Champions appeal falls flat

CHAMPIONS Quarry at Tucki Tucki yesterday lost the first of its legal actions against the Lismore City Council in the NSW Land and Environment Court.

The quarry, trading under the name of Reavill Farm, had asked the court to overrule the council’s decision not to retrospectively approve the construction of a number of noise and vegetation bunds that did not confirm to the original 2006 approval.

However, the court’s senior commissioner, Tim Moore, yesterday found that the completed works were so different in type and location from those initially approved that it was outside his jurisdiction.

“I was unable to conclude that the proposed modification, if approved, would result in a development that was in any way substantially the same as that which was originally approved,” he wrote in his judgement.

“As the quarry company has failed on the preliminary point relating to the jurisdictional permissibility, it is not appropriate for me to express any view on the substantive matter of merit of the proposal.”

Mr Moore then dismissed the appeal and refused to modify the development consent.

The owner of the Tucki Tucki quarry and former Lismore mayor Jeff Champion yesterday said the ruling came as no surprise and interpreted it to mean neither party had won.

Lismore City Council yesterday said it was ‘satisfied that the court has determined the modification application appropriately’.

The council is also defending action brought by Champions after it last year refused the proposed extension of the quarry. The hearing is due in October.