Eruv now only one pole away
KU-RING-GAI Council has celebrated the Land and Environment Court’s (LEC) decision that will prevent the completion of the St Ives eruv, despite LEC’s ruling not supporting council’s original judgement.
KU-RING-GAI Council has celebrated the Land and Environment Court’s (LEC) decision that will prevent the completion of the St Ives eruv, despite LEC’s ruling not supporting council’s original judgement.
The court was asked to determine the fate of 10 development applications and in nine cases found the council made an error.
It gave permission for the Northern Eruv Inc to erect nine poles on private land.
In the final and tenth development application, the LEC said it didn’t have the authority to overturn the decision because the pole was on public land.
An eruv is a thin wire that encircles an area to create a “fence” inside which Orthodox Jews can carry on Shabbat. The St Ives eruv is now on the cusp of completion with only one pole needed.
“This is a success on those aspects of the eruv that are on private land and is a step forward from where we were previously after council refused those applications,” the Northern Eruv committee said in a statement.
“This in effect reinforces our position that councillors should have taken the advice of council staff and approved the application from the outset,” the committee continued.
“The Northern Eruv and our legal team will need time to fully analyse the judgement and consider the options available to us. We do have a number of options that we are currently considering, both legal and otherwise.”
However, Ku-ring-gai Mayor Jennifer Anderson also hailed the LEC ruling as a triumph.
“While the decision will be disappointing to many people in Ku-ring-gai’s Jewish community, we needed to take into account the wider public interest,” the mayor said.
“The majority of residents objected to the proposal, with many concerned about the negative impact of visual clutter the additional structures would have on the streetscape.
“This was the major concern and not a religious or racial view.”
JOSHUA LEVI
The planned boundary of the eruv.
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