Middleton v Parramatta City Council

Middleton appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the Land and Environment Court. The dispute concerned the appellant's entitlement to compensation for injurious affection arising from the respondent council's compulsory acquisition of a portion of the appellant's land for road widening purposes.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the appellant was entitled to compensation for injurious affection under section 124 of the *Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979* (NSW) (the Act). This involved determining whether the loss suffered by the appellant, namely the reduction in the value of the remaining land due to its diminished amenity and utility, constituted injurious affection within the meaning of the Act.

The Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeal, reasoned that compensation for injurious affection under section 124 of the Act is limited to losses that are not merely consequential upon the acquisition itself but are a direct consequence of the public purpose for which the land was acquired. In this instance, the court found that the diminished amenity and utility of the remaining land were not directly attributable to the road widening project as a public work, but rather to the fact that the land was now smaller and adjacent to a road. The court affirmed that injurious affection requires a physical interference with the land or an interference with a proprietary right attached to the land, which was not established on the facts.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal.