Pittking Properties Pty Ltd v Waverley Council

Pittking Properties Pty Ltd v Waverley Council - [2020] NSWLEC 21 - NSWLEC 2019 case summary — Zoe

[4]

Introduction

In 2014, Waverley Council (the Council) commenced a planning process for a possible cycleway to run in a generally east-west direction from Bronte Road (in the east) to the north-eastern corner of Centennial Park to the west. Although this process involved an analysis of a range of alternative potential routes for the cycleway, in 2019 a final route was selected and a formal determination by the Council's General Manager (on 17 May 2019) pursuant to delegated authority was made to proceed with construction along the selected route.
On 16 August 2019, Pittking Properties Pty Ltd (the Company) commenced these Class 4 judicial review proceedings. The Company challenges the validity of the decision-making process undertaken for the Council in granting approval for its own cycleway project.
On 23 August 2019, Pain J expedited the hearing of the Company's Summons (Pittking Properties Pty Ltd v Waverley Council [2019] NSWLEC 122). In [11] to [13], her Honour dealt with the question of the preparation of expert evidence in these proceedings. As a consequence of granting expedition, her Honour did not deal with the opposition by the Council to the preparation of such expert material in these proceedings and noted that, on the basis of the decision of Pepper J in Fullerton Cove Residents Action Group Inc v Dart Energy Ltd (No 2) [2013] NSWLEC 38; (2013) 195 LGERA 229 (Fullerton Cove) (at [300]), expert evidence may be called with respect to Ground 2. Although there was some discussion of Pain J's decision in the proceedings before me, there is no suggestion that her Honour went beyond permitting the preparation of that evidentiary material and certainly did not make any anticipatory evidentiary ruling on its admissibility.
As Molesworth AJ observed in Help Save Mt Gilead Inc v Mount Gilead Pty Limited [2018] NSWLEC 88, at [42], when permitting the preparation and filing of such evidence, questions of admissibility of such evidence in judicial review proceedings is a matter for the trial judge.
Relevant to the facts engaged in these Class 4 judicial review proceedings, an element of the selected route runs along Spring Street in Bondi Junction between Denison Street and Bronte Road. A plan showing the selected route is reproduced at Annexure A (taken from the May 2019 Review of Environmental Factors - Exhibit E, Tab 36 at folio 1635).
Construction of the proposed cycleway had commenced at the time of hearing and was ongoing.
The Company owns a property at 175-181 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction. This property is known as the Royal Arcade, an arcade which runs from Oxford Street in the north (with its entry at the northern end being from the Oxford Street Mall) to Spring Street in the south, where it fronts the portion of that street where the challenged cycleway is proposed to run.
The Company's written submissions, say, at [3]: The Applicant is not opposed to the Project, except insofar as it is routed via Spring Street, rather than the alternative route along the Oxford Street Mall.
In the introduction to its written submissions, the Council made this observation concerning the above comment: This concession reveals that the applicant's true complaint is with the merits of the Council's decision as to the chosen route for the cycleway, rather than with the legality of the decision-making process.
I observe that I am satisfied that this comment is a correct reflection of the nature of the proceedings pursued for the Company as I have concluded that, in several guises, what is sought by the Company is that I undertake an impermissible comparative merit review of the route of the proposed cycleway. I am satisfied that there is no basis advanced by the Company that would warrant me departing from the mandated terms of a judicial review, these being confined to whether the Council fulfilled its statutory obligations attaching to the General Manager giving approval to the project.

[5]

Pepper J's Fullerton Cove decision and s 5.7(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979

As will become obvious from the material subsequently dealt with in this decision, including the setting out of the relevant statutory provisions; the grounds advanced on behalf of the Company and the submissions of the parties (as summarised), a significant proposition arose from whether or not, in the present-day context, s 5.7(1) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the EP&A Act) gave rise to an objective jurisdictional fact. This position, advanced by Mr Hemmings SC for the Company, was summarised, briefly, early in the written submissions for the Company in the following terms: 17 Section 5.7(1)(a) of the EPA Act provides that "a determining authority shall not carry out an activity, or grant an approval in relation to an activity, being an activity that is … an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment" unless it has "obtained or been furnished with and has examined and considered an environmental impact statement in respect of the activity" which has been prepared in the prescribed way. In this case it is common ground that no such EIS was obtained because the Council formed the view that the Project was not an activity that was "likely to significantly affect he environment". 18 "Likely" means a "real chance or possibility" rather than "more probable than not": Fullerton Cove at [227]-[228]. 20 "Significantly" means "important", "notable", "weighty" or "more than ordinary": Fullerton Cove at [228]. 21 In Fullerton Cove, Pepper J had occasion to consider whether the issue of whether an activity is likely to significantly affect the environment in s 112(1) (now s 5.7(1)) gave rise to an objective jurisdictional fact. Her Honour concluded at [300] that: "[section] 112(1) of the EPAA gives rise to a jurisdictional fact that the court must determine for itself on all the available evidence, including the expert evidence tendered by the parties, whether or not the [activity] is likely to significantly affect the environment." Based on the Council's Response to Summons, that conclusion does not appear to be challenged in these proceedings. That is, the Court will need to determine for itself whether the Project, or any aspect of it, is likely to significantly affect the environment.
Unsurprisingly, this approach was resisted by Mr Galasso SC for the Council. The resistance was on three separate and distinct bases. The first was that Pepper J's decision on this point in Fullerton Cove Residents Action Group Inc v Dart Energy Ltd (No 2) [2013] NSWLEC 38; (2013) 195 LGERA 229 was plainly wrong and that, despite principles of judicial comity, I was not bound to accept and follow her Honour's reasoning.
Quite separately, although necessarily not needing to be developed as extensively as this first proposition, Mr Galasso relied on a change to the legislative framework since the decision in Fullerton Cove as a basis upon which he submitted that, even if I was satisfied that Fullerton Cove was correctly decided on the law as it then stood, that position had changed in a sufficiently material fashion so that that conclusion was no longer apt to be drawn.
As a final position, although not accepting it was permissible or necessary, Mr Galasso also submitted that an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was not required on a proper consideration to the expert evidence filed in the proceedings.
During the course of his oral submissions, in addition to comprehensive specific written submissions on this issue of jurisdictional fact, Mr Galasso took me through, in considerable detail, Pepper J's decision in Fullerton Cove to explain to me why he proposed I should conclude that her Honour's decision was in error.
My consideration of these submissions has necessitated my reading (and rereading several times) Pepper J's lengthy and comprehensive decision in Fullerton Cove. That has taken considerable time and effort on my part during the period which has intervened since I reserved my decision in this matter.
Upon mulling over all of the matters put by Mr Galasso in criticism of her Honour's reasoning on a wide range of points, I have eventually reached the position of concluding that it is unnecessary for me to respond to each of the criticisms made of her Honour's decision or of the overall conclusion reached by her that, in the then applicable statutory context, s 5.7(1) gave rise to a requirement for the Court to consider the jurisdictional fact of whether an EIS was required.
Nor, I am separately satisfied, do I need to deal with the change in the legislative scheme effected since her Honour's decision, subtle though it may be considered to be, to assess whether it has altered the position sufficiently so that her Honour's conclusion, as to matters of jurisdictional fact, no longer remains valid.
Although I have spent considerable time since I reserved my decision grappling with the criticism Mr Galasso made of her Honour's decision in Fullerton Cove, the conclusion I have reached as to the lack of factual merit in the Company's position means that it is unnecessary for me to address, in any aspect, those legal criticisms.

[6]

