St Mary & Angels wins 156-place child care consent at Chester Hill

The Land and Environment Court granted development consent on 21 October 2026 for a 156-place child care centre at 118, 120 and 122 Gurney Road, Chester Hill, after Acting Commissioner C Swan upheld St Mary & Angels Pty Limited’s appeal against Canterbury-Bankstown Council’s deemed refusal of DA-1684/2023.

St Mary & Angels lodged DA-1684/2023 to consolidate the three lots, demolish the existing structures, remove identified trees and build a centre-based child care facility over a basement carpark. Canterbury-Bankstown Council did not determine the application inside the statutory period, which triggered the deemed-refusal appeal. The council went on to grant a deferred commencement consent on 10 October 2024, but the court still determined the appeal under section 8.11(3) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, since a deemed-refusal appeal can proceed even after a later actual determination.

Why it matters

The fight that remained by the time the matter reached Acting Commissioner Swan was narrow: a deferred commencement condition requiring St Mary & Angels to register a drainage easement through the neighbouring property at 124 Gurney Road before the consent could operate. That requirement became redundant because a separate Land and Environment Court judgment, between St Mary & Angels and the owners corporation at 124 Gurney Road, had already ordered the easement into existence. Acting Commissioner Swan said in the judgment: “The Easement Judgment removes the need for a deferred commencement condition requiring a drainage easement in this appeal.”

The remaining argument at the hearing was timing, not substance: whether registration of the easement had to happen before the construction certificate or could wait until the occupation certificate. Council agreed during the hearing to the later, occupation-certificate stage, clearing the only contested point and letting the consent issue outright rather than as a deferred commencement. It follows the court’s Warrawee flats consent for Celesteem on 14 October 2026, also a deemed-refusal appeal. The single community objection, from the owner of the adjoining 116 Gurney Road over rear garage access, driveway markings, fencing and access during construction, was resolved through swept path analysis and amended plans rather than a contest at hearing.

The numbers

The consolidated site exceeds the 450 sqm minimum lot size that applies under the local planning controls. The approved building reaches 8.7 metres against a 9-metre height limit, and its 888.7 sqm of gross floor area produces a floor space ratio of 0.33:1 against a 0.4:1 cap, leaving headroom under both development standards. The facility itself is approved for 156 child care places across the consolidated 118, 120 and 122 Gurney Road lots, with parking in a basement carpark rather than at grade.

What’s next

The court’s orders uphold the appeal and grant consent subject to the conditions set out in Annexure A, which carry the occupation-certificate timing for the drainage easement rather than the deferred commencement structure St Mary & Angels first faced. With the easement question settled by the related judgment and the single neighbour objection addressed through design changes, St Mary & Angels can proceed toward a construction certificate for the Chester Hill site without the condition that had held up the consent since the council’s 2024 deferred commencement decision. Canterbury-Bankstown Council, for its part, secures the occupation-certificate-stage registration it wanted without forcing a further deferred commencement fight over a drainage arrangement a separate court had already settled.