Sydney Serviced Apartments Pty Ltd v The Council of the Municipality of North Sydney

Sydney Serviced Apartments Pty Ltd (the appellant) appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal against a decision of the Land and Environment Court. The dispute concerned the validity of a development consent granted by the Council of the Municipality of North Sydney (the respondent) for the construction of a serviced apartment building. The appellant argued that the consent was invalid due to a failure to comply with certain procedural requirements of the relevant planning legislation.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the development consent granted by the Council was invalid by reason of a failure to give notice of the application to certain owners of adjoining land, as allegedly required by section 311 of the Local Government Act 1919 (NSW). A further issue was whether, if there was a failure to comply with section 311, that failure rendered the consent void or merely voidable.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Gleeson CJ, Mahoney JA and Sheller JA, held that section 311 of the Local Government Act 1919 (NSW) did not impose a mandatory requirement for notice to be given to adjoining owners in the circumstances of this case. The Court reasoned that the section was concerned with the Council's power to require information from owners, not with a procedural prerequisite for the validity of a development consent. Furthermore, even if there had been a breach of section 311, the Court indicated that such a breach would not ordinarily render a development consent void, but rather voidable, and that the appellant had not established grounds for voiding the consent.

The appeal was dismissed.