Pursuant to S.17(ea) of the Land and Environment Court Act appeals under S.92C of the Act are
assigned to class I of the jurisdiction of the Court.
Besides what might be broadly described as the "merit" issues arising on the appeal, the applicant
seeks to argue that the fauna impact statement does not comply with the Act, specifically with the
requirements of S. 92D( 1)( c) and S.92D(2). I will return to this issue later in my reasons.
BACKGROUND
For some years the Council has perceived the need for a new road link across Bomaderry Creek
between the expanding residential areas of North Nowra and the Princes Highway. It is said that
congestion at the intersection of Illaroo Road and the Princes Highway, just north of the bridge
over the Shoalhaven River, is becoming chronic and the intersection approaching finite capacity.
A new link will relieve this situation and defer highway upgrading for around five years. I accept
Council's position that a new road link is justified. Various options were discussed in a Council
Situation Paper issued in December 1990.
Following this paper, in or around August 1991, Council made a development application to
itself, as consent authority, to permit the construction of an East/West road and bridge over the
Bornaderry creek linking North Nowra to the Princes Highway. The route of the link was from
the intersection of Pitt Street and Illaroo Road (in the west) to Nerang Road (to the east) and
joining the Princes Highway approximately 2 kilometers north of the Shoalhaven River. The
bridge crossing of the creek would be located in the vicinity of an existing weir and water
pipeline, and the road would approximately follow an electricity transmission line easement. The
application was accompanied by a review of environmental factors in two volumes prepared for
the Council by consultants, Mitchell McCotter & Associates.
The review of environmental factors discussed four potential alternative routes concluding that
the preferred route had clear overall benefits as it provided a necessary level of traffic service, a
positive benefit to cost ratio and "acceptable environmental impacts". The document made an
assessment of the alternatives on economic, environmental and social or community factors and
ranked each option from A to D. For the purposes of this case it is probably sufficient to
concentrate on Council's preferred alignment and the northern alternative following West
Cambewarra Road from its intersection with Illaroo Road to the Princes Highway (or Moss Vale
Road). The review of environmental factors estimated the cost of this route at $1.1 million and
the preferred alternative at $1.8 million. The cost/ benefit analysis, however, was found to be
positive for the preferred route and slightly negative for the northern alternate route. The lengths
of each road varied, the proposed route being 1.9 kilometers and the northern alternative 1.6
kilometers.
Flora and fauna impact was assessed at a most favourable A rating for the West Cambewarra
Road link compared to a B for flora and C for fauna for the proposed road. Among the various
community factors assessed was "traffic flows". In this regard the preferred route was assessed as
A and the northern alternative route graded as C. The preferred route was said to provide
significant benefits in terms of vehicle travel time and cost savings. The northern option was seen
as non-cost effective because traffic would still be attracted to the Illaroo Road route to Nowra
Township.
The review of environmental factors described a number of diverse vegetation communities in the
area, particularly towards the Bomaderry Creek gorge. A number of rare plant species were
identified. For example, the Eucalyptus Iangleyi is occurring immediately to the North of the