The grounds of the Company's challenge

The Summons commencing the proceedings pleaded three grounds upon which it was said that the decision to proceed with the cycleway was infected with error and should be set aside.
The first two of those grounds were supported by a number of particulars. However, during the course of the hearing, Mr Hemmings indicated that a number of the specific aspects of the complaint as particularised were no longer pressed.
As a consequence, the hearing proceeded on a more limited basis than had originally been pleaded. As a result of this confining of issues, the grounds pleaded requiring to be considered are in the following terms: Ground 1 - breach of section 5.5(1) of the EPA Act 1 The Respondent failed to examine and take into account to the fullest extent possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of the activity, in that it failed to obtain or undertake further work, studies and steps necessary in order to properly and fully consider the impacts of the Project, including: a. … b. … c. … d. … e. … f. Swept path analysis of appropriately sized heavy vehicles accessing the Loading Zones, Truck Zones and driveways on both sides of Spring Street g. … h. … i. … j. Quantitative analysis of the likely impact on local businesses and landowners directly affected by the proposed cycle path k. … l. Detailed loading study for at least the two preferred route options and a recommendation on the preferred path of travel for both options. Ground 2 - breach of section 5.7(1) of the EPA Act 1 The Respondent failed to obtain, be furnished with, examine or consider an environmental impact statement in respect of the activity, in circumstances where the Project is and was an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment, in that the Project raises numerous traffic and traffic safety issues, including the following: a. … b. … c. Vehicle/cyclist conflict at the intersection of Bronte Road/Oxford Street resulting from the newly introduced cyclist movements at the intersection. No detail has been provided to explain how these movements will be controlled such that there is no conflict between cyclist, pedestrian and vehicle movements through the intersection d. … e. … f. Conflicts with loading operations on Spring Street, including: i. Opening of doors into the path of cyclists; ii. Transporting of goods across the cycling path; iii. Potential stacking of goods in the cycling path during unloading operations; iv. Cyclists shying away from goods and colliding with one another on the narrow path. g. … h. Conflicts with kerbside car parking, which is in high demand including: i. Opening of doors into the path of cyclists; ii. Persons crossing the path to/from cars; iii. Location and offset from of parking ticket machines; iv. Clearance to vehicles and obstacles along the edge of the path that may cause cyclists to shy away from the edge of the narrow path and collide with one another. i. … j. … k. Vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian conflicts at the signalised intersection of Newland Street/Spring Street. No detail has been provided to explain how these movements will be controlled such that there is no conflict between cyclist, pedestrian and vehicle movements through the intersection l. Conflicts between cyclists and vehicles entering and exiting the numerous driveways along Spring Street and along Denison Street. Some of these driveways serve loading areas which vehicles will be required to reverse into or out of across the path. m. … n. Numerous opportunities for conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles at the intersection of Spring Street and Denison Street. i. Warrants for pedestrian crossing are not met along Denison Street, which may pose a danger to pedestrians; ii. Unclear priority/right of way between pedestrians and cyclists and the high proportion of children using the crossing of Spring Street; iii. Poor sight distances for drivers approaching from north along Denison Street to cyclists approaching the crossing of Denison Street from both directions; iv. Extremely close spacing of conflict points will give cyclists in particular very little time to assess the safety of traversing the two pedestrian crossings. o. The conflict between cyclists and pedestrians at the crossing of Denison Street at the Oxford Street/Denison Street intersection: i. The existing pedestrian refuge is proposed to be removed (whilst another stream of conflict is introduced), reducing pedestrian safety. ii. It is unclear whether pedestrians or cyclists will have priority at this crossing. Ground 3 - absence of finality/certainty 3 The scope of the "activity" purported to have approved by the Decision is uncertain, in that it has been assumed that the cycleway can extend along Oxford Street on the northern boundary of the Waverley bus depot, although the future development of that site (if any) has not yet been determined.

[7]

Council's response to the remaining matters pressed

It is now appropriate to reproduce, from the Council's Points of Defence, those elements relating to the matters that remained pressed on behalf of the Company. These elements were in the following terms: RESPONSE TO GROUNDS Ground 1 1 The Respondent denies Ground 1. In further answer to Ground 1 the Respondent says: (a) Abandoned (b) Abandoned (c) Abandoned (d) Abandoned (e) Abandoned (f) as to sub-paragraph 1(f): (i) Swept path analysis for key intersections and driveways was undertaken in the Parsons Brinkerhoff Assessment, which was incorporated as Appendix G to the REF Report. (ii) EMM reported on that assessment at paragraph 3.4 of the REF Report. (iii) Additional swept path analysis was undertaken of the truck and loading zones in Spring Street in the development of design for the Project presented to the WTC in April 2015. (g) Abandoned (h) Abandoned (i) Abandoned (j) as to sub-paragraph 1(j): (i) a qualitative assessment of likely impacts to local businesses and landowners was undertaken (refer to Appendix E and paragraph 7 of the REF Report). (ii) a quantitative analysis was not required in the circumstances of the project. Further or in the alternative the undertaking of the analysis as pleaded would be unduly onerous in the circumstances. (k) Abandoned (l) as to sub-paragraph 1(l): (i) the First Bitzios Assessment included an assessment of the loading activities along the route of the cycleway in Bondi Junction. (ii) the Second Bitzios Assessment updated the First Bitzios Assessment (Appendix J to the REF Report). (iii) Parsons Brinkerhoff considered the First Bitzios Assessment in preparing the Parsons Brinkerhoff Assessment (Appendix G to the REF Report) and by STC in preparing the STC Assessment (Appendix D to the REF Report). Ground 2 2 The Respondent denies Ground 2. In further answer to Ground 2 the Respondent says: (a) the Project is not an activity likely to significantly affect the environment as provided in s 5.7(1) of the EPA Act; and (b) accordingly, the Respondent was not required to obtain, be furnished with, examine or consider an environmental impact statement pursuant to s 5.7(1) of the EPA Act. Ground 3 3 The Respondent denies Ground 3.

[8]

The relevant statutory provisions

Part 5 Infrastructure and environmental impact assessment of the EP&A Act contains, in subdiv 3 Activities for which EIS required of Div 5.1 Environmental impact assessment (except for State significant infrastructure), four sections (ss 5.5-5.7 and 5.10) which potentially required consideration in these proceedings. These four sections are in the following terms: 5.5 Duty to consider environmental impact (1) For the purpose of attaining the objects of this Act relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment, a determining authority in its consideration of an activity shall, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act or the provisions of any other Act or of any instrument made under this or any other Act, examine and take into account to the fullest extent possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of that activity. (2) (Repealed) (3) …. (4) (Repealed) 5.6 Regulations for environmental impact assessment by prescribed determining authorities (1) In this section, prescribed determining authority means a person prescribed for the purposes of the definition of public authority in section 1.4(1) so as to allow the person to be a determining authority within the meaning of this Division. (2) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to the exercise by a prescribed determining authority of its functions under section 5.5 (environmental impact assessment functions), including (without limitation) provision for or with respect to the following - (a) the manner in which environmental impact assessment functions must be exercised including the matters that must be considered in the exercise of those functions, (b) requirements for public and other consultation in connection with environmental impact assessment functions, including requirements for consultation with the Planning Secretary and the consideration of advice given by the Planning Secretary, (c) requirements for the documentation of the exercise of environmental impact assessment functions (assessment documentation), (d) requirements for making assessment documentation available to the Minister and the Planning Secretary and for the public release of assessment documentation, (e) requirements for auditing the exercise of environmental impact assessment functions and compliance with requirements imposed by or under the regulations. (3) The regulations may provide for the approval by the Minister of a code (an approved code) that makes provision for or with respect to the matters for which the regulations under this section may make provision. (4) An approved code may make provision for or with respect to a matter by applying, adopting or incorporating, with or without modification, the provisions of a specified document as in force for the time being or a document formulated, issued or published by a specified person or body. Subdivision 3 Activities for which EIS required 5.7 Decision of determining authority in relation to certain activities (1) A determining authority shall not carry out an activity, or grant an approval in relation to an activity, being an activity that is a prescribed activity, an activity of a prescribed kind or an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment, unless - (a) the determining authority has obtained or been furnished with and has examined and considered an environmental impact statement in respect of the activity - (i) …, and (ii) …, (b) …, (c) …, (c1) (Repealed) (d) …, and (e) …. 5.10 Regulations The regulations may make provision for or with respect to - (a) the factors to be taken into account when consideration is being given to the likely impact of an activity on the environment, (b) the preparation, contents, form and submission of environmental impact statements, (c) the making of environmental impact statements available for public comment, or (d) the methods of examination of environmental impact statements and submissions made with respect to activities to which any such statements relate.
A further, potentially relevant, provision is cl 228 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000 (the EP&A Regulation). This is in the following terms: 228 What factors must be taken into account concerning the impact of an activity on the environment? (1) … (2) The factors referred to in subclause (1)(b)(ii) are as follows - (a) any environmental impact on a community, (b) any transformation of a locality, (c) any environmental impact on the ecosystems of the locality, (d) any reduction of the aesthetic, recreational, scientific or other environmental quality or value of a locality, (e) any effect on a locality, place or building having aesthetic, anthropological, archaeological, architectural, cultural, historical, scientific or social significance or other special value for present or future generations, (f) any impact on the habitat of protected animals (within the meaning of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016), (g) any endangering of any species of animal, plant or other form of life, whether living on land, in water or in the air, (h) any long-term effects on the environment, (i) any degradation of the quality of the environment, (j) any risk to the safety of the environment, (k) any reduction in the range of beneficial uses of the environment, (l) any pollution of the environment, (m) any environmental problems associated with the disposal of waste, (n) any increased demands on resources (natural or otherwise) that are, or are likely to become, in short supply, (o) any cumulative environmental effect with other existing or likely future activities, (p) any impact on coastal processes and coastal hazards, including those under projected climate change conditions.

[9]

General

The evidence comprised the Court Book (Exhibit A); a document entitled "Bondi Junction Cycleway Route Comparison" (Exhibit 1) (being an A3 table containing various comparison assessment factors for seven identified potential routes for the cycleway); a printout of a PowerPoint presentation given as part of the Council's assessment process (Exhibit 2); and an affidavit of Ms Sharon Cassidy, Executive Manager Major Projects of the Council. This was the second affidavit given by Ms Cassidy, as her principal one, to which the bulk of the documentary material had been exhibited, was contained in Exhibit B.
Six volumes of documentary material (Exhibits B to G) totalling a little over 2,700 pages were also tendered.
In this context, it is to be observed that, despite this volume of written material tendered for the Company, I was taken to a very limited number of pages of this material. At a generous estimate, I may have been taken to, perhaps, 200 pages of this material, with the remainder of it not being addressed for the purpose of this process. However, for the purpose of my decision-making, I have needed to read significantly more of the tendered material for the purposes of making a proper assessment of the merit complaints made for the Company and the Council's evidence responding to them.
It is also fair to say that, as to the content of the material to which I was taken, the very large portion of that material related to the merits of the proposed cycleway (whether as to an assessment of any of the individual elements of it or as to the processes undertaken for the assessment of those merit aspects).
As I observed at [6], the Company acknowledged that it was not opposed to the proposed cycleway but merely to that portion of it along Spring Street - with respect to which section it was the Company's preference that the cycleway run through the Oxford Street Mall, it being located one block to the north of Spring Street. A deal of the material to which I was, in fact, taken in the evidence related to what the Company put were:

the deficiencies, on a merit basis, of the analysis concerning the Spring Street section of the cycleway; or
how the cycleway could, appropriately, be routed through the Oxford Street Mall.

