One of the fundamental assumptions underpinning the
interpretation of development approvals is that ambiguity in an
approval should be construed in favour of the approval holder. A
recent High Court authority seems to have chartered a course away
from this previously settled principle.
The Status Quo
In the 1970 New South Wales Supreme Court decision of Ryde
Municipal Council v Royal Ryde Homes &
Anor,1Else-Mitchell J commented, in interpreting a town
planning consent with ambiguous conditions, that:
'I therefore think it sound to say that the legal
qualities a consent possesses, or which flow from a consent are so
important that care should be taken to ensure that consents are
framed in clear terms and conditions are specified with certainty.
Any lack of clarity or certainty is the responsibility of
the council and it must take the consequences of any failure to
specify accurately or in detail what is consented to as well as any
conditions to which a consent
