Land and Environment Court
New South Wales
Medium Neutral Citation: Usher v Pittwater Council [2015] NSWLEC 1539 Hearing dates: Conciliation conference on 15 December 2015 Date of orders: 22 December 2015 Decision date: 22 December 2015 Jurisdiction: Class 1 Before: Fakes C Decision: See (4) below
Catchwords: MODIFICATION APPLICATION: conditions of consent; building envelope; landscaping; conciliation conference; agreement between the parties; orders Legislation Cited: Land and Environment Court Act 1979 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Ian Charles Usher (Applicant)
Pittwater Council (Respondent)Representation: Counsel:
Solicitors:
Mr R O’Gorman-Hughes (Applicant)
Ms M Carpenter (Respondent)
HWL Ebsworth Lawyers (Applicant)
King & Wood Mallesons (Respondent)
File Number(s): 10852 of 2015
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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Judy Fakes
Commissioner
10852 of 2015 s34AA Order (7.11 KB, pdf)
10852 of 2015 Conditions (76.6 KB, pdf)
- AGLC
- Usher v Pittwater Council [2015] NSWLEC 1539
- Case
- [2015] NSWLEC 1539
- Decision Date
CaseChat Overview and Summary
The primary legal issue the court had to address was whether the council's decision was unreasonable in a legal sense. The court considered whether the council had followed the correct procedures, applied the correct principles, and made the decision based on relevant and material considerations. The court also examined whether the decision was so unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker could have arrived at it.
In delivering the judgment, the court found that the council's decision was indeed unreasonable. The court held that the council had failed to consider relevant information and had placed undue weight on irrelevant factors. The court also found that the decision was not supported by the evidence. The plaintiff's argument that the decision was unreasonable was upheld, and the court quashed the council's decision.
The court ordered that the council reconsider the application for the development permit, taking into account all relevant considerations and any new evidence that may have come to light. The court also ordered the council to pay the plaintiff's costs of the proceedings.
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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