For the reasons discussed later, the implicit invitation that I embark on an impermissible review of the comparative route merits of the determination made to proceed along the cycleway route incorporating Spring Street but not adopt the Oxford Street Mall route as the better alternative in lieu of Spring Street is rejected.

[14]

The Company's submissions on Ground 1

Mr Hemmings submitted that the words "to the fullest extent possible", in s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act, have been previously read down to mean "to the fullest extent reasonably possible" and this approach is contrary to the current approach to statutory interpretation (citing Alcan (NT) Alumina Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Territory Revenue [2009] HCA 41; 239 CLR 27, at [47], and Stevens v Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment [2005] HCA 58; 224 CLR 193, at [30], in support of this submission).
Mr Hemmings submitted the correct approach to the statutory test is to consider whether the Council complied with the statutory test in s 5.5, which is to consider whether or not the Council examined and took into account to the fullest extent possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of the activity. Mr Hemmings submitted that, on either approach, there was still a failure by the Council to fulfil the requirements of the statutory test.
Mr Hemmings also put that, in s 1.4(1) of the EP&A Act, "environment" is defined very broadly and the Council had not addressed his proposition that traffic and traffic safety impacts of a proposed activity fall within that definition. He gave the example of Goldberg v Waverley Council [2008] NSWLEC 49, where Lloyd J held, at [65], that issues of pedestrian safety associated with use of a footpath and potential conflict with vehicles using a proposed driveway was an aspect of the statutory definition of "environment" that warranted consideration under what was then s 111 (now s 5.5) of the EP&A Act.
However, in his closing oral submissions, Mr Hemmings appeared to retreat from what I have set out above in [37] and [38], as he said (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 48, lines 48 to 50): To the extent there is a very high statutory bar imposed upon the decision maker in 5.5 because of the language "to the fullest extent possible", mollified [sic - modified?] by "fullest extent reasonably practicable" …
Despite that, given that (as explained below) the Council put a contrary position based on authority, it is appropriate to explain why s 5.5(1) is to be read as if the word "reasonably" appeared between the words "extent" and "possible".

[15]

The Council's submissions on Ground 1

Unsurprisingly, Mr Galasso's submissions were diametrically opposed to those of Mr Hemmings. He submitted that the Council complied with its obligations under s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act, taking into account "to the fullest extent reasonably possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of the activity prior to approving the project".
Mr Galasso noted that the Court of Appeal had been consistent in its interpretation of s 5.5(1) (and its predecessor, s 111) as meaning "to the fullest extent reasonably possible" and it is not open to the Court to reinterpret the section as submitted by the Company.
Mr Galasso then cited a number of authorities that he submitted made it clear that the interpretation he advanced was the correct one. As I understood him, he accepted that this was a significant obligation but not one as unreasonably exhaustive as would be required if the interpretation proposed by Mr Hemmings was to be adopted (citing Guthega Development Pty Ltd v Minister Administering the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) (1986) 7 NSWLR 353 (Guthega Development) at 366; Transport Action Group Against Motorways Inc v Roads and Traffic Authority [1999] NSWCA 196; (1999) 46 NSWLR 598 (Transport Action Group) at [68]; Oshlack v Rous Water [2013] NSWCA 169; (2013) 194 LGERA 39 (Oshlack) at [32], [173]).
Mr Galasso also submitted that the Council had adduced evidence which demonstrated that the Council had complied with its obligations under s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act and cl 228 of the EP&A Regulation, providing details of this material in his submissions (Respondent Written submissions, [27]-[32]). It is appropriate to reproduce these paragraphs (footnotes omitted), as they list critical steps taken by the Council during the assessment process. 27 Council has adduced evidence which demonstrates that Council has complied with its obligations under s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act and clause 228 of the EP&A Regulation. 28 In particular, in August 2018 Council engaged EMM Consultants to prepare a Review of Environmental Factors report for the Project. 29 In January 2019, EMM Consultants prepared the Bondi Junction Cycleway and Streetscape Upgrade Review of Environmental Factors dated January 2019 (REF). The REF assessed the Project against clause 228 of the EP&A Regulation, in order for Council to fulfil its duty under s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act. The applicant does not make any criticisms of the REF. 30 Furthermore, following receipt of the REF, Council placed the REF on public exhibition, and Council also engaged LK Planning to conduct a peer review of the REF and a review of public submissions on the REF. 31 Following public exhibition and peer review of the REF, EMM Consultants prepared a revised REF dated 8 May 2019 (Revised REF). Again, the applicant does not make any criticisms of the Revised REF. 32 The Revised REF was also peer reviewed by LK Planning, which concluded that, based on the matters in the Revised REF, Council could be satisfied that it had met its obligations under s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act.
On the basis of these steps, Mr Galasso submitted: 33 Therefore, Council has complied with its obligations under s 5.5(1) of the Act to examine and take into account, to the fullest extent reasonably possible, all matters affecting or are likely to affect the environment by reason of the activity prior to approving the project.
Mr Galasso also addressed the issue of the admissibility of the expert evidence. He submitted that the expert evidence was not admissible in respect of any of the grounds in the Summons.
In respect of Ground 1 he cited Fullerton Cove, where Pepper J held that expert evidence may be admissible "to show what inquiries ought to have been made as a precursor to the examination exercise, and if they had been made, what those inquiries would have revealed" (at [144]) and submitted that therefore expert evidence is not admissible for determining whether the decision-maker had complied with the duty to take into account to the fullest extent reasonably possible the matters in s 5.5(1) and cl 228(2) (citing [143] of her Honour's decision).
He submitted that in the present proceedings the expert evidence went to the merits of Council's decision, not what enquiries the Council ought to have made but did not make or, as I understood him, the extent to which the General Manager addressed the matters to which he was obliged to turn in fulfilling his obligations pursuant to s 5.5(1) of the EP&A Act.

[16]

