A five-storey block of 34 units in Attadale has been approved after the state administrative tribunal ordered mediation between the applicant and a local authority that had rejected the application.

The Melville development assessments panel had found the application only had five per cent open space when the usual requirement is 25 per cent.

Gavin Constructions appealed the DAP’s rejection to the SAT.

Following mediation the DAP’s only elected member present, Cr Clive Robartson, still voted against the proposal but the body’s three government-appointed members Charles Johnson, Rory O’Brien and Luigi D’Alessandro voted for it.

by DAVID BELL