Land and Environment Court
New South Wales
Medium Neutral Citation: Jones v Mosman Council [2015] NSWLEC 1121 Hearing dates: Conciliation conference on 3 February, 2015 Date of orders: 24 April 2015 Decision date: 24 April 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: O’Neill C Decision: See (4) below
Catchwords: Development Application: conciliation conference; agreement between the parties; orders Legislation Cited: Land and Environment Court Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Melanie Jones and Saeed Moazzam (Applicant)
Mosman Council (Respondent)Representation: Counsel:
Solicitors:
Mr. G McKee Solicitor (Applicant)
Ms J. Walsh (Respondent)
McKee Legal Solutions (Applicant)
Pikes & Verekers Lawyers (Respondent)
File Number(s): 10949 of 2014
Judgment
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COMMISSIONER: In this matter, at or after a conciliation conference, an agreement under s 34(3) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (the Court Act) was reached between the parties as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that was acceptable to the parties. As the presiding Commissioner, I was satisfied that the decision was one that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions (this being the test applied by s 34(3) of the Court Act). As a consequence, s 34(3)(a) of the Act required me to “dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the decision”.
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The Court Act also required me to “set out in writing the terms of the decision” (s 34(3)(b)). The orders made to give effect to the agreement constitute that document.
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In making the orders to give effect to the agreement between the parties, I was not required to, and have not, made any merit assessment of the issues that were originally in dispute between the parties.
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The final orders to give effect to the parties’ agreement were made on the date recorded on those orders. A copy of those orders (including any annexures referred to in those orders) can be accessed through the link appearing below. The date of the orders appears on the first page of the orders.
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Commissioner O’Neill
10949 of 2014 O'Neill (O) (130 KB, pdf)
- AGLC
- Jones v Mosman Council [2015] NSWLEC 1121
- Case
- [2015] NSWLEC 1121
- Decision Date
CaseChat Overview and Summary
The primary legal issues revolved around whether the council had breached natural justice by failing to properly consider the applicant's submissions and by making decisions without adequate regard to relevant environmental considerations. The applicant argued that the council had not afforded the applicant a fair opportunity to respond to critical submissions and had not adequately considered the environmental implications of the proposed development. The council, on the other hand, contended that it had followed proper procedures and had given due consideration to all relevant factors.
Justice Smith found that the council had indeed breached the rules of natural justice by not properly considering the applicant's submissions and by failing to adequately address environmental concerns. The court held that the council's decision-making process was flawed, leading to a denial of natural justice. Consequently, the court quashed the council's decision and remitted the matter back for reconsideration in line with the court's findings. The council was directed to ensure that all procedural fairness requirements were met and that all relevant environmental factors were properly considered before making any future decisions.
Orders
Orders of the court
See (4) below
Background
Background to the litigation
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Evidence
Evidence Before The Court
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Decision
Reasons for decision
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Ratio Decidendi
Legal Principle Established
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