Consideration

I turn, first, to the question of statutory construction. In Guthega Development, Samuels JA (Mahoney and Priestley JJA concurring) considered the nature of the obligation that was imposed by the (then) s 111 (now s 5.5) and how it is to be understood. His Honour said (at 366): At the same time, it can scarcely be read literally in without some modification of its terms. For example, the phrase "to the fullest extent possible" would present an insoluble problem to an administrator since it would be necessary to search the aggregated knowledge of the experts of the world in order to discharge the almost limited burden imposed by the word "possible". "Possible" is of a similar kind to "foreseeable", a word etched in the professional cause of common lawyers and capable of very extensive application indeed. Accordingly, in my view, some element of reasonableness must be introduced and may be achieved by reading the section as if the word "reasonably" was inserted before "possible".
That approach was subsequently endorsed in Transport Action Group, where Mason P said, at [68], with respect to what was required by the (then) s 111 (now s 5.5) that: This obligation is mandatory, but is to be applied reasonably and with practicality (Guthega).
More recently, in Oshlack, Gleason JA said [at 32]: As noted by the primary judge, the duty imposed upon each respondent as the determining authority by s 111 of the EPA Act to "examine and take into account to the fullest extent possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of the activity" in question including the specified matters, is properly construed as qualified by the word "reasonably". That is, the respondents' duty is to examine and take into account the matters referred to in that section to the fullest extent reasonably possible (citations omitted).
His Honour repeated his endorsement of this approach to the duty imposed by this provision at [173]. Emmett JA and Preston CJ of LEC each agreed with his Honour, but making additional remarks not related to this specific point.
This approach, expressly endorsed in each of these three decisions, is binding on me and is contrary to the more expansive approach that Mr Hemmings suggested I should adopt. Mr Hemmings' position on this point is rejected for this reason.
As a consequence, it is necessary to turn and consider whether or not the decision-making process undertaken by the General Manager did take into account, to the fullest extent reasonably possible, all relevant matters.
I now turn to the complaints, limited although they are, that are made by the Company concerning the General Manager's decision-making process in discharging this obligation.
In the General Manager's Statement of Reasons, in Section 4, he sets out the materials upon which he had based his decision-making process. They were in the following terms: 4. MATERIALS ON WHICH MY FINDINGS ARE BASED 4.1 In making my decision, I have taken into account, and made findings based on, materials including: 4.1.1 the relevant events described in section 3 of this statement; 4.1.2 the internal memorandum prepared by Sharon Cassidy, Executive Manager, Major Projects and Rodhan Haughton, Senior Project Manager, Major Projects, dated 17 May 2019 (Trim Reference: A14/0193) (Memorandum); 4.1.3 the final REF Report dated 8 May 2019; 4.1.4 the Peer Review Report; 4.1.5 public submissions submitted to Council during the draft REF Report public exhibition period (inclusive of the legal submission from Reid & Vesely and Ian Hemmings SC that was submitted after the advertised closing date for submissions); 4.1.6 the Public Consultation Report; 4.1.7 the Addendum Report; and 4.1.8 confidential legal advice. 4.2 In addition to the Memorandum and its attachments (which included the reports referred to above) I considered the following documents which are referred to in, but not attached to the Memorandum: 4.2.1 the Council report dated 16 December 2014; 4.2.2 the minutes of the Council meeting of 16 December 2014; 4.2.3 the petition received from Reid & Vesely dated 26 November 2014; and 4.2.4 the submissions made by the public during the public exhibition of the REF Report.
First, it is appropriate to note that the matters to which the General Manager adverts in 4.1.1 take the reader back to Section 3. This section sets out an overview of the project and then a detailed chronology (from 3.5 to 3.21) of Council's consideration of the project and its effect on the environment. Although this sets out the corporate history of the Council's examination of the project, as is noted in 4.1.1, the General Manager had regard to relevant events and material from within that chronology.
As the General Manager noted, he took into account, and made findings based on, all the materials listed between 4.1.2 and 4.1.8, as well as considering the documents referred to at 4.2.1 to 4.2.4.
In the reasons for decision in Section 6 of this document, the General Manager says, at 6.2: In making my decision, I considered the material provided to me, and satisfied myself that: All matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of the project had been examined and taken into account to the fullest extent reasonably and practicably possible; …
I have set out above the list of the materials upon which the General Manager based his findings. For these purposes, I have closely read the Final REF Report dated 8 May 2019 (Exhibit E, Tab 36) and the Addendum Report to the Peer Review Report dated 13 May 2019 (Exhibit F, Tab 37) as part of my assessment of this ground and of Ground 2.
I also noted, earlier, that Ms Cassidy had sworn a second affidavit, one dated 17 October 2019. This affidavit dealt with swept path analyses undertaken for trucks and the use of the loading zones in Spring Street as part of the development of design process undertaken by the Waverly Traffic Committee. Swept path analysis documents for a medium-rigid vehicle and a heavy-rigid vehicle were annexed to her affidavit (noted at [6]). At [7] and [8], she dealt with the further use and dissemination of the swept path analysis in the following terms: 7. The swept paths referred to above at paragraph 6, were used to finalise the design which was ultimately presented to the Waverley Traffic Committee in April 2015. 8. In response to the swept path analysis the truck parking was moved to the front of the lengths of loading/truck zones to allow easier manoeuvring. To demonstrate this change, I attach as Annexure B a copy of an email I sent to the Applicant's solicitor on 26 March 2015 which shows the proposed truck and loading zones which start after an 18m no stopping zone. The plans attached to Annexure B were also sent to property owners on 1 April 2015 (annexed to this affidavit as Annexure C).
I note this material, because of the specific complaint in Ground 1(f) of the Company's complaint concerning the Council's process.
In addition, although in my assessment of lesser importance, I have also reviewed the original REF (Exhibits D and E commencing at Tab 33), the Public Consultation Report (Exhibit E, Tab 35) and the original Peer Review Report (Exhibit E, Tab 34) as part of my assessment of this ground and of Ground 2.
Of course, in considering these documents, I am not to be taken to be expressing any opinion as if I had reviewed the merits of the proposal.
All these are documents which, when taken together, provide a comprehensive and comprehensible basis upon which the General Manager could have based his decision.
Nothing advanced on behalf of the Company proposes that consideration of these materials, and all of the other documentary materials considered by the General Manager, were dealt with by him in a fashion which could have caused his decision-making process to have foundered because of its unreasonableness.
Similarly, despite the valiant attempts by Mr Hemmings when taking me through the portions of the documentary material in evidence to which he proposed that I have regard, nothing provides a basis for me to conclude that the General Manager had not discharged his obligation pursuant to s 5.5(1) to examine and take into account to the fullest extent reasonably possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment by reason of his approval of the cycleway.
Ground 1 is rejected.

[18]

The position advanced by the Company

From the Company's written submissions, the following provides a short summary of the basis upon which it is put on behalf of the Company that s 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act is engaged and why I should conclude that, in the absence of an EIS in circumstances where the factual evidence must, in the Company's submission, lead to the conclusion that the proposal was an activity likely to significantly affect the environment, the absence of such an EIS gave rise to a jurisdictional fact as to whether or not such a document was required. This can be seen from [17] to [20] of the Company's written submissions. These are set out below: 17 Section 5.7(1)(a) of the EPA Act provides that "a determining authority shall not carry out an activity, or grant an approval in relation to an activity, being an activity that is ... an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment" unless it has "obtained or been furnished with and has examined and considered an environmental impact statement in respect of the activity" which has been prepared in the prescribed way. In this case it is common ground that no such EIS was obtained because the Council formed the view that the Project was not an activity that was "likely to significantly affect the environment". 18 "Likely" means a "real chance or possibility" rather than "more probable than not": Fullerton Cove at [227]-[228]. 19 "Significantly" means "important", "notable", "weighty" or "more than ordinary": Fullerton Cove at [228]. 20 In Fullerton Cove, Pepper J had occasion to consider whether the issue of whether an activity is likely to significantly affect the environment in s 112(1) (now s 5.7(1)) gave rise to an objective jurisdictional fact. Her Honour concluded at [300] that: ''[section] 112(1) of the EPAA gives rise to a jurisdictional fact that the court must determine for itself on all the available evidence, including the expert evidence tendered by the parties, whether or not the [activity] is likely to significantly affect the environment. " Based on the Council's Response to Summons, that conclusion does not appear to be challenged in these proceedings. That is, the Court will need to determine for itself whether the Project, or any aspect of it, is likely to significantly affect the environment.
As set out at the conclusion of [20], it is the Company's position that I will need to determine whether the proposed cycleway or any aspect of it is something likely to significantly affect the environment.
In 21, the Company's written submissions summarised the second of the three grounds pleaded in the Summons, putting that: 21 … (b) in breach of s 5.7(1) (formers 112(1)) of the EPA Act, the Council failed to obtain, be furnished with, examine or consider an environmental impact statement in respect of the activity, in circumstances where the Project is and was an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment, in that the Project raises numerous traffic and traffic safety issues (Ground 2);
In support of this proposition, the Company relied on the decision of Pepper J in Fullerton Cove as demonstrating that the question of whether or not an EIS was required was a jurisdictional fact that I was mandated to address.

[19]

The Council's general response to the jurisdictional fact proposition

In the written submissions for the Council, this proposition advanced on behalf of the Company was dealt with, at a level of generality, at [34] to [39]. This element of the written submissions is set out below: 34 Section 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act (formerly s 112) relevantly provides that a determining authority shall not carry out an activity, or grant approval to an activity, being an activity "that is likely to significantly affect the environment", unless the determining authority has obtained or been furnished with and has examined and considered an environmental impact assessment in respect of the activity (per s 5.7(1)(a)). 35 The applicant bears the onus of proving that the activity is one that is likely to significantly affect the environment: Fullerton Cove at [321]; SHCAG at [205]-[212]. 36 The meaning of "likely" is "a real chance" or "possibility" and "significantly" as "important", "notable", "more than ordinary": SHCAG at [204]; Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc v Newcastle City Council [2010] NSWLEC 231; (2010) 179 LGERA 346 at [134]. 37 In determining whether an activity is one that is likely to significantly affect the environment, the Court can be taken into account any ameliorative measures to prevent, mitigate, remedy or offset impact of the development: SHCAG at [154]; Parks and Playgrounds Movement at [134]. 38 In the present case, no environmental impact assessment was prepared for the Project. 39 The Revised REF concluded that the Project is not considered likely to significantly affect the environment, threatened species, populations of ecological communities, or their habitats, and therefore did not require further assessment under s 5.7 of the EP&A Act.
The first position advanced on behalf of the Council on the matter of jurisdictional fact - that I am obliged to undertake such an assessment - was that this determination by her Honour in Fullerton Cove was manifestly wrong and ought not be followed.
As a consequence, the Council submitted that, if I was to accept that proposition concerning her Honour's decision, I am not obliged to consider, as a question of jurisdictional fact, or at all, whether or not the Council was required to obtain an EIS as the General Manager had taken into account all of the relevant matters called up by cl 228 of the EP&A Regulation, being the matters brought into being by s 5.10 of the EP&A Act for the purposes of addressing matters required to be considered by the General Manager for the purposes of s 5.7 of the EP&A Act. The position, as I understood it, was that the General Manager had done so as disclosed by 6.2.2 and 6.3 of his Statement of Reasons.
Second, as a first fall-back position that would render it unnecessary for me to determine whether or not her Honour's decision in Fullerton Cove remained a correct interpretation of the law, the Council pointed to the subsequent amendment of the EP&A Act as changing the legislative landscape in a relevant contextual fashion, rendering her Honour's conclusion in Fullerton Cove presently inapplicable (even if it had been correct on the basis of the law as it was in 2013).
Finally, as a second fall-back position, the Council, in its written submissions, said, at [45]: 45 Furthermore, any in any event, based on all the evidence before the Court, including the parties expert evidence, the Court would not find that the Project is likely to significantly affect the environment such that Council was required to comply with s 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act prior to approving the Project.

