Our Team

Alyce John­son

Senior Associate
Prop­er­ty, Plan­ning & Projects

I spe­cialise in envi­ron­ment and plan­ning law and have exten­sive expe­ri­ence in pro­vid­ing advice to gov­ern­ment and pri­vate clients in the Land and Envi­ron­ment Court of NSW on appeals against refusals of devel­op­ment appli­ca­tions, com­pul­so­ry acqui­si­tion pro­ceed­ings, judi­cial review pro­ceed­ings, crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tions and civ­il enforce­ment mat­ters. I reg­u­lar­ly pro­vide sem­i­nars to Coun­cils on the Bio­di­ver­si­ty Con­ser­va­tion Act 2016 and The Local Land Ser­vices Act 2013. I have also giv­en sem­i­nars to Coun­cils on draft­ing and enforc­ing orders issued under the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning & Assess­ment Act 1979 and the Pro­tec­tion of the Envi­ron­ment Oper­a­tions Act 1979 and the evi­dence required for prosecutions.

Expe­ri­ence

Advis­ing local author­i­ties and gov­ern­ment cor­po­ra­tions in rela­tion to:

  • the avail­able enforce­ment options under the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment Act 1979 and the Pro­tec­tion of the Envi­ron­ment Oper­a­tions Act 1997 and for non-com­pli­ance with devel­op­ment con­sent and unlaw­ful build­ing work
  • the valid­i­ty of orders and notices issued by Council
  • approvals required by Coun­cil for upgrade works to Council’s city accommodation
  • the options avail­able to appeal against deemed refusal of devel­op­ment application
  • vol­un­tary plan­ning agreements
  • the valid­i­ty of con­di­tions of con­sent and options to chal­lenge con­di­tions of consent
  • whether a pro­posed mod­i­fi­ca­tion appli­ca­tion meets the ​“sub­stan­tial­ly the same” test under sec­tion 96 of the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment Act 1979
  • whether devel­op­ment can be car­ried out under the State Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning Pol­i­cy (Exempt and Com­ply­ing Devel­op­ment Codes) 2008 as exempt or com­ply­ing development
  • breach­es of the Her­itage Act 1977
  • defend­ing an applicant’s motion
  • Class 1 pro­ceed­ings against Council’s refusal/​deemed refusal to grant devel­op­ment con­sent for res­i­den­tial flat build­ings, sub­di­vi­sion, shop top hous­ing, seniors liv­ing and build­ing certificates.

Exper­tise

  • Envi­ron­ment and plan­ning law

Roles, mem­ber­ships and education

  • Grad­u­ate Diplo­ma of Legal Prac­tice, Col­lege of Law, Syd­ney, 2012
  • Bach­e­lor of Law, Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Syd­ney, 2012
  • Bach­e­lor of Arts, Uni­ver­si­ty of West­ern Syd­ney, 2012
  • LLB Mas­ters Lev­el Exchange Pro­gram, 2010

Publications