Where a planning authority modifies a draft planning scheme amendment after the period for public representations has closed, and the modification is not reasonably foreseeable and affects the rights and interests of a small and identifiable group of persons, the common law duty of procedural fairness requires the authority to notify those persons and afford them an opportunity to make submissions before finalising the modification. The principle from Botany Bay City Council — that no individual or body can claim procedural fairness where a decision affects the public at large — does not apply where the affected group is small and identifiable.
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