A grassroots community group has won the right to have its last-minute case against the NSW government's looming demolition of Sydney's Allianz Stadium heard in court.
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With early demolition works under way, Local Democracy Matters have secured an expedited hearing in the NSW Land and Environment Court this month over the controversial stadium plan.
The decision sets the stage for a courtroom showdown over part of the government's $730 million ambition to knock down and rebuild the stadium, as local councils consider joining the legal fight.
Local Democracy Matters, which successfully campaigned against the merger of Waverley and Randwick councils, says the government "rushed" its application process for the demolition.
They will argue that the stadium plan had insufficient public consultation, failed to satisfy required design excellence provisions and ignored contaminated soil on the site.
The court heard that Lendlease had already started "soft stripping" the stadium, with about half of the structure's chairs removed. Internal work to utilities and restaurants was also under way.
Lawyers for both parties agreed the matter warranted "a speedy trial", with hard demolition scheduled by the developer Lendlease for the end of February.
Local Democracy Matters is seeking a declaration that the consent for the demolition is invalid and of no effect. If its case is successful, the group wants the government to reverse the soft stripping that has started.
Justice Terry Sheahan set the matter down for a three-day hearing from February 20.
Outside court, Local Democracy Matters treasurer Chris Maltby said the case showed the community could hold the government to account. He said the planned demolition was a "terrible waste of money".
"We are saying that if you are going to carry out these processes you have to do them correctly," he said. "If the government's not complying with them then that sends a very bad message to everybody."
An Infrastructure NSW spokeswoman said the timeline for the stadium demolition had not changed.
She said progressive structural demolition of the stadium could not start until the final conditions for consent were met. That included a meeting of the project's community consultative committee, which has been scheduled for Thursday.
"Removal of the roof structure and external sides of the stadium is expected to commence from late February," the Infrastructure NSW spokeswoman said.
Councils in Sydney's eastern suburbs have voiced concerns that legal advice suggested the state government had unlawfully approved its controversial demolition of the stadium.
Waverley Council this week resolved to take similar legal action to the community group's case against the government. However, that vote is now subject to a rescission motion from Liberal councillors which will be debated as soon as this week.
The City of Sydney previously ruled out a court case due to the risk of significant costs arising from a lawsuit. Woollahra and Randwick councils had also decided not to pursue legal action.
But Woollahra Greens councillor Megan McEwin said outside court that she would urge councillors to join Waverley's legal action.
"The sad thing about this case is residents were forced to take action at their own cost because the council had failed to actually take action; we need to rectify that," she said.
Randwick's Greens councillors made a second attempt to get the council to join the court bid but their rescission motion was voted down this week.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday she was not worried about the threat of legal action.
"It's a democracy and people can exercise whatever rights they wish," she said. "(But) I'm absolutely confident that we've followed all the right processes and we're at this important point."
