Blue Mountains {city} Council’s corporatised cultural fixation on default developments as being just ‘sheds‘ shows frankly just how much of a bubble zone the joint is in.

One’s unnecessary property development dispute drama here with an adjoining neighbour and his invasive backyard sauna on our fence line began on Monday 8th December 2025.

This photo below is of the imposing ‘sauna shed’ part-built on our backyard fence line that suddenly confronted us as we walked out our back door to our laundry.   Construction of the new sauna had started with no notice to neighbours (your’s truly taking photo) nor Council.   Oddly, construction was underway leading up to the Christmas holidays when Council would be closed for some weeks – think ideal timing for the WWII Japanese invasion – authorities uncontactable, as all being on extended leave! 

 

 

Sounds like megalopolis over-developed Sydney spreading throughout the State of New South Wales by stealth.

Enter, Council’s Development ‘Senior Investigations Officer’ Ms Judy Le Breton that month to assess one’s concerns (NOT).

Well, a few weeks out from Christmas and governmental bureaucratic lockdown (aka ‘bugger the Japanese/these days Chinese threat’) one receives a quip rejection without explanation from Ms Le Breton thus:

“Dear Mr Ridd,

I have inspected the structure being built at the rear of [XXXXXX] Street, Katoomba. I am satisfied it meets the provision of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 (‘Exempt SEPP’), and no action is to be taken by Council.

These codes relate to development that can be undertaken without requiring the consent of Council. I have addressed your noise concerns with the owner of [XXXXXX] Street. I am satisfied with the noise mitigation measures that will be employed, however should noise become an issue, you are able to seek a Noise Abatement Order via the Local Court.

The structure being built, whilst within a Heritage Conservation Area, is not a Heritage Item. This means that many of the Exempt SEPP development provisions (including those that apply to the structure being built at [XXXXXX] Street) can be applied without seeking the approval of Council.

Assessing compliance with state legislation is a major part of my job.  The legislation largely determines what is allowed and what is not. 

In relation to your Airbnb concerns, the Department of Fair Trading changed the rules around short term rental accommodation and it is no longer regulated by Council.

Regards,

Judy Le Breton | Senior Investigations Officer  |  BMCC …”

 

 

We note the cultural use of abbreviations and applied acronyms of invented terms by government bureaucrats.   

We refer to this as ‘Le Breton Cop Out‘.  Nothing to see here!

Council feedback above is that new builds in Heritage Conservation Areas are not heritage items per se.   They are what Council reckons are ‘exempt’ so nothing to see here by Council.  Propertt owners, developers and builders can go for their lives.  Be creative! These codes relate to development that can be undertaken without requiring the consent of Council.

As for noise from the sauna etc, should noise become an issue, you are able to seek a Noise Abatement Order via the Local Court.  So get a solicitor.  Nothing to see here!

As for the Airbnb invasion pandemic, don’t ring Council, instead ring the Department of Fair Trading since the NSW Government changed the rules around short term rental accommodation and it is no longer regulated by Council.  [What does NSW Fair Trading know about Airbnb? 

“The enforcement of planning laws (fire safety (including overcrowding), planning approvals, parking or ongoing noise) remains with local council, and criminal laws (urgent noise issues) remain with police.  The code of conduct does not change the existing complaint handling processes of local council and police.” 

Source: ^https://www.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-construction/short-term-rental-accommodation)

 

So, the only thing the NSW Government’s Department of Fair Trading deals with in respect to Airbnb’s is not regulation, but just handing complaints about them; otherwise it’s a free for all.  Perhaps NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street Sydney and in the Chifley Tower, where the bureaucrats indulge on high, could sublet their offices to Airbnb as well?  Rules for some?

In the state of New South Wales, land use planning standards and laws have become so lax over recent years, that property owners and developers can more or less get away with murder.

