JL & MM Muir Properties Pty Limited v Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales
[2006] NSWLEC 508
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Land and Environment Court (NSW)
Decision date
2006-08-17
Before
Talbot J, Mr J, Bignold J, Tobias JA, Tobias J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (8 paragraphs)
Background 13 In order to understand the effect of the evidence of Mr Rowan and Mr Drummond it is necessary to have regard to and examine the historical documents relating to the evolutionary planning process undertaken by various authorities in respect of the development and improvement of Windsor Road and the town planning history as it applied to the subject land. 14 When Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No. 18 - Public Transport Corridors ("SREP18") was made in 1989, a possible route for a public transport corridor was delineated from Hoxton Park to Baulkham Hills via the Parramatta City Centre, including the section of Windsor Road up to Barina Downs Road. 15 A submission made on 12 June 1990 pursuant to s 64 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 ("EP&A Act") by Baulkham Hills Shire Council in respect of the Kellyville/Rouse Hill draft LEP refers to a Special Uses 5(a) Zone. Under the draft plan a corridor is proposed which may in the future be utilised for public transport purposes. The submission states that there are a number of significant issues remaining unresolved including a commitment by the State Government to acquisition of the corridor and its utilisation. 16 The alignment of the proposed public transport corridor extended northward from Barina Downs Road to the northern side of an existing intersection of Poole Road with Windsor Road and thereafter diverting cross-country to the eastern side of Windsor Road for about 2.3 kilometres to enter the proposed Mungerie Park Centre, near its southeast corner. Although the NSW Department of Transport in principle supported the structure and mode of the proposed public transport system the draft LEP for the Parklea Release Area exhibited in 1990 did not show the transport corridor extending for the full length. 17 Baulkham Hills LEP 1991 ("LEP 1991") was gazetted on 1 March 1991. Baulkham Hills LEP 1991 (Amendment No. 1), gazetted 28 June 1991, shows an area incorporating Windsor Road in zone 5(d). Although some widening of Windsor Road is contemplated by the LEP map it is not readily apparent that sufficient land was to be set aside to accommodate a transitway for public transport. Clause 11A was inserted by Amendment No. 1 as follows: 11A. (1) This clause applies to land to which Baulkham Hills Local Environmental Plan 1991 (Amendment No. 1) applies. (2) The Council is not to grant consent to the carrying out of development of any land to which this clause applies unless the Council is satisfied that arrangements satisfactory to the Roads and Traffic Authority have been made for the making of appropriate payments towards the provision of classified roads to service that land. (amendment 28.06.91). 18 At all relevant times since 1985 State Environmental Planning Policy No. 11 - Traffic Generating Developments ("SEPP 11") provided in cl 5 that any provision in an environmental planning instrument requiring a consent authority to take into consideration any representations of the [Department of Main Roads] was of no force or effect. Clause 5 did not apply to cl 11A(2) in its amended form from 1991. Clause 5 has no application to payments. 19 On 31 October 1996 the Department of Transport notified Baulkham Hills Shire Council that it was keen for the corridor to be maintained if it could be guaranteed that the corridor is likely to be developed in conjunction with the first stage of the development of the Mungerie Park South Regional Centre. Subject to a review to be undertaken by the Department of Transport, the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning ("DUAP") supported that view and confirmed that no significant changes to the proposed routes shown in a draft Amendment No. 52 to LEP 1991 should be made. 20 However, by 16 September 1997 DUAP had decided to recommend that the public transport corridor should be deferred. In the s 69 report accompanying draft Amendment No. 52 it recommended deferral until issues in relation to the development of the Mungerie Park Town Centre were resolved. 21 On 14 October 1997 the Department advised the Council that a recent planning study into the development strategy for the Mungerie Park Town Centre undertaken on behalf of the Department indicated that the corridor alignment proposed in the draft LEP was inadequate in a number of respects. 22 The map published in the Government Gazette on 17 October 1997 for the purposes of Amendment No. 52 shows two proposed public transport corridors running from north to south across Windsor Road in the general direction of Mungerie Park. By the same amendment the area to be used for road widening (by inclusion in the 5(b) zone) along the frontage to the subject land was, except to a small extent, removed. A new cl 11(2) was inserted forbidding a person to carry out development unless arrangements satisfactory to the Roads and Traffic Authority for classified roads have been made. Clause 11(2) contradicts clause 5 in SEPP 11. 23 A report prepared by the Department of Transport, "Action for Transport 2010 a Plan of the Proposed Rapid Bus Only Transitway," showed the route from Parramatta to Mungerie Park along Old Windsor Road. This route was confirmed by a draft of Development Control Plan 200 - Kellyville/Rouse Hill Release Area ("DCP 200") prepared in February 1998.