The Court held that the highest and best use of a 440ha aluminium smelter site was as potential industrial development land under s 6A(1) of the Valuation of Land Act 1916 (NSW), rather than its existing use as a smelter under s 6A(2), because the expert valuer's 75% uplift adjustment for continuing smelter use was not materially supported by market evidence and the Court was unable to determine an appropriate uplift on the evidence before it. The Court preferred the more cautious town planning evidence on developable area (200.3ha) given overlapping drinking water catchment and ecological constraints, and determined a locational adjustment of -5% (rather than -40% or -2.5%) between comparable sales at Black Hill and the subject land at Tomago, finding that while Tomago was marginally inferior, the 40% discount was excessive and not supported by the paired sales analysis when Beresfield sales were properly excluded. The land value was determined at $52,000,000, confirming the Valuer-General's determination, with the appeal dismissed as the appellant failed to discharge its onus of proof.
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