At its meeting on November 9, Cr Garrard used his lord mayoral casting vote to refuse a Catholic Education Office (CEO) request to modify the development consent for the site.

If the request were accepted, the CEO would be liable only for a $36,000 contribution for a new primary school instead of paying the 1 per cent Section 94A contribution of $410,000 on the overall $41million development.

A practising Catholic, Cr Garrard said that acceding to the CEO application would not only be ``unfair'', but would also remove certainty from the developer contribution process.

``It's a little over the top,'' he said. ``Council went to great lengths to develop a Section 94 contributions plan.

``If we begin to tamper on an individual basis, it will make it more complex and will adversely affect the integrity of the plan we have. It would not give anyone certainty.

``The plan is there for a purpose and I can't blame anyone for wanting to get out of paying $410,000 and pay $36,000 instead.

``But my responsibility is to the wider community. It's unfair to everyone and could open the floodgates.''

Cr Garrard said the CEO could appeal against the decision in the Land and Environment Court if it felt it had been unfairly judged.

The CEO executive director of schools, Greg Whitby, said Catholic education had been ``good corporate citizens'' in Parramatta for more than 150 years and had contributed to local infrastructure on the Westmead site over the 60 years since the schools were established.

``We are hopeful that common sense will prevail and that we can reach a positive outcome with the council,'' he said.

``We are not shirking our responsibilities ... and will pay if required, but we believe that we are not adding to the burden on the community and have already contributed substantially to the greater Parramatta region for 150 years.''

A motion from Deputy Lord Mayor, Chiang Lim, and Crs Tony Issa and John Chedid to rescind the decision will be debated at the council's next meeting on November 23.