A controversial Skydive the Beach plan to build its new headquarters at North Wollongong’s Stuart Park has ground to a halt after a successful community-led legal challenge against the development.
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The skydiving company has been ordered to pay the majority of Protect Our Parks Incorporated’s (POPI) costs after the NSW Land and Environment Court this week moved to suspend the development’s consent and have the plan re-considered.
POPI – a group of about a dozen Wollongong members – first took legal action against Wollongong City Council and Skydive the Beach last year, challenging the council’s decision to grant permission for the new building.
In August, the court found the council’s public notification of the development consent was “defective”.
This was because public notices omitted a “significant and material element” – the plan to demolish the existing amenities block and the council’s works administration facility.
POP argued the development was prohibited in a public recreation area, and that the plan was not compatible with the Stuart Park plan of management.
In August, Justice Tim Moore rejected those grounds but upheld the argument that council notification was invalid.
The case returned to the Land and Environment Court this week, where Justice Moore made orders that require the re-notification and re-consideration of the development application by the council.
In suspending the development consent, Justice Moore outlined the terms needed to be “sufficiently detailed to ensure that the council’s processes … will be conducted in a fashion that is both transparent and is seen to be independent of those who had carriage, from within council’s staff, of the original assessment and determination process”.
Skydive the Beach was ordered to pay seven-eighths of of POP’s legal bill, while the council was directed to cover the remaining costs.
POPI spokesman John Riggall said: “The public interest must always be given priority over private profits on public lands.”
A spokesman for Skydive The Beach and Beyond said its legal team was “considering the decisions of the court”. The matter listed for mention on October 19.
The public interest must always be given priority over private profits on public lands
- Protect Our Parks Inc spokesman, John Riggall.