The Anglican Dioceses has won approval in the Land and Environment Court to subdivide St Andrew's Church land at Mayfield that would allow for part of the site to be sold.
The Anglican Church of Australia lodged subdivision plans with City of Newcastle in March 2022 to separate the church, two dwellings, a driveway and car park from two parishes and a former cemetery at 31A Church Street.
The application was approved by the court on May 9.
Documents lodged with the council said the parishes and former cemetery land were "superfluous" to the needs of the church and rectory and subdivision would allow the site to be sold.
The dioceses later filed an appeal in the Land and Environment Court against the deemed refusal of the application.
The council argued subdividing the land would de-couple the church and cemetery - breaking the historical association between the two and causing unacceptable heritage impact.
The City further opposed the plan due to technical aspects that would arise, including access to stormwater drainage and car parking.
The parking issue was resolved through a car park management plan, while the court imposed easements to provide for stormwater maintenance and repair.
In terms of heritage, Commissioner of the Court Tim Horton said in his judgement that connection between the cemetery and church was broken with the removal of headstones as early as 1950, followed by subdivision and sale of land that included the presbytery and parts of the cemetery, where social housing was developed in the 1970's.
Before the court appeal, the council referred the application to Heritage NSW, which said it would not provide comment as the site is not state heritage listed and is not in the vicinity of any site listed.
The church itself is listed in the State Heritage Inventory, but the entry does not reference the cemetery. The Commissioner also said human remains were not proposed to be affected or disturbed by the application.
"I do not accept that the subdivision imposes any effect upon the heritage significance of the site at all," the Commissioner said in his judgement.
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