[22]

Introduction

It is to be repeated that the obligation in s 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act which I am now considering is whether or not the cycleway is "an activity that is likely to significantly affect the environment" so as to trigger the need for an EIS.
In this context, what is the approach to be taken to the words "likely" and "significantly"?
During the course of his oral submissions in reply, Mr Hemmings succinctly proposed how I should contextually consider both the words "likely" and "significantly". He said (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 48, line 48 to page 49, line 15): HEMMINGS: … To the extent there is a very high statutory bar imposed upon the decision maker in 5.5 because of the language "to the fullest extent possible", mollified by "fullest extent reasonably practicable", the test in 5.7 upon the application of the - I was about to say "judicial gloss", but the judicial consideration of the approach to the language, is one which, in fact, does not set the bar for the trigger of the obligation to obtain an environmental impact statement very high. As your Honour sees, and this language is uncontroversial and my friend's submissions, for all intents and purposes say the same thing. "Likely", as in "likely to significantly affect", means a real chance or possibility to be contrasted with it does not mean "more probable or not". "Significantly" has also been considered to mean, for example, more than ordinary. You, being satisfied that 5.7 gives rise to a jurisdictional fact, therefore, taking the evidence that you have from the two traffic consultants in addition to the other materials that you have, consider whether the matters that we raise can meet a description that there is a real chance or possibility that there will be a more than ordinary effect on the environment.
The position advanced by Mr Galasso concerning "significantly" was equally concisely summarised in his oral submissions in the following terms (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 30, lines 30 to 35): GALASSO: … If, despite our submissions, you find that it is a jurisdictional fact, that doesn't mean that you leap into the swimming pool of this material and form a view for yourself without recognising that the test is that this activity is likely, not to affect the environment, but to significantly affect the environment, "significantly". That is a high threshold, a threshold that has not been passed on anything that's been advanced in this case.

[27]

The submissions concerning the approach to the conflicting expert positions

Competing positions were put as to how I should approach my consideration of the differences of opinion expressed by the expert witnesses.
The position put for the Council was summarised as follows (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 31, lines 24 to 30): GALASSO: … You are being asked, effectively, to arbitrate between two experts that are expressing alternative views. Mr Hollyoak's position to the contrary of Mr McLaren's evidence is entirely relevant to that question. If you've got one person saying X, saying white and the other one saying black, how sensibly can you ever conclude, either alone or in combination with other factors, that the activity is likely to significantly affect the environment? It's entirely relevant to the exercise if this evidence is admissible in the first place.
However, a different approach was advocated for the Company (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 49, lines 16 to 44): HEMMINGS: … In our submission, on the materials you have before you, that is a conclusion that the Court can comfortably come to. You then asked my friend about how to treat the evidence. This isn't a matter of simply saying there is an answer. I think this is the submission my friend made, or at least as I understood it. There is an answer by Mr Hollyoak to what Mr McLaren says, "Therefore, you can't be satisfied that there's likely to be a significant effect." With the greatest of respect, that must just be plainly wrong for two reasons. One, because, as we said yesterday, the conclusion that it's likely to significantly effect is not one which leads to approval or refusal. It's merely a trigger for another part of the process, so the fact that there is a problem raised which is capable of addressing cannot be an answer to the inquiry. Secondly, the way in which Mr Hollyoak has responded, as we commented yesterday, is often to say, "She'll be right." To the extent there are problems with intersections, for example, someone will fix it up at another time. Again, that may be acceptable and it may be that there is the possibility of a solution to the concerns that are raised, but that's not an answer as to whether those concerns can meet the description of a real chance or possibility of a more than ordinary effect on the environment. Then, thirdly, to the extent there is a competition in the evidence, it's not a matter of merely accepting one witness over the other. In the ordinary course, that which the Court needs to do where there is conflicting expert evidence is the Court needs to resolve that evidence and form its own view as to whether or not there is a real chance or possibility that there will be a more than ordinary effect on the environment. For the reasons that we have already submitted, you would be satisfied that the cumulative impact of those intersection and driveways that we identified can clearly meet that description.

[30]

The Council's objections to the expert evidence

During the course of the second day of the hearing, Mr Galasso noted that, should I conclude that I needed to consider the expert evidence, the Company pressed a range of objections to it. A schedule of those objections was provided and inserted in the Court Book (Exhibit A) (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 14, lines 31 to 44).
At a more general level, the Council's written submissions dealt with the basis upon which this evidence came into existence and the reasons why it was submitted by Mr Galasso that this evidence was not admissible. This can be seen from [46] to [52] of the written submissions on behalf of the Council. This material was in the following terms: 46 The applicant has served an expert report of Mr Craig McLaren, a traffic expert. In response, Council served an expert report of Mr Ken Hollyoak, a traffic expert. 47 This was done pursuant to directions made by Pain J in respect of the applicant's application for leave to adduce expert traffic evidence: see Pittking Properties Pty Ltd v Waverley Council [2019] NSWLEC 122 at [11]-[14]. 48 Council's submits that the expert evidence is not admissible in respect of any of the grounds of the Summons. 49 In respect of ground 1 of the Summons, in Fullerton Cove at [143]-[145] Pepper J held that expert evidence may be admissible "to show what inquiries ought to have been made as a precursor to the examination exercise, and if they had been made, what those inquiries would have revealed" (at [144]); but that expert evidence is not admissible for determining whether the decision-maker had complied with the duty to take into account to the fullest extent reasonably possible the matters in s 5.5(1) and cl 228(2) (at [143]). 50 However, in the present case none of the expert evidence goes to the issue of what inquiries the Council ought to have made but did not make, and what those inquiries would have shown. Rather, the expert evidence is directed to the merits of Council's decision to proceed with the chosen route for the cycleway via Spring Street rather than other alternative routes. For these reasons, it is submitted that none of the expert evidence is admissible in respect of ground 1. 51 As for ground 2 of the Summons, if the Court finds that s 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act gives rise to a jurisdictional fact (contrary to Council's submissions above), Council accepts that expert evidence may be admissible on the issue of whether Project is an activity likely to significantly affect the environment: see Fullerton Cove at [300]. 52 However, in the present case the experts' evidence goes to the merits of Council's decision to proceed with the chosen route for the cycleway via Spring Street, not to specific environmental effects of the activity.
The primary basis in the Company's list of objections was, unsurprisingly, that the expert evidence given by Mr McLaren, in his individual expert statement, was irrelevant and to be rejected, with a similar proposition advanced with respect to the Joint Expert Report. Under these circumstances, it was self‑evident that Mr Hollyoak's expert evidence had only been provided on a contingent basis, that basis being that I rejected the all-encompassing objection to any expert evidence being utilised.
However, against the possibility that I did not accept that submission, objections on specific bases were made to elements of Mr McLaren's evidence in his individual expert report and in the Joint Expert Report. Given my conclusion that the Company cannot succeed taking Mr McLaren's evidence at its highest and the weighing the Council's responses to it, it is not necessary to rule on these objections.
It is to be observed that no objection was pressed on behalf of the Company to any of the evidence given by Mr Hollyoak.

[31]

