Land and Environment Court of NSW

Development appeals - Preparing for the first directions hearing

The Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB) requires the parties to the appeal to take certain steps before the first directions hearing, as follows.

Who Description
RESPONDENT CONSENT AUTHORITY

File statement of facts and contentions

For a development appeal, the respondent consent authority is to file in the Court and serve on the applicant a statement of facts and contentions. The statement is to comply with the requirements in Schedule B (DOC , 33.0 KB) of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB). The Court has produced a worked example of a statement of facts and contentions (DOC , 152.5 KB) to provide assistance to consent authorities preparing the statement. The statement of facts and contentions is to be filed and served by 4.00pm on the third last working day before the first directions hearing (paragraph 18 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB)).

APPLICANT

File statement of facts and contentions

For a development appeal in respect of the imposition of conditions, or an objector appeal, the applicant for development consent or the objector is to file in the Court and serve on the other parties a statement of facts and contentions. The statement is to comply with the requirements in Schedule C (DOC , 33.5 KB) of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB). The statement is to be filed and served by 4.00 pm on the third last working day before the first directions hearing (paragraph 19 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB)).

RESPONDENT CONSENT AUTHORITY

Provide access to documents

The consent authority, within 14 days of receiving a request from the applicant, is to provide the applicant with access to the documents relevant to the development application and its decision (paragraph 17 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB)).

BOTH

Decide whether the case is suitable for a conciliation

Unless a good reason is given as to why the case is not suitable for a conciliation, it will be listed for a conciliation conference (paragraph 32 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB))

BOTH

Consider whether expert evidence is needed

Depending on the issues in the case, you may wish to rely on expert evidence, such as the opinion of a town planner or an engineer. If the parties are seeking a hearing date, and you want to rely on expert evidence, you need to apply for directions to rely on expert evidence (paragraph 24 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB))

BOTH

Complete info sheet

If the parties are seeking a hearing date and want to rely on expert evidence at the hearing, they are required to complete an information sheet in the form of Schedule F (DOC , 56.0 KB) to the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB).

BOTH

Discuss and agree on directions

The parties are to discuss and agree upon the directions which the Court should make at the first directions hearing.   These directions should be based on the usual directions in the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB):

If the parties do not agree, each party should prepare their own version of the directions they propose (paragraph 35 of the Practice Note (PDF , 150.9 KB)).

Last updated:

08 May 2023

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