I recieved the email bellow yesterday:

As many of you will be aware, Council's Development Assessment Unit met on Tuesday night to consider Council's report on the Go Ape proposal for a high ropes adventure course in Bidjigal Reserve.
At that meeting, the DAU refused consent for the development. Hooray!!! No Councillors requested that the decision be referred to a full Council meeting, so the decision of the DAU stands.
The Agenda of the meeting, which contains the report, can be found on the Council web site. However, a cut-down version, containing only the item relating to Go Ape, can be found here:

Development Assessment Unit meeting 2 Feb 2010 - Agenda - Item 4

It's worth having a look at; the phrases "does not comply" and "this issue warrants refusal of the application" appear a lot and look pretty good :D
The minutes of the meeting are not yet up on the Council web site, but I'll post them on the Save Bidjigal Reserve web site once they appear.
Go Ape and those who lodged submissions will receive a letter advising of the decision to refuse the application. The decision should also appear in the Council notices which are published in the local papers.
We would love to be shouting, "We won!", but we're not quite there yet. Go Ape have twelve months (!) in which to lodge an appeal with the Land & Environment Court.
The report considered at the DAU meeting gives this timetable of events after the Conciliation Conference:

24/09/2009 Letter sent to applicant summarising all issues relating to the development application and requesting withdrawal of application.

6/11/2009 Letter received from applicant partly responding to issues
raised and requesting Council staff continue to participate in negotiation with a view to supporting the development application.

19/11/2009 Letter sent to applicant advising that, on balance, the site is not suitable for development proposed and requesting withdrawal of application within 14 days.

24/11/2009 Advice received from applicant that application would not be withdrawn and requesting determination of the application in its current form.

Given that Go Ape ignored Council advice and requested "determination of the application in its current form", it's very difficult to see that L&E would look favourably on any appeal. But who knows?
So, we have a definite victory with Council, but we're only drinking cheap bubbly at this stage ;)
Thank you to everyone who submitted objections (230 of them!), attended meetings, emailed/phoned Councillors, photocopied, letterbox-dropped, gathered signatures, and gave assistance and support in myriad other ways!!! A special thanks to Michael, Peter and Tony who spoke so well on our behalf at the Conciliation Conference.
Pass on the news to interested friends and neighbours who are not on the mailing list. And if we have your name wrong or someone complains that they didn't get a copy of this email ... sorry! Transcribing from the petition sheets wasn't always easy.

Cheers
Di

Bidjigal Reserve Action Group
http://savebidjigalreserve.net/
info@savebidjigalreserve.net