6 July 2012

A hearing date has been set for Strathfield Council’s legal action against the Australian Catholic University regarding breaches of consent at its Strathfield Campus.

The Land and Environment Court will hear Council’s case on 3 August. At the hearing, Council will present evidence regarding breaches of the ACU’s development consent relating to student numbers.

Council’s commencement of legal action came after an independent traffic count commissioned by Council clearly indicated a breach of consent by the university in regards to its student numbers.

Strathfield Mayor, Councillor Paul Barron, said the legal action would hopefully resolve once and for all the issue regarding student numbers.

“We can’t let the ACU continue to breach its consent; there is a good reason why it was given to them in the first place,” Cr Barron said.

“The increase in student numbers has had a detrimental impact on our local community. Our suburban residential area wasn’t built to support such a high level of student traffic. We’re determined to see justice being served.”

Current consent provided to the ACU restricts on-site numbers for the main campus to be no more than 510 students during the day and 247 during the night time.

As for the Edward Clancy campus, student numbers shall not exceed a maximum of 240 students at any given time.