functions of the relevant consent authority.

2. The MA seeks to further modify Development Consent DA136/2023/1 (the parent DA), which comprises the substantial demolition of the existing residential apartment building and garage, and construction of a new residential apartment building with basement car park at 206B Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill (the site).

3. Consent for the parent DA was granted by the Court on 8 March 2024 in proceedings Concretive BHV Pty Ltd v Woollahra Municipal Council [2024] NSWLEC 1101.

4. The parent DA has previously been modified on two occasions. Initially by the Court on 4 December 2024 in proceedings Concretive BHV Pty Ltd v Woollahra Municipal Council [2024] NSWLEC 1784 (DA136/2023/2), and then by the Respondent (DA136/2023/3) on 28 April 2025.

5. The subject MA was lodged with the Court on 4 March 2025 and seeks approval to further modify the parent DA to allow internal amendments to comply with fire safety requirement, additional fire egress stairs, reconfiguration and relocation of the basement and parking and associated landscaping.

6. 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 on 6 and 20 June 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference.

7. 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 granting approval to an amended MA, subject to conditions.

8. Of note, the MA has been amended during the conciliation conference to resolve the contentions originally pressed by the Respondent, which included concerns primarily for the reduced extent of deep soil and landscaped area and reduced provision of on-site visitor parking.

9. Agreed design amendments include changes to the detailed design of egress stairs to incorporate permeability and the provision of landscape cumulatively improving the landscape design outcome. Additionally, the Applicant has elected to not reduce the number of existing approved on-site visitor car parking spaces. Collectively, these amendments are agreed to resolve the issues in this matter.

10. 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 4.55 of the EPA Act to modify the existing DA.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197a9bcb6bbcffb6515cbdac)

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