Publications

The Court of Appeal has considered the rates exemption in respect of “land that belongs to a public benevolent institution or public charity and is used or occupied by the institution or charity for the purposes of the institution or charity.” (Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) s556(1)(h)). Six local councils denied CHL’s claim for […]

  The Biosecurity Act 2015 was recently assented to and once it commences it will mean more important changes for local government. The new legislation significantly reforms the management of pests, diseases, weeds and contaminants in NSW. Importantly for local government, the Biosecurity Act repeals the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 which established local councils (or

The Land and Environment Court recently handed down a decision which is of importance to all local councils and county councils who exercise water management functions. In Nash Bros Builders Pty Ltd v Riverina Water County Council (No. 2) [2015] NSWLEC 156, Local Government Legal acted for Riverina Water County Council (RWCC) in the proceedings

In our July 2014 Newsletter (click here) we reported on the Land and Environment Court’s (LEC) judgement of DeAngelis v Pepping [2014] NSWLEC 108. In De Angelis v Pepping [2015] NSWCA 236, the Court of Appeal overturned the LEC’s finding that , in signing an amendment to a Local Environmental Plan (“LEP Amendment”), Mr Pepping (the

In Ryan v The Minister for Planning [2015] NSWLEC 88 Sheahan J has confirmed that the same legal constraint applies to the LEP making process under current legislation as applied prior to the 2008 amendments to the plan making provisions of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1993. The constraint is that the plan as

In the case of M H Investments Aust Pty Ltd v Hurstville City Council [2015] NSWCATAP 180, the Appeal Panel of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) confirmed that a councils power to enter into arrangements in respect of the occupation of public roads is only as specifically allowed under the Roads Act 1993

One amendment to the EP&A Act not dealt with by the Planning Circular PS15-004 addresses the long standing issue concerning the potential for Councils to breach copyright by making information available to the public. The new s158(1A) provides that the Regulations may require a person who is entitled to copyright in a document to give

One of the changes to the EP&A Act is to replace “Authorised Persons” with “Investigation Officers”. The Amending Regulation (cl.39) includes savings and transitional provisions to the effect that persons who were authorised by a council as an “authorised person” when the legislation was amended are taken to be council investigation officers. A written authority

Significant reforms to the offences, penalties and enforcement regime under the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) have been made by the Environmental Planning & Assessment Amendment Act 2014 and associated Regulation (EP&A (Offences and Enforcement) Regulation 2015) (Amending Regulation). We considered these changes in our February 2015 Newsletter: Click here The changes

In the decision of Woollahra Municipal Council v Secure Parking Pty Ltd [2015] NSWSC 257 the Supreme Court has recently considered when a binding contract comes into existence in the context of a tender process under the Local Government Act 1993. The decision helps to clarify that, with appropriate conditions of tendering, and other tender