27 There is no breach of the EP&A Act arising in the circumstances of the amendment of the CP. The Council is able to make a CP at any time which deals with meeting demand for public amenities and services. There is no complaint from the Applicant that the statutory process for the making of a CP has not been followed. There is no constraint in applying a CP in force at the time that an application for development or a complying development certificate for a dwelling house is made because of a decision made in relation to an earlier development application for subdivision. Both are separate developments to which s 94(1) can apply. The CP recognises that there can be a contribution levied for a more intensive development than the 1 ET calculation. There is a right to claim further contributions under subsequent applications which reflect the demand created by more intensive development such as more than 1 ET.
28 Neither the EP&A Act nor departmental guidelines for the making of a contribution plan prohibit the imposition of s 94 contributions at the development application stage or complying development stage for dwellings (s 86(9) and s 94EC(1) of the Act). Such applications are new applications and must be assessed afresh at the time of receipt under s 79C including under the contributions plan as then in force. The Council's response to the demand for public services from the subdivisions has changed and is reflected in the amended CP. That is not illegal.
29 An approval of a subdivision application is not an approval of the use of land for a certain purpose nor does s 81A(3) of the EP&A Act provide for that construction. The construction contended for by the Applicant is not in accordance with the development consents for subdivision or the Act. If the subdivision consents included implied consent to use for residential purposes, that implied consent would be unconditional. The Council would not properly consider the matters set out in s 79C.
30 If a subsequent purchaser of land in the Price Parkway subdivisions lodges an application for a complying development certificate, the Council will not lack power to impose conditions by reason of a past consent considered when the project identified by the current CP was not contemplated by the Council. There is no "double dipping" because the link road the subject of the amended CP was not the subject of a levy imposed by the development consent conditions when the subdivision applications were approved.
(ii) Wednesbury unreasonableness
31 The Applicant bears the onus of proof that the amended plan is unreasonable in the Wednesbury sense, and the test is onerous as identified in numerous cases such as Weal v Bathurst City Council (2000) 111 LGERA 181, Lesnewski v Mosman Municipal Council [2004] NSWLEC 99 and Anderson v Minister for Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources [2006] NSWLEC 725. The Council's decision-making process was rational, being based on a traffic study which identified the need for a new link road as a result of all the subdivisions occurring in the particular area which included the Price Parkway subdivisions. When the decision to amend the CP was made, the Council had before it the reports of the General Manager - Strategic Planning Group identifying the need for the amendment. The Council had material before it upon which it could reasonably form a conclusion about the proposed amendment. The amendment of the CP was approved through the usual Council decision-making processes. It is clear from the Council officer's report made at the time of approval of the amendment to the CP that the Council will make up any shortfall in the amount obtained through s 94 contributions. The Council can provide for exemptions in a CP and has done so in relation to the Price Parkway subdivisions.
32 Adoption of a contributions plan after subdivision consents have been granted cannot make the adoption irrational. The Applicant has failed to meet the stringent test for establishing unreasonableness.
Finding
(i) CP amendment beyond power
33 As submitted by the Applicant's counsel the imposition of s 94 contributions for the provision of public amenities and services for residential subdivision applications is a well entrenched practice in NSW. Such contributions under s 94(1) must be imposed in accordance with a contributions plan made under s 94EA(1). The focus of the Applicant's argument was whether it is lawful for a Council, having imposed s 94 contributions in accordance with a contributions plan at the subdivision stage, to later change the contributions plan to provide for levies for a new public facility (here, a new link road) when demand from the subdivision is unchanged to that assessed at the subdivision stage on the basis of one ET per lot.
34 This argument does not take into account the structure of the EP&A Act in relation to the approval of development as provided for in Div 2, Pt 4, and Div 6 concerning contributions under s 94(1). An application for development consent or a complying development certificate under Div 2, and the council's obligation to assess the impact of development under s 79C, is separate from Div 6. The wide definition of development in s 4 of the EP&A Act and the requirements in Div 2, particularly in s 76A which provides for development consent or a complying development certificate to be provided for under a local environmental plan, means that each development application must be assessed anew and determined separately from any previous development consent. The same applies for a complying development certificate whether issued by the council or a certifier under s 85A. In this case the parties informed me that a dwelling house complying with certain standards is complying development under the LEP as provided for by s 76A(5). The contributions plan in force at the time of the assessment of a new application for development applies. In this case contributions for a new facility not previously the subject of contributions are now provided for in CP 77.5.2 and will apply (subject to further amendment) to a new development application or application for a complying development certificate.
35 The reasonableness of the imposition of conditions requiring further contributions for the new facility (the link road) crystallises in the future when a development consent or a complying development certificate is sought for a dwelling on one of the subdivided lots and conditions requiring contributions for the new link road are imposed. The structure of the EP&A Act reinforces the Council's argument that these proceedings are inappropriate and there is no "double dipping" for s 94 contributions for the link road. I will now consider the specific arguments put by the Applicant.
Is consent to residential subdivision consent to use of land for residential purposes?
36 The Applicant first argued that the grants of subdivision consents for the Price Parkway subdivisions were an implied consent for the use of land in a subdivision for a residential purpose. If this construction of the consents, and s 81A of the EP&A Act, were accepted it would bolster the Applicant's legal case that as demand for the subdivision and its use for residential purposes occurred when the Price Parkway subdivisions consents were granted it cannot be considered again if a dwelling house approval is sought on a subdivided lot.
37 The three consents state that they are for residential subdivision, it being the usual course that applications for subdivision identify the future use of the land to enable an appropriate merits assessment to be undertaken by a council. Development is defined in s 4 of the EP&A Act to include, inter alia, the use of land. Section 76A provides that if an environmental planning instrument specifies development which may not be carried out except with development consent then that consent must be obtained. A dwelling house complying with certain standards is complying development under the LEP as provided for by s 76A(5). Section 81A(3) of the EP&A Act does not state that subdivision consent includes consent for use of the land. It does specify that consent authorises the carrying out of physical activity in connection with the subdivision. This is in contrast to s 81A(1) which states that a development consent for a building is consent for the use for the purpose it is erected for.
38 Similarly, for complying development provided for in a local environmental plan under s 76A(5) the equivalent provision to s 81A(1) is s 85(3) which states that a complying certificate for a building authorises the use of the building for the purpose it is erected for. The absence of these words in relation to subdivision consents in s 81A(3), and its equivalent for complying development in s 85(6), suggests that I should not infer that the consent for subdivision impliedly includes consent for the use of the land for residential purposes.
39 This conclusion is reinforced by the specific provisions of s 81A(3) where consent for subdivision is not expressed to include consent for use, unlike s 81A(1). Further, that consent is required, whether by development consent or complying development certificate, arises separately from the subdivision consent under the EP&A Act. The separate development consent or complying development certificate must be assessed on its merits under the contributions plan in force at the time such an application is considered by a council. Further, as submitted by the Council, if an implied consent for residential use was given at the approval of subdivision stage the assessment under s 79C would not be able to be conducted in the face of a hypothetical use for residential purposes as its impact would be undefined.
40 No case law was found to support the Applicant's submission that a development consent for a residential subdivision is also an implied consent to its use for residential purposes. I do not agree that such implied consent can be inferred in the absence of specific provisions in the EP&A Act.