Todbern Pty Ltd v Hurstville City Council

Todbern 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 Hurstville City Council (the respondent) to the appellant for the construction of a shopping centre. The Land and Environment Court had found the consent to be invalid.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the development consent granted by the Council was validly issued, notwithstanding certain procedural irregularities that had occurred during the Council's consideration of the development application. Specifically, the Court had to determine if these irregularities were so fundamental as to render the consent a nullity.

The Court of Appeal, in allowing the appeal, held that while there had been procedural defects in the Council's process, these defects did not go to the root of the Council's power to grant consent. The Court applied the principle that a consent will not be invalidated by procedural irregularities unless those irregularities are so serious as to deprive the decision-making body of its jurisdiction or to fundamentally undermine the statutory scheme. In this instance, the Court found that the defects were not of such a nature.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal ordered that the appeal be allowed, the decision of the Land and Environment Court be set aside, and that the development consent granted by Hurstville City Council be declared valid.