In July, the NCA lodged a class four action against developer Cowman Stoddart Pty Ltd and Shoalhaven City Council with the NSW Land and Environment court over an eco lodge approved for Nerringillah Creek near Bendalong.

On November 2, after numerous hearings, the developer submitted to the court its decision to “surrender the entire application”, NCA vice-president Peter Hudson said.

“For the NCA this represented a complete victory in that the DA would be annulled and the Sydney-based developer would need to rethink what alternatives he was going to pursue in order to make money from his purchase of the 10-hectare cow paddock,” Mr Hudson said.

RELATED:

Mr Hudson said that despite the great outcome for members of the NCA, who predominately live in Bendalong and Manyana, some bitterness remained.

“Despite the enormous cost in hours and anxiety in submitting a legal challenge the downside is that SCC [Shoalhaven City Council] will have learned nothing from this event,” Mr Hudson said. 

“Although the NCA has communicated with its supporting councillors about the outcome, there is no formal mechanism by which all responsible departments learn from their failings.

“This was a judicial matter and council staff clearly made errors and incorrectly advised councillors about the proposal.”

In January, council confirmed planning staff’s recommendation that an ecotourist lodge, function centre and primitive camping be approved for a 10-hectare lot in the Nerrindillah Valley surrounded by the Conjola National Park.

The proposed development would permit up to 60 people to stay overnight.

The site is a used cow paddock surrounded by other rural land holders and has no direct access to the National Park, Mr Hudson said. 

Following council’s deferred approval for the DA the Nerringillah precinct was alarmed that such a poorly planned proposal on a site that was clearly inadequate to meet the rigours for eco tourism would set a new low benchmark for future possible applications, Mr Hudson said.

Before proceeding to the main hearing the NCA, with more than 100 members, was advised it needed to secure a Protective Costs Order (PCO) determination so that in the event of losing, costs were limited to avoid having to heavily tax its membership to cover legal payouts. 

The critical issue facing the NCA was that of public interest. The group researched other likely developments around NSW and sourced similar proposals in Kangaroo Valley, Berry, Jambaroo, Lillydale and Port Stevens. 

All of these proposals entailed developers exploiting loopholes in the state planning legislation, Mr Hudson said. Using this data, and coupled to the three grounds for jurisdictional error made by council’s planning staff, the PCO was endorsed by the Land and Environment Court on October 10 for costs to be paid by the defendant.

“All the indications pointed to the NCA having a reasonable chance in winning its case in the main proceedings,” Mr Hudson said.

Mr Hudson hoped more local groups would be inspired by their court case outcome.