 

 

Almost any development now is deemed ‘exempt’, as in – just go for it!  Nothing to see here!   Government has reckoned well it just can’t be arsed getting involved in anything less than what it considers to be ‘State Significant Development’ and of course its give such an acronym: ‘SSD’.   Of course it has.  Governments just have to have an acronym for everything government.  It’s so only them know what they are talking about.

Let’s explain the policy.  It’s termed ‘exempt development’ (State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes 2008) (bureaucratic acronym ‘SEPP’) –  aka ‘nothing to see here!’ 

 

Garden Sheds?

Well, you can construct a ‘small’ garden shed on your property without council approval, provided it meets the (NSW) SEPP guidelines (Council interpretation permitted).

In theory, (on paper at least ) it must:

• Be no larger than 20 square metres.
• Have a height of no more than 3 metres (above ground level at least).
• Be located at least 900 mm from any boundary.
• This allows homeowners to add practical storage solutions without lengthy approval processes.

Yeah but, Council will ignore such conditions anyway, as Ms Le Breton just has in our case.

So (to quote) “You do  not need planning or building approval if your proposal complies with the exempt development standards“.   No of course in lay terms ‘Environmental’ and ‘Planning’ together are an oxymoron.  ‘Exempt’ translates to ‘Council couldn’t give a crap’.

So, in the case of wanting to build a ‘shed’ on your property, the NSW Government’s standards don’t exist and the rules likewise.  Your new ‘shed’ could be anything you wish it to be, so long as you refer to it as ‘shed’ mind you.  This relates to other  terms like ‘cabanas’, ‘cubby houses’, ‘ferneries’, ‘garden sheds’, ‘gazebos’,  and ‘greenhouses’, etc.  See attached formal rules of the NSW Government.

And so local Council considers all this to be a total cop out for them – in your backyard there’s is nothing for us to see here!

 

 

So, what is a bloody ‘shed’ then anyway?   

Well,  the Oxford Dictionary defines a “shed” primarily as a small, simple building for storage (like a garden shed) or a larger industrial structure (like a railway shed); as a verb, it means to lose or cast off naturally (skin, hair, leaves), to get rid of something unwanted (jobs, clothes), or to let something fall or flow (tears, blood, light).

Yeah but wait, there’s more…

As a Noun:

• “A small building: A simple structure, often wooden, for storing tools, bikes, or garden items (e.g., “bicycle shed,” “tool shed”).
  A large building: A big, basic structure for industrial or transport purposes, like an engine shed or a factory shed.
  (Australasian English): An open-sided building for shearing sheep or milking cows.  (Now you’re talking!)
• As a Verb (transitive):
  To lose naturally: For animals (hair, skin) or plants (leaves).
  To get rid of: To discard something no longer needed, like jobs or excess weight.
  To release/flow: To let light, tears, or blood flow or spill out (e.g., “shed light on the subject,” “shed tears”).

Examples:

“The snake shed its skin.” (verb: lose naturally)
“They keep the lawnmower in the garden shed.” (noun: building)
“The company (Council) decided to shed some staff.” (verb: get rid of)”

 

So a ‘shed’ is rather open to various interpretations.   If it is subject to Le Breton Cop Out interpretation, then it can be more than ‘one step beyond‘ the original for sure.  So push yourself harder, to go beyond what is expected, dudes!! 

We posit some creative options:

 

(1)   A wee ‘exempt’ shed?

 

 

(2)   An ‘exempt’ shed for whatever purpose…

 

 

(3)   An ‘exempt’ larger shed  

 

(4)   An ‘exempt’ party cabana

 

 

(5)   An ‘exempt’ backyard sauna

 

(6)   ‘Exempt’ habitable sheds

 

Now, this example at 39 Warialda Street, Katoomba, NSW 2780 for decades had a proper house on the site with a land size of 1,402 m².   The house contained 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 parking space and a big Aussie backyard.  It was pretty much typical traditional Katoomba residential, just like the photo below shows the red tiled houses on the right hand side.  However, in 2015 it sold for $408,000 to a property developer.

