What has happened?
In Tamworth Regional Council v Barr Property and Planning Pty Ltd [2025] NSWLEC 110, Chief Judge Preston set aside a Commissioner's approval of a large digital advertising sign on the Tamworth Square Shopping Centre. The Commissioner had misread two key definitions in the State signage controls.
Context
Chapter 3 of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Industry and Employment) 2021 (SEPP) regulates advertising signs. It imposes special requirements on:
a "roof or sky advertisement", being an advertisement "displayed on, or erected on or above, the parapet or eaves of a building". Among other things, consent requires a development control plan based on an advertising design analysis; and
a "wall advertisement", being one "painted on or fixed flat to the wall of a building", which is subject to size, projection and other limits.
The proposed sign sat mostly on the wall but extended partly up the parapet. The Commissioner found that it was neither type of advertisement and granted consent.
The decision
The Chief Judge held that the Commissioner misconstrued both definitions:
In "displayed on" the parapet, "on" simply means in contact with a surface, as in "the picture on the wall". A sign that extends partly onto the parapet is displayed on it, and so is a roof or sky advertisement.
The Commissioner also misconstrued "fixed flat" in the definition of wall advertisement.
As no development control plan of the required kind was in force, consent could not be granted for a roof or sky advertisement. The matter was sent back to the Commissioner. The developer may amend the sign's size or location, argue that the relevant requirements can be varied under cl 4.6, or argue that the sign is not a wall advertisement on the correct construction.
How will this affect you?
Even a small encroachment onto a parapet can turn a wall sign into a roof or sky advertisement, with much stricter requirements.
Signage proposals should be designed with the SEPP definitions in mind from the outset.
Some SEPP signage requirements may be development standards capable of variation, which remains to be tested.
Further information
For further information please contact Darren Bick, Director, on +61 416 167 556 or darren.bick@bicksteele.com.au.