The Court dismissed a motion to have a jurisdictional question determined separately and prior to the substantive hearing in a high hedge dispute under Part 2A of the Trees (Disputes Between Neighbours) Act 2006 (NSW). The Court held that the factual disputes — including the height of the vegetation, whether standalone trees formed part of a hedge, and the relevant date for measuring the 2.5 metre jurisdictional threshold — were intertwined with the merits and would require substantially the same evidence as a full hearing, such that separate determination would not save costs and risked duplication.
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