The court case was brought by applicant G Warnes against Muswellbrook Shire Council earlier this year after the council refused the application for a 402-unit ‘hostel-style’ accommodation complex.

Senior Commissioner Tim Moore handed down the judgement on Wednesday, refusing the development application on the basis that under the Muswellbrook Local Environment Plan 1985, the development

did not need to be located close

to town.

The matter was heard by the court during June and July.

A number of objections had been made against the planned worker’s camp development, however the commissioner found that

traffic, noise and lighting impacts

from the proposed development were not significant enough

to warrant refusal of the

development and also concluded that odour impacts from the adjoining sewerage treatment plant could not be used to justify refusal.

In his judgement, the Commissioner said he had

concluded “that the proposed

development neither requires

a location close to a town or,

if I am wrong and it does

require a location close to a town,

it does not require a location close

to the town of Muswellbrook”

and he said therefore the

proposed development should be rejected.