The owner of a NSW fun park has been ordered to dismantle dozens of rides after a court found some were "materially unsafe" and were built without council approval.

After retiring from his real estate career, John Grant began working on his passion project in Foxground on the NSW south coast.

He invested more than $10 million into the whimsical fun park known as Granties Maze — an eclectic collection of more than 80 rides and attractions centred around the eponymous maze.

But as the number of attractions grew, so did concerns about safety.

The NSW Land and Environment Court has delivered a judgement after a three-year-long legal saga involving Mr Grant and Kiama Municipal Council.

The court ordered that Mr Grant dismantle 27 rides within three months after accepting evidence that some attractions were unsafe and were installed without development consent.

Mr Grant said he planned to challenge the decision, saying some rides had not been approved by the council but denying that the rides were not safe.

"I am very disappointed; I will appeal this thing," he said.

'Heartwarming' park not practical

Mr Grant opened the maze in 1985 but it closed soon after.

The 78-year-old launched a series of unsuccessful bids with Kiama's council to expand the scope of the tourist attraction.

The park reopened to the public in 2015.

Mr Grant began legal action against the council in 2021 to stop council staff from entering his property to remove a number of "high-risk" rides including an archery range and a giant slide.

The court rejected Mr Grant's application before the council applied for approval to dismantle the rides. 

The council commissioned a report by theme park expert Clinton Ford who found Granties Maze was a "novel and heartwarming concept" but the "practical reality" was the business did not have the capacity to deliver its services in line with industry standards.

The council claimed "the majority of the devices are not in acceptable operating condition" with some that were "materially unsafe".

It also claimed the business had inadequate measures to ensure visitors were safe.

The council submitted public safety was a legitimate concern.

Justice John Robson found Mr Grant had been given ample opportunity to obtain development consent for his rides and he had discretely installed numerous attractions without development consent.

"I accept Mr Ford's evidence and council's submissions that the operation of Granties Maze is insufficiently managed