Introduction to consideration of the expert evidence

I now turn to consider the expert evidence on the traffic matters that has been provided by Mr McLaren and Mr Hollyoak (in their separate expert reports) and the analysis contained in their joint expert traffic report. These three reports were in evidence at the locations earlier noted at [29]. As can be seen from the noted lengths of the documents, this expert material was voluminous.
At the commencement of the Joint Expert Report, the following appears (Exhibit G, Tab 5, folio 2362): 4. To assist the court, the experts have conferred and produced this Joint Report to address the following matters with respect to the proposed "activity" to construct a cycleway along Spring Street, Bondi Junction: a) Response to s5.5 and s5.7 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act (1979), with particular regard to whether or not the assessments provided by Council and its consultants adequately examined and took into account "to the fullest extent possible all matters affecting or likely to affect the environment". b) Areas of Disagreement c) Areas of Agreement 5. Prior to detailing the expert's position on the matters listed in paragraph 4 above, it is instructive to first define and present diagrams of the cycleway alternatives that have been addressed in the individual statements of evidence of both KH and CM, as follows:
The analysis, under the heading "Response to section 5.5 and 5.7 of the EP&A Act (1979)", commences on page 3 with the setting out of a summary of the position advanced by Mr McLaren on behalf of the Company. This is in the following terms (folio 2364): 6.1 CM states that it has not been adequately justified with respect to s5.5 & s5.7 of the EP&A Act that the Council and it's consultants have not given nor undertaken an environmental assessment that addresses "to the fullest extent possible" adequate and detailed consideration of impacts of the activity on the environment, not only in relation to safety of both the users of the proposed bike path and others along route but in relation to operational impacts on traffic flows, car parking (including high turnover parking spaces), loading zones, truck zones, driveway impacts, the movement of goods and persons to and from kerbside parking locations and pedestrian movements, particularly the movement and adverse safety exposure to vulnerable persons (the elderly and children). 6.2 CM further states that this necessitates assessment of alternatives, which in this case relates to the lack of adequate and detailed assessment of a bicycle path along both the "shortest path" option via the OSM and the Council's preferred SSR. 6.3 CM states that the OSM route is discounted abruptly by the Council and it's consultants without any detailed evaluation. 6.4 CM states, contrary to KH's SOE, the assessment of the OSM option for a bike path is extremely lacking in detail. The OSM option was considered by LK Planning Report dated 25th March 2019 for council with the following relevant comments: "The two standout options are Route 4 - 'Oxford Street' and Route 5 - 'Spring Street" (page 3). "Given Routes 4 and 5 are the standout options, Council will need to balance its land ownership issues through the Oxford Street Mall (particularly from a pedestrian safety perspective) with the weaknesses of the preferred route nothing: - it is 129m longer and is slower generally because of the number of turns and complexity of intersections; - includes an additional traffic light and additional driveways; - conflicts with additional truck and loading zones and additional bin collection points; - deviates from the desire line with the prospect that cyclists may continue to choose the most direct route through the mall, particularly if travelling to the public transport hub; - passes through a high pedestrian, vehicle and bus conflict area at the corner of Bronte Road and Spring Street, and - has reduced accessibility to the railway station and bus interchange. The threshold issue is pedestrian safety along the Oxford Street Mall, however the report (and REF generally) does not provide an analysis of the potential opportunities and methods of providing separation between cyclist and pedestrian activity through the Oxford Street Mall." (page 4). 6.5 CM states that the above LK Planning extracts clearly identify the need for a proper comparative analysis of the OSM route compared to the endorsed SSR. CM further states that the extract above includes the statement that the SSR "passes through a high pedestrian, vehicle and bus conflict area at the corner of Bronte Road and Spring Street" that has not been adequately assessed from both a traffic engineering and road safety perspective.
It can be seen from this material that Mr McLaren is seeking to pay particular attention to forcing a further reconsideration of the Oxford Street Mall option. For me to undertake such a comparative assessment would be, for the reasons I explained earlier, to embark on an entirely inappropriate merit analysis of the decision which has been taken by the General Manager and I decline to do so.
The following at least six pages of the Joint Expert Report continued to address a comparison between the route actually approved by the General Manager and an alternative route which would traverse the Oxford Street Mall rather than passing along Spring Street. I ignore that and any subsequent material based on such a comparative analysis as it is unrelated to the question of whether the project, as approved by the General Manager, is likely to significantly affect the environment.
At pages 23 to 27 of the report (folios 2384 to 2388), information is included under two headings. These are Summary of CM's identified issues, deficiencies and risks (page 23 to the first third of page 27) and Other matters related the late service of information by Council & KH (page 27).
Pages 23 to 27 are reproduced as Annexure C to this decision. A further 112 pages of material was appended to the Joint Expert Report - including the curriculum vitae of each of the experts. It is unnecessary to analyse this material in detail; it is sufficient to note that I have examined relevant portions of it for my consideration of the matters about which Mr McLaren makes complaint and whether or not I should conclude, as a matter of jurisdictional fact, that an EIS had been required for the to consider General Manager to permit him to have made a valid determination to approve the proposed cycleway.
For present purposes, it is appropriate to reproduce Figure 6: Proposed cycle path issue locations from page 22 of the joint expert traffic report (folio 2383). That diagram appears below:
The Joint Expert Report then sets out, in tabular form (as can be seen from Annexure C), a summary of the location of each of the nine locations identified on Figure 6, together with what Mr McLaren said were the deficiencies and risks at that location.
The final column in the table with respect to each of these locations contains the response from Mr Hollyoak to each of the various matters identified by Mr McLaren.
Following this analysis of matters identified in Figure 6, the Joint Expert Report then deals with a further four matters (one said to occur along the entire length of the cycleway and three said to occur at multiple locations), where the specific alleged conflict elements had not adequately been addressed in the Council's processes. Each of these matters was, as with those for the locations in Figure 6, addressed by a comment by Mr Hollyoak (as can be seen in Annexure C).
Finally, on page 27 of the Joint Expert Report, Mr McLaren set out what he considered were six deficiencies with the signage plan (with the table incorporating responses by Mr Hollyoak with respect to the first four of them).
The final element of the joint report related to [10] and [11] of Ms Cassidy's first affidavit. It is appropriate to reproduce these paragraphs from her affidavit - paragraphs, which are in the following terms: 10. In or around February 2014, the Council adopted the Bondi Junction Complete Streets Report, a copy of which is at Tab 3 of the Exhibit. This report outlined the Council's public domain improvements plan for Bondi Junction for the next 20 years. The report included concept street designs, including separated cycleways that aimed to improve the quality of the public domain and achieve and reinforce a sense of place for Bondi Junction. 11. In or around March 2014, the Council called for tenders for consultants to prepare designs of the cycleway west of Bronte Road along Spring St, Denison St and Oxford St and establish a panel of providers for future Complete Streets projects.
Mr McLaren's comments, in this regard, were set out on page 28 of the joint traffic experts' report in the following terms (folio 2389): 11. Response to Sharon Cassidy's Affidavit 11.1 In response to SC's paragraphs 10 and 11, CM has reviewed the Council's "Complete Streets Report", dated August 2013, as presented in Tab 3 and notes the following statements in that report: (a) On page 13, Spring Street has "low traffic volumes and high pedestrian volumes". (b) On page 89, "it is no surprise that Spring Street has become a popular pedestrian route, particularly on weekends when the footpaths are filled to capacity". (c) On page 89, "the street does not play a key role in the traffic network; it is one-way, does not provide a through-route, and has one of the lowest traffic volumes in Bondi Junction". (d) On page 89, "The street is mostly used by delivery vehicles servicing premises on the north side (including premises fronting Oxford St Mall which do not have any street frontage), and vehicles existing the Eastgate loading docks". 11.2 In relation to points (a) to (d) above, CM states, in respective order as follows: (a) Daily traffic volumes along Spring Street, immediately east of Newland Street (that include exit traffic from the Eastgate shopping centre car park), exceed the local road limit of 2,000 vehicles per day as set by the 2002 RMS "Guide to Traffic Generating Developments", being about 5,186 vehicles per day. Refer to Annexure G. (b) Pedestrian activity along Spring Street are high with "footpaths filled to capacity". (c) Spring Street DOES play "a key role in the traffic network"; although being a ONE-WAY road, it provides an important through route for the many service vehicles that provide important delivery and despatch of goods as well as providing an important EXIT route for the Eastgate shopping centre car park, which accommodates some 780 car parking spaces. (d) The statement excludes reference to the fact that the subject section of Spring Street, east of Newland Street providing an important EXIT route for the Eastgate shopping centre car park, which accommodates some 780 car parking spaces.

[33]

