Australia, July 3 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 3:

1. COMMISSIONER: These Class 1 proceedings arise as a result of the actual refusal, by Sutherland Shire Council, of Development Application DA24/0297 which seeks consent for the construction of a shared jetty, ramp, pontoon, two turpentine piles and alterations to an upper entry to the seawall at 168 and 172 Gannons Road, Caringbah South.

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 and hearing under s 34AA of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act) between the parties, which was held on 26 May 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference.

4. At the conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to acceptable terms of a decision in the proceedings, which involved the Court upholding the appeal and granting development consent to the development application subject to conditions. Subsequently, the matter concluded in conciliation and did not proceed to a hearing.

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 applicants amending the development application. These amendments included the shortening of the jetty structure from 27.2m to 20m long to 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 outlined in a jurisdictional submission, and from this I note the following points.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19719da9c1e5faf8f887245a)

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