Scots College: Sydney private school locked in legal battle with millionaire neighbour Ian Joye

A millionaire property developer has launched legal action against an elite Sydney private school over a development application.

The luxurious Georgian mansion Barford Estate is at the centre of a legal battle between a millionaire developer and an elite private school.

The legal skirmish between a prestigious Sydney eastern suburbs private school and a millionaire has hit court for the first time on Friday.

The Scots College in Bellevue Hill is facing a courtroom showdown with its property developer neighbour Ian Joye after the elite boys’ school was given the go ahead to increase its student numbers.

Woollahra Council papers revealed that a planning decision would allow the school to undertake major works involving the demolition of its tennis courts for a carpark and bump its student cap from 1120 to 1520.

The council minutes also state that Mr Joye, who owns the luxurious Barford mansion on Victoria Rd, has lodged an appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Scots College in Bellevue Hill sought a development application to demolish and rebuild the tennis courts in order to excavate an underground carpark.

In 2014 he valued the seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom Georgian-style mansion – which features its own tennis court, cinema and gym – at $60; however, it did not sell.

It has previously hosted the likes of Kanye West, Jay Z, Bono, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie and was in 2007 rented for $12,000 a week.

In October 2019, the college lodged a development application with the council for the works, which sought approval for its tennis courts to be knocked down and an 80-space single-level carpark to be built.

The school was seeking to then build four tennis courts on top of the underground carpark.

Ian and Maggie Joye have appealed to the NSW Land and Environment Court seeking to block the school’s development application.

Because the proposed works are on an educational institution and cost more than $5m, the school needed approval from the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel (SECPP).

Council staff recommended that it be refused because of “traffic and parking impacts” and “adverse amenity impacts on the locality” associated with the increase in student numbers.

However, at a meeting in March this year, the SECPP gave approval for the school’s development application.

Ian Joye is the owner of Barford Estate, which neighbours Scots College.

The likes of Jay Z and Kanye West have previously stayed at Barford Estate.

The council sought legal advice that indicated the panel’s decision would open the door for the school to increase its student cap without going ahead with the carpark works.

The advice stated: “In essence, the approval of the student numbers was given unconditionally.

“There also does not appear to be anything which requires the carpark to be built at any particular point in time thereafter.”

The school said in a statement this week that it was not seeking to increase student numbers.

But Mr Joye has filed an appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court, arguing the SECPP’s decision is flawed and invalid.

He argued that the development consent should be set aside.

The matter was mentioned on Friday in a directions hearing where short orders were made, and it was adjourned for two weeks.

Originally published as Scots College: Sydney private school locked in legal battle with millionaire neighbour Ian Joye