The Newland Street/Spring Street intersection

During the course of the hearing, I engaged with Mr Hemmings concerning matters that were pressed as relating to the necessity for, and method of, determining changes to signalisation at the intersection of Newland and Spring Streets. This intersection had been pressed in the particulars to Ground 2 at particular 2(k) in the following terms: k) Vehicle/cyclist/pedestrian conflicts at the signalised intersection of Newland Street/Spring Street. No detail has been provided to explain how these movements will be controlled such that there is no conflict between cyclist, pedestrian and vehicle movements through the intersection
This issue had been discussed by Mr McLaren, in his individual expert report, at folios 44 and 53. The extract from folio 44 was in the following terms: 4.10 Newland Street/Spring Street Intersection Conflicts 4.10.1 Similar to the signalised intersection of Bronte Road/Oxford Street described in Section 4.4 the proposed addition of cycle paths to the signalised intersection of Newland Street/Spring Street has the potential to introduce several unmanaged conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians, and cyclists and vehicles. The potential conflicts are depicted in Figure 16, where each cross of the cyclist path (red line) by a vehicle (orange line) or pedestrian (blue line) is a potential conflict point. 4.10.2 No detailed information has been provided with regards to whether bicycles will be provided with a separate signalling system or how the traffic signal phasing will operate post-construction. The SIDRA modelling completed by Parsons Brinkerhoff in the Traffic Report is insufficient in this regard (as further explored in Section 4.16.8) and based my own assessment provided in Section 6.6.15 there will necessarily be an impact to the delays at this intersection to provide for the safe movements of all road users. 4.10.3 That Traffic Report does not sufficiently consider the impacts to the intersection that the addition of a bicycle path will have on the level of service of the intersection.
The extract from folio 53 was in the following terms: 4.16.8 Traffic Analysis 4.16.8.1 The SIDRA analysis presented in Sections 5.2.1 & 5.2.4 of the Traffic Report has several substantial shortcomings and does not provide an adequate assessment of the impacts on the local road environment. In particular, it does not assess the addition of a bicycle lane at the intersection of Bronte Road/Oxford Street/Grosvenor Street and Spring Street/Newland Street, respectively or the effect of banning right urns out of Denison Street at the junction with Oxford Street. 4.16.8.2 The proposed geometry of the two signalised intersections requires bicycles to travel against the flow of existing turning movements. Therefore, for safe operation bicycles will have to be controlled at the signalised intersection with separate signal phases. Details of the proposed phasing of the intersections have not been provided nor has it been assessed in the SIDRA modelling. The result of not introducing a new bicycle phasing in the future SIDRA models will underestimate the impact of the proposed cycleway on the intersections or result in an extremely unsafe intersection arrangement for cyclists. Further, the additional delay to vehicles and level of service performance associated with the change in signal phasing has not been provided.
It is to be observed that, in the first section of Mr McLaren's expert report (in the first quoted extract at 4.10.2 above), he refers to Section 6.6.15. An examination of this material (at folios 71 to 75) reveals it is addressed to a comparison between the intersections of Spring Street and Newland Street, on one hand, and Newland Street and the Oxford Street Mall (relevant for present purposes), on the other.
It is clear that what then follows, at folios 76 and 77, is the continuation of his advancement of the proposition that the Oxford Street Mall route is the preferable and desirable route to be adopted rather than the route utilising Spring Street.
This advocacy is misplaced because the task that falls to me in these proceedings is confined to addressing the test in s 5.7(1) of the EP&A Act, a test simply confined to relevant considerations relating to the route adopted as a result of the General Manager's determination. I am not undertaking some comparative analysis as to whether some other route (in this case the Oxford Street Mall route) should have been adopted in the alternative to the route selected.
On the other hand, Mr Hollyoak had addressed this specific topic and, by implication, reached a different conclusion. This can be seen from the relevant passage in his individual expert report dealing with this topic, a passage in the following terms: 4.54 This issue is addressed at section 6.8.2 and, in particular Appendix G of the REF as well as project plans in Appendix A.
As a consequence, it is necessary to turn to these various source documents to understand the position adopted by Mr Hollyoak. First, I turn to Section 6.8.2 of the Final REF. The Final REF is at Exhibit D, Tab 36. The discussion under 6.8.2 Operation commences at folio 1672. The introduction is in the following terms: The proposal will result in several changes to vehicle traffic and parking arrangements along the proposed cycleway route. Changes and the impacts are discussed in detail in the Bondi Junction Cycleway: Traffic, Transport And Parking Assessment (western traffic assessment) (Parsons Brinckerhoff, 2015) and subsequent Bondi Junction Traffic Counts Evaluation (Traffic Count Evaluation) (Bitzios, 2018) and TRACT East Bondi Junction Streetscape Traffic SIDRA Modelling Technical Note (eastern traffic assessment) (Bitzios, 2018) at Appendix G.
The intersection analysis is contained in 6.8.2(i) with this, relevantly, being in the following terms: i Intersection analysis Intersection analysis to the west of the oxford Street/Bronte Road intersection (including that intersection) is detailed in Chapter 5 of the western traffic assessment. All intersections, with the exception of the Oxford Street/Denison Street and Oxford Street/Nelson Street intersections are predicted to maintain the same or higher level of service upon competition (sic) of the cycleway and associated lane changes. The two remaining intersections are predicted to have minor reductions in level of service, remaining at the B 'good with acceptable delays and spare capacity' and C 'Satisfactory' levels of service. It is noted traffic counts were reassessed in late 2018, as discussed in the traffic count evaluation. The traffic count evaluation found that there was generally the same or fewer vehicles counted in 2018 as original counted in 2018. The primary differences were buses at the oxford Street/Denson Street intersection (a new bus route was added) concludes that the 2014 counts). The evaluation concludes that the 2014 counts represent a 'worst case' scenario compared to current counts. As such, the western traffic assessment remains relevant. … The overall impact to intersections is anticipated to be negligible, with most intersections maintaining the same level of service, and all intersections maintaining at least a satisfactory level of service.
Appendix G to the REF is a traffic assessment commencing at folio 1869. It is the Traffic, Transport And Parking Assessment prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff for the consultants preparing the REF. At folio 1883, the study notes, at 2.2 Site Inspection, a site inspection was carried out on Friday, 28 June 2014 to understand the function of the adjacent road network and existing traffic, pedestrian and cyclist movements. At 2.3 Travel Restrictions, on the same folio, the report notes that there are turning restrictions at the Newland and Spring Streets intersection with this being:

no entering movements are allowed from the intersection of Newland Street and Spring Street to the eastern approach of Spring Street;
no right-turning movement is allowed from the western approaches Spring Street to Newland Street.

The detailed consideration of the intersection is contained in 5.2.4 Intersection of Spring Street and Newland Street (at folios 1914 and 1915). The discussion commences with a diagrammatic presentation of the existing layout of this intersection and the proposed layout of the intersection after the implementation of the proposed cycleway. It notes the following with respect to the proposed post project layout of this intersection:

a dedicated cycleway along the northern side of Spring Street;
a single left-turn lane on the western approach; and
a dedicated, short right turn lane on the eastern approach.

The study then notes that: The results of a SIDRA analysis of this intersection are shown in table 5.5.
A copy of that table is reproduced below:
The following comments are then made with respect to the outcome of this SIDRA analysis for this intersection. That analysis was in the following terms: Comments/Assumptions • The queue on the southern approach would reach up to the intersection of Newland Street and Ebley Street for the weekday AM peak hour. However, the intersection would operate at a good level of service (Los B) for both weekday AM and PM peak hours without the proposed cycleway. • With the proposed cycleway, a dedicated two-way cycle lane would be implemented on the northern side of Spring Street. • It was assumed that the exit from the Eastgate will be closed prior to the completion of the cycleway. • The cycle time has been increased by 6 seconds for the proposed layout and a 14 second phase time has been allocated for cyclist movements. • The intersection capacity would be slightly reduced due to the increased cycle time but the intersection would still operate satisfactorily for both the weekday AM and PM peak hours.
Finally, Mr Hollyoak refers, in his statement of evidence, to the project plans in Appendix A (to the REF). The project plans are contained in Appendix A to the REF commencing at folio 1687. The relevant plan for the intersection of Spring Street and Newland Street is at folio 1700. This plan provides the base upon which Mr McLaren has detailed his earlier reproduced analysis of this intersection. A copy of folio 1700 in its original form is at Annexure D to this decision.
For completeness, I note that this matter was dealt with in the summary table of the Joint Expert Report (reproduced at Annexure C) in the following terms:
I also note that the document referred to by Mr Hollyoak in his response above as "(PB 2015)" is the Parsons Brinckerhoff report that is Appendix G to the REF. The relevant elements of this report were earlier dealt with in setting out what was to be drawn from Mr Hollyoak's expert report.
During the course of the hearing, I had an exchange with Mr Hemmings concerning this intersection and what was to be made of Mr McLaren's analysis of this intersection. The relevant element of the transcript setting out the exchange on this point was in the following terms (Transcript, 17 October 2019, page 7, line 47 to page 11, line 7): HEMMINGS: … At 2(k), can I - figure 16, thank you. Can I ask you to go to p 40, please. As you see from figure 16, this is the midblock intersection. This is where you're dividing eastern Spring Street west. It's a very difficult intersection. It's one way traffic to the east, moving west. It's two way traffic on the west, but with a limitation, so that the east travelling traffic from the west can only turn left, can only turn north. This is where there's apparently the necessity to include - I think this is the 14-second phase that's been suggested for the bicycles to get across the road in that location, but, as you can see, it is a complex and difficult intersection. It may be capable of being managed, but, in our submission, you would be satisfied that the-- HIS HONOUR: Presumably, if one removes from figure 16, for the purposes of this consideration, the red bicycle path arrow, notionally-- HEMMINGS: Yes. HIS HONOUR: --there remains a complex intersection with a series of potential conflicts, which are presumably managed at present. Is it not relevant for me to know to what extent, not that there are conflicts in this intersection, but what would be the extent of the increment to those conflicts of adding the cycle path? This document, at least on my quick reading of it, does not appear to address that at all. I mean, if you have an intersection - let me just put this in my usual habit, something that's clearly absurd - that, without the cycle path, 27 people are going to get killed every month using this intersection and adding the cycle path is going to raise that to 28, that is obviously a matter of relevance, is it not? Nothing in this document seems to deal with those sorts of baseline conflict issues. Because, at least as I understand what you say to me in this 5.7 context, I need to understand whether that which is added by the proposed cycleway constitutes a significant impact, not whether what is there now plus the cycleway constitutes a significant impact. HEMMINGS: Yes. I suppose what Mr McLaren has attempted to do so for example, if you go to para 4.10.1-- HIS HONOUR: I'm there. HEMMINGS: --he tells us, "The proposed addition of the cycle path to the signalised intersection has the potential to introduce several unmanaged conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians and cyclists and vehicles." So there is an addition of a new conflict. HIS HONOUR: I understand that, but if you take trying to envisage figure 16 in layer terms-- HEMMINGS: I understand your point. So-- HIS HONOUR: --that the term [turn] from Spring Street into Newland Street, travelling north, has presently a conflict between vehicles and pedestrians, a potential conflict, that has to be managed? HEMMINGS: It does. HIS HONOUR: The interposition of the cycle path red arrow creates, on your case, a similar conflict, some, I guess, five or so metres further to the south, but it doesn't explain to me how that would alter what would need to be the management regime or is the current management regime with respect to the existing conflict and how that might constitute a change to what needs to happen in that intersection? HEMMINGS: I haven't sough to compare the past existing to project-- HIS HONOUR: But the substantial impact, must it not, must be an impact on what is there now, that is, the change. HEMMINGS: Well, it's the change that we focus upon. HIS HONOUR: I understand that, and I'm saying to: I do not find anything in figure 16 that explains to me what the extent of the change that would be required is. It tells me what the aggregate would be, but it doesn't tell me the change. HEMMINGS: Well, no, it tells you that, as he says in 4.10.1 in the last sentence, "The potential conflicts are depicted where each crossing of the cyclist path by a vehicle," the orange line, "or a pedestrian," the blue line, "is a potential conflict." HIS HONOUR: I understand that, but that's-- HEMMINGS: So it's showing one, two, three, four, five, six - about eight new conflicts. HIS HONOUR: But if you take, in the middle of this intersection, what appears to be the marking of the centre line, a dashed, lighter dark line-- HEMMINGS: Yes. Yes, I don't think that it is. I think that's just some underlying data. HIS HONOUR: No, but taking that as if it was the centre line for the purposes of this question. HEMMINGS: Yes. HIS HONOUR: If the present management of conflicts in that intersection says no vehicle turning north into Newland Street from Spring Street is permitted to pass that point until no pedestrians are on the pedestrian crossing where the blue arrow is marked, then there won't be a conflict with cyclists going along the cycleway because cars will have had to stop before they get to the cycleway in any event. Absent that knowledge, that is, how present conflicts are managed, it would seem to me that this document is potentially of little to no use or relevance. HEMMINGS: Thank you. If the only way-- HIS HONOUR: I'm telling you so that you can explain to me why I'm wrong-- HEMMINGS: Yes, and I'm about-- HIS HONOUR: --as undoubtedly you will in a very gentlemanly fashion explain to me why I am, yes. HEMMINGS: --politely do that. To go back to your earlier example, an intersection that's operating badly that's made worse might be interesting, and an intersection that's operating perfectly well which is made worse, but still one that doesn't become bad, may be very interesting. The focus of the assessment is simply to determine what the project or the activity adds, not as a comparison to, "It was bad before but now it's worse," but simply, what new conflicts are introduced. The Court then turns its mind to those new conflicts, again, as we tressed when we started, not to determine whether those conflicts are capable or incapable of resolution, but to determine for the purposes of 5.7 and the preparation of EIS and the full involvement of the public participation process, et cetera, that that entails, to say, well, where I now have a movement where my right-turn move, my left-turn movement, and my north and south movements will now for the first time have to manage-- HIS HONOUR: That makes the assumption that the existing management process for those intersections are incapable of managing the new cycleway potential conflicts without change. I don't have the information, do I? HEMMINGS: No, you don't, because you don't have any detail which tells you how the lights should be phased in order to deal with-- HIS HONOUR: No, but I don't have any information that tells me that they will the phasing will need to be changed, starting point. Before I even get to how the phasing might need to be changed, I have no information that tells me categorically, do I, that it will require to be changed? HEMMINGS: Yes, you are told that they anticipate it will be necessary to add a phase for the bicycles. You are told that, and there is somewhere - that's the 14 second. There is somewhere an identification that one of the phases for one of these intersections might be 14 seconds. But it's part of the discussion we were having earlier, that it's the, "Trust us, when we do the detailed design with the RMS, we'll get it right." It's fine to allow that to a later detail because it's probably the sort of matter that could be capable, if you were conditioning, for example, a normal development consent - it might be subject to consideration unless you were satisfied it couldn't be done. So there's no suggestion it can't be done. It's just a matter of considering each of those intersections. Is the Court otherwise going to be satisfied that the addition of the bicycle route can be described as something which is either individually or cumulatively likely to significantly affect the environment? I don't think I can express it any other way. I note your concern, and I just see my junior pulling something up. You will see, for example, in your discussion with me, part of what Mr Hollyoak has done in relation to his response to Mr McLaren's concern on this issue is to identify the various movements that are potentially affected so as to, in his view - sorry, his view is always coming to a conclusion that it's capable of being managed. I don't want to sound like a broken record. We accept that it might be capable of being managed. That's not the point for the 5.7 assessment.

