Land and Environment Court Approves Revised Concept Proposal, West Culburra (Sealark Pty Ltd v IPC)

On 1 December 2021, the NSW Land and Environment Court (LEC) released its decision on the appeal by Sealark Pty Ltd against the Independent Planning Commission’s refusal of the West Culburra Concept Proposal (State Significant Development subdivision). The LEC approved the State Significant Development Application (SSD 3846) as amended, subject to the conditions.

The LEC’s decision is available online at Sealark Pty Limited v Independent Planning Commission of NSW [2021] NSWLEC 1500 - NSW Caselaw. The consent can be accessed via the link to ‘Annexure A’ at the end of the page.

The approved concept proposal was reached through a s34 Conciliation agreement between the parties. Note: Council was not party to the litigation.

The approved concept proposal is a staged mixed-use development comprising up to:

• Town Centre – a maximum of 9,743 m² of mixed-use lots; 45 integrated housing dwellings; 33,991 m² of medium density residential lots
• Industrial – a maximum of 32,901 m² of industrial lots
• Residential – a maximum of 244 low density residential lots.

The LEC approval is non-operational – it does not permit any construction or operation of any development on the site. All physical works and each stage of the Concept Proposal is to be subject to future development applications to be assessed by Council (Condition A3).

Enquiries regarding the Courts approval should be directed to DPIE’s Major Projects team. Contact details for this project are provided on the NSW Planning Portal.

The implications of the LEC’s decision on the future zoning of the land that is the subject of the broader planning proposal (rezoning) will be considered in due course.