Australia, July 24 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 24:

1. COMMISSIONER: This is a Class 1 Development Appeal pursuant to s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) being an appeal against the refusal of Development Application DA/2024/0835 seeking consent for alterations and additions to an existing detached dwelling including partial demolition of existing structures, construction of a lower ground floor, ground floor and first floor addition (Proposed Development) at 12 Rose Street, Annandale legally described as Lot 7 in DP1063 (the Site).

2. The Court arranged a conciliation conference under s 34(1) of the Land and Environment Court Act 1979 (LEC Act) between the parties, which has been held on 18 and 19 June 2025. I presided over the conciliation conference.

3. As a result of discussions between the respective experts of the parties, and as evidenced in the joint expert reports filed with the Court, the Applicant has prepared amended architectural plans and an updated BASIX Certificate (Amended Materials). The parties agree that the Amended Materials together with agreed conditions of consent resolve all contentions raised in the Respondent's Statement of Facts and Contentions filed on 21 February 2025 (SOFAC).

4. At the conciliation conference, the parties reached agreement as to the terms of a decision in the proceedings that would be acceptable to the parties. This decision involved the Court upholding the appeal and granting development consent to the development application subject to conditions.

5. Under s 34(3) of the LEC Act, I must dispose of the proceedings in accordance with the parties' decision if the parties' decision is a decision that the Court could have made in the proper exercise of its functions. 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.

6. The parties' decision involves the Court exercising the function under s 4.16 of the EPA Act to grant consent to the development application.

7. There are jurisdictional prerequisites that must be satisfied before this function can be exercised. The parties identified the jurisdictional prerequisites of relevance in these proceedings to be the terms of the Inner West Local Environmental Plan 2022 (IWLEP). The parties explained how the jurisdictional prerequisites have been satisfied in an agreed jurisdictional note provided to the Court.

8. The DA was lodged on behalf of, and with the written consent of, the Applicant by her architect.

9. The Site is located within the Zone R1 General Residential (R1 Zone) and the Proposed Development, characterised as alterations and additions to a dwelling house, is development permitted with consent in the R1 Zone.

10. The Proposed Development complies with the development standards for minimum landscaped area of 15%, providing 29% of the Site as Landscaped Area and for maximum site coverage of 60%, providing no more than 57.2% of the Site as Site Coverage as depicted in Drawing DA-61, Revision N: cl 4.3C, IWLEP.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1978b44548b729dcf31244f0)

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