Stamford Land unit wins appeal in Australia for development consent

STAMFORD Property Services, a unit of Stamford Land, has won an appeal against a firm that objected to the Mainboard-listed company's application for consent to redevelop a site. 

Stamford had applied for development consent to redevelop its site at 93 Macquarie St in Sydney, Australia, where its Sir Stamford at Circular Quay hotel is located. 

The objecting firm, Mulpha Australia, started legal proceedings in the Land and Environment Court where it sought judicial review of the actions of the Central Sydney Planning Committee (CSPC) and the Heritage Council. 

The primary judge had ruled in favour of Mulpha and ordered that the CSPC be prohibited from determining Stamford's development application pending a lawful decision from the Heritage Council. 

The judge then ordered the Heritage Council to provide the Sydney City Council a lawful decision, including whether or not it will grant an approval. 

With Stamford's appeal, the court overturned the primary judge's decision. As such, the Heritage Council's approval was not required for the rest of the development, other than the site and curtilage of the Old Health Department Building. 

The Court of Appeal ordered that Mulpha pay Stamford's costs for the proceedings in both courts, estimated to be more than A$320,000 (S$298,660). Stamford's application for development consent is now before the Sydney City Council.

Shares of Stamford Land closed at S$0.49 on Friday, up S$0.005.