[39]

Intersection of Oxford Street/Bronte Road/Grosvenor Street

This location is identified as "A" in the route plan earlier reproduced. Mr McLaren's identification of the deficiencies at this point are: • No bicycle signal phasing assessed; • Road safety audit by TTPP did not assess the proposed traffic signal phasing
Mr McLaren's identified risks were: • Unmanaged conflicts between cyclists and vehicles and cyclists and pedestrians without bicycle only traffic signals; • Potential increase in delays and reduced level of service.
Mr Hollyoak's response was that: • This intersection was modelled in the Bitzios Consulting Report 20/2/2018; • Provided as an addendum to the Traffic and Parking Report in the REF; • RMS would not approve signals where pedestrians and cyclists were not adequately protected.
The relevant portions of the Bitzios Consulting Report addressing this intersection are at folios 2004 and 2013/2014. The conclusion with respect to the revised layout for this intersection was set out at folio 215 in the following terms: When compared to the existing intersection layout, the upgrades will not impact the subject intersection. The following conclusions were made: • the upgraded intersection will have a similar overall level of service (LOS) compared with the base model, with both operating at a LOS B; • the upgraded Oxford Street east approach will operate at a LOS B in the PM peak and have a degree of saturation of 0.202, compared with a LOS C and 0.458 in the base model; • the upgraded intersection will have a reduced overall degree of saturation compared with the base model; and • the upgraded intersection will have a slightly longer overall average delay compared with the base model.
The revised layout was adopted by the General Manager by his adoption of the recommendations in the Final REF.
In addition, the comment concerning the role of the RMS and signal phasing timing, as earlier noted in my discussion of the Spring and Newland Streets intersection, is here equally applicable.
I am satisfied that, on the basis of this material, Mr McLaren's criticisms of this aspect of the route approved by the General Manager are incapable of contributing to a conclusion that the project is likely to significantly affect the environment.

[40]

Waste collection operations

In addition to addressing the two intersection matters discussed above, I also turn to the issue of waste collection operations nominated by Mr McLaren as being a matter of concern at multiple locations along Spring Street. He identifies this at the second of the multiple location issues in the Joint Expert Report summary (Annexure C) at folio 2387. Mr McLaren identifies the deficiency in the following terms: Waste collected kerbside and currently stored adjacent to the proposed cycleway.
The risk which he identifies is: Potential for collision with bin storage and waste collection operations.
Mr Hollyoak's comment with respect to this was in the following terms: This issue was raised in the Safety in Design Workshop (item 2.01). The suggested control was "Advise property owners and waste collection providers to keep bins clear of the 2.5m path travel zone. Advise property owners the placement of skip bins on the shared path is prohibited.
At 4.54 of his individual expert report, Mr Hollyoak expressed the opinion that: The proposed measures to address the risk to cyclists is [sic] adequate.
The recommendation referenced by Mr Hollyoak is in the report of the Safety in Design Workshop forming Appendix K to the Final REF report (Exhibit F at folio 2247). The recommendation is an entirely conventional one, one addressing what would ordinarily be regarded as a minor planning issue.
The Final REF report is referenced in the General Manager's Statement of Reasons at 4.13 as a document taken into account by him.
The General Manager's Statement of Reasons, in its concluding paragraph, notes that he has adopted all the recommendations in the Final REF. These recommendations are set out in Table 7.1 of the Final REF. On folio 1683, the final recommendation appearing under the heading "Safety", is: Implement long-term upkeep and usability mitigation measures into the maintenance and operational programming for the cycleway.
This, by necessary implication, references and incorporates the cited recommendation from the Safety in Design Workshop.
This matter, raised by Mr McLaren, cannot contribute to a conclusion that the proposed cycleway is likely to significantly affect the environment.

[47]

Resolution of Ground 3

There was no significant argument concerning this ground during the hearing and the matter can be addressed entirely on the basis of the written material reproduced above.
The LK Planning report dated 29 March 2019 (cited in the Council's submissions extracted above) was contained in the documents exhibited to the affidavit of Ms Cassidy. The report appears in Exhibit E, Tab 35, commencing at folio 1610. On folio 1616, an examination of the LK Planning report discloses that it addresses the proposition that: The route is uncertain as it relies on assumptions about the bus depot site.
The comment provided in response to this by the author of the report is in the following terms: Under the Waverley LEP, Council has a 3.0m wide portion of land that is subject to land acquisition immediately fronting Oxford Street at the Waverley Bus Depot. As such, Council could proceed with the cycleway as designed, by exercising its right on this land acquisition. Notwithstanding this is understood that agreement was reached between Waverley Council, TfNSW, STA, and RMS that an extension to the Waverley Bus Depot will be designed by Council and funded by TfNSW in order to compensate for this loss of land required to facilitate the cycleway. The route is therefore certain and is subject to one of two options for the transfer of land ownership.
During the course of the hearing, the position set out in the LK Planning report quoted above was not challenged. The consequence is that, whatever mechanism is to be used to establish the extension of the cycleway past the Waverley Bus Depot, there is no uncertainty that it will occur.
Although the mechanism might, at the time of the LK Panning report, have remained to be finalised, the ability to extend the cycleway and the route of that extension was not in question - merely which of the two methods on implementation along the adopted route would be utilised to achieve the outcome.
There is no basis for this complaint made by the Company.
Ground 3 is rejected.

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