Yet, Blue Mountains {city} Council then approved the house’s demolition and with no regards for amenity approved six ‘swing-a-rat’ ‘studio’ townhouses be built  on  the same site.  Check out the aerial photo below (the grey ColourBond rooves on the left).   According to RealEstate.com, in 2026 median property price in Katoomba over the last year for units is $585,000.  So this developer/owner of at 39 Warialda Street is currently sitting on $3.5 million ($585,000 x 6) of real estate, thanks to Council.   Is he/she known to Council perhaps, or even on Council, perhaps?

We term it Mountains money grab and comes with ‘bugger the village amenity’ greedy {city} attitude.

 

 

(7)   ‘Exempt’ shipping container habitable ‘shed’ living

 

Not exactly Blue Mountains lifestyle living, nor in any definition compliant with respecting Mountains amenity.  Yet, Council let this shipping container inspired monstrosity on what was rural  bushland become ’43 Loftus Street’ in Katoomba an go through its planning approval. 

 

 

This lot had been a remnant of original bushland within The Gully Catchment above Katoomba Falls – and supposedly a heritage a naturally protected area.   But Council over decades had allowed it to be destroyed by ‘a thousand cuts’ over time by land use development down to a narrow pointy verge-type plot intersecting Neale Street and Loftus Street in Katoomba.  Worse, was that a huge healthy mature rare Eucalyptus oreades gum tree (dating probably over  300 years old – a measured girth of 5 metres DBH*) was killed in order to make way for this shitty shipping container build.  Then just five years later , the owner sold up and went elsewhere – typical ‘robber-baron’ style anthropocentric personal greed and abuse of native habitat.

 

 

* [NOTE:  Scientifically, the standard height for measuring tree girth (circumference) is commonly referred to as Diameter at Breast Height (DBH).  This measurement is taken at a consistent height above the ground to ensure comparable and repeatable data.]

And if you reckon that this ‘shipping container’ inspired build is a shocker, then consider the recent introduction of ‘pod’ accommodation in the {city} of Sydney.

 

 

(8)   An ‘exempt’ Lithgow Prison style toilet block

 

 

(9)   Council’s Civic Depression Centre in Katoomba – yep, ‘exempt’

 

 

(10)   Katoomba Falls Kiosk Shed ‘revitalisation’ – ‘exempt’

 

 

(11)   Another Council ‘exempt’ million dollar toilet block

 

 

(12)   Council’s industrial scale Aquatic Centre – ‘exempt’

• Katoomba, in The Gully, where the Congregational church once stood (TBA)

 

(13)   Skyway money invasion – ‘exempted’

 

 

(14)   Council’s never used bike trail

• TBA

 

(15)   Council chambers – monolithic isolate – ‘self exempted’

 

 

(16)   Barangaroo ‘swinging twister’ 

• State exempted for a donor
• TBA

 

(17)  Other ‘exempt’ examples

 

 

We’ve since learned that local Blue Mountains (City) Council have a development compliance ‘team’ so supposedly ensure that property developments meet the rules of where they are situated – like in a residential area, bushfire zone, on a steep slope, next to or within native habitat, or just bulldozed and rebuild! 

Sydney attitude, Sydney mandate – state wide!   So, Council’s message to would-be cowboy developers is clear:

 

Hey developers, go for it!   No rules, just do what ya want!   Nothing to see here by Council!

 

 

Alice’s second adventure takes her through the looking-glass to a place even curiouser than Wonderland.  She finds herself caught up in the great looking-glass chess game and sets off to become a queen.  It isn’t as easy as she expects: at every step she is hindered by nonsense characters who crop up and insist on reciting poems. Some of these poems, such as ‘The Walrus and The Carpenter’ and ‘Jabberwocky’, are as famous as the Alice stories themselves. 

Le Breton has taken it one step beyond…

 

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