Dunkeld Pet Hotel’s development application (DA) has twice been rejected by councillors, despite a recommendation from environment planning and building services director David Shaw to approve it, subject to 28 conditions.

Applicant Brendan McHugh had previously warned he was willing to take his case to the Land and Environment Court when he sought a review of the original decision to knock back his plans for a kennel on Marys Lane.

And yesterday he confirmed he was making good on that threat, saying council’s decision had been a political one, rather than based on the merits of the DA.

“We believe it’s politics, it can’t be anything else,” Mr McHugh said.

“If council’s professionals [staff] say it’s OK then it must be politics.

“We’ve met all the regulations and compliance issues.”

Mr McHugh commended council’s planning department staff for their assistance in ensuring the DA met appropriate regulations and compliance laws.

“David Shaw and the [council] planning department have been really helpful; he said the best way forward was to appeal,” he said.

“We think that the councillors have made a political decision, but we’ve done enough convincing and we’ve got all the answers from the [council] environment section to prove this [DA] is correct.”

Mr McHugh and his family moved from Sydney to Bathurst 14 months ago with plans to buy acreage and set up a pet boarding kennel.

Mr McHugh said he had since gone to considerable effort to meet every condition council and nearby residents had asked for, yet still the DA was not approved.

He said the decision to take the matter to the Land and Environment Court was not “taken lightly” due to the considerable expense his family now faces.

Mr McHugh said a neighbour, 1.45 kilometres from his property, wrote to council last August to say the business was “not in the public interest”.

In order to boost his case at court, Mr McHugh has created a petition asking for community support for the proposed business.

He said there were six petitions located in a number of businesses across Bathurst, but he did not want to reveal which businesses they were.

Dunkeld Pet Hotel’s DA is for a 24-dog kennel, along with a cattery for 20 animals and shelter for up to 20 other small animals.

When the DA last came before council in December, Cr Michael Coote warned his colleagues that the matter could go to court if they knocked it back.

“I would ask you all to pull out your wallets because this is going to the Land and Environment Court,” he said.

“Because we have had a few people jump up and down – as they’re fully entitled to – we are going to knock back a complying development.”

Residents’ concerns over noise, odour, sewage and traffic had plagued council since the DA first came to council in April 2014.