The “Fascinating” Legal Battle Over A Marrickville Salon

The NSW Land and Environment Court has granted approval for a hair and beauty salon in Sydney’s inner west in what is being called a “big win” for the beauty and wellness industry.

Salon Lane, a company that rents workspaces for independent beauty and wellness professionals, wanted to fit out a commercial and industrial building opposite the Marrickville Metro shopping centre for a salon space.

The Inner West council prohibited the change, citing the Inner West Local Environmental Plan, which said business or office spaces in the area, were only permitted if the council was “satisfied … the development will be used for creative purposes”.

NSW Land and Environment Court Commissioner Joanne Gray had to decide whether a hair and beauty salon would classify as a business “used for creative purposes”.

“From the mohawk to the ‘short back and sides’, a person’s hairstyle can range from an expression of personality to a demonstration of conformity,” Gray said in her opening statements.

“[Over] history, particular hairstyles have been representative of a class or occupation, symbolic of a social movement or a requirement of a religious persuasion.”

Creative arguments

The Inner West council asserted that  “although some hairstyles are a form of creative expression, hairdressing is often a purely utilitarian exercise that forms part of standard personal grooming”.

However, Gray decided hairdressing “involves skilful design”, as did a beauty salon, saying “the design is in the transformation of the face and other body parts”.

The area is zoned as industrial, with the council arguing the proposal would defy the objectives of the zoning, but Gray said that salon wouldn’t be out of character because “in the vicinity of other non-industrial uses, such as a children’s play centre and a gym”.

Maysaa Parrino, a partner at Project Lawyers in Sydney, who acted for the applicant, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the case was “fascinating”.

“Proving that hairdressing was a creative purpose involved our client’s senior counsel taking the court on a history lesson traversing the different eras, cultures and the rich history of hairdressing and fashion throughout Roman and Greek times, Ancient Egypt and modern times,” she said.