NSW Government to appeal landmark decision for land acquisition

After a long running David-Goliath battle to prevent the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) acquiring a development site held by residential developer Desane, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled in favour of the developer.

Despite this landmark victory, the RMS have announced their plans to appeal the decision, continuing the fight to compulsory take over the inner-west Sydney location for construction of the WestConnex motorway.

In a letter on behalf of the RMS, addressed to Desane’s lawyers Levitt Robinson Solicitors, the NSW Crown Solicitor's Office advised that,

"His Honour's judgment causes significant uncertainty for a large number of pending and future acquisitions of land."

Evidence came to light as the case moved from the Land and Environment Court to the Supreme, that the NSW government sought to compulsory acquire the Desane site, even though it did not have direct plans to use it for the WestConnex project.

"If a land owner compulsorily to be dispossessed is entitled to know precisely what the land is needed for a public purpose, that entitlement must stem from elsewhere," Justice Hammerschlag said in his judgment earlier this month.

The judge decreed that the Proposed Acquisition Notice (PAN) was of no statutory effect because it failed to "state the public purpose for which the property is to be acquired".

Late last week the chairman of Desane, John Sheehan, issued this response.

"On behalf of our company and its mum-and-dad shareholders, I am deeply disappointed that following the comprehensive judgment, RMS have not heeded the advice of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, when she publicly stated that the RMS needed to respect what the court had decided and she expected them to move forward in a positive way."

The NSW government had originally offered Desane $21.5 million for the site, however the developer has claimed the site to be worth upwards of $100 million, due to the site’s development potential. John Sheehan had said that they would continue plans for a 200-apartment development on the site.