Coorabell resident John Anderson, aka Fast Buck$, has won a longstanding fight against Byron Shire Council which had prevented him from developing a six-dwelling multiple occupancy (MO) on his Newes Road property.

The Land and Environment Court ruled last week that council’s development consent for the MO, granted in July 1990, had not lapsed.

Council chose not to fight the case in court, formally withdrawing from proceedings, while Mr Anderson represented himself.

In his judgment, Justice Peter Biscoe said approval for the MO had not lapsed as Mr Anderson and his contractor had carried out a substantial part of the work as required under the consent conditions.

The consent required that an all-weather internal gravel road, turning circle or manoeuvring space and necessary drainage be provided for each house site, to council specifications, within two years of approval being given.

Tried for mediation

Mr Anderson welcomed the decision this week, telling The Echo Council could have ‘spared us both a lot of time, money and hassle’ by ‘simply giving me a piece of paper telling me yes, it’s valid’.

Late last year, he said he tried to have the case mediated, in light of a Council action against him over half a dozen ‘alleged cabins’ on his 100-acre property which council had deemed illegal dwellings, but as yet no further action has been taken.

No further action

‘So it was logical we mediate as I wanted the six-dwelling MO and they wanted to close down my accommodation, so there was plenty of room for compromise there, but they fobbed me off instead,’ he said.

Mr Anderson said he had spent over $1,000 and lots of time on the case but he would not apply for costs against Council.

‘But I’m angry that staff kept telling councillors before this case went ahead that they had no power to change their mind that consent for the MO had lapsed, and that only a court could do it, which was not correct,’ he said. ‘Why couldn’t Council change its mind? The rules had changed after the 2005 NSW Court of Appeal ruling which lowered the bar as to what constituted commencement  of work and, as a result, lots of cases across NSW were decided by councils writing to people to say they agreed the consent was still valid, after initially saying it was invalid.’

‘This should have happened in my case.’

– Luis Feliu