Normans Plant Hire Pty Limited & (2) Ors) v South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling Pty Limited (No. 2)

In the case of Normans Plant Hire Pty Limited and others versus South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling Pty Limited, the Supreme Court of New South Wales was asked to decide whether the operation of a shale quarry on land at South Nowra required development consent. The plaintiffs, Normans Plant Hire and two others, sought a declaration that the quarry operation constituted development that needed approval under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. They also sought orders to prevent the defendants, South Coast Concrete Crushing & Recycling and another party, from conducting the quarry operations until proper consent was obtained. The defendants argued that the operations did not constitute development requiring consent.

The court was required to determine whether the shale quarry operations on the land constituted 'development' under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. This required the court to interpret the definition of 'development' in the context of the specific operations being conducted on the land. The court also needed to decide whether the operations in question were exempt from the requirement of development consent under any of the exemptions provided in the Act.

The court found that the operations conducted by the defendants constituted development under the Act, as they involved the extraction of shale, which was a significant alteration of the land's use. The court held that the operations did not fall under any of the exemptions provided in the Act, and therefore, required development consent. The court issued a declaration to this effect and orders to restrain the defendants from carrying out the operations until consent was obtained. However, the restraining orders were postponed for four weeks to allow the defendants time to apply for development consent. The court reserved the question of costs and ordered the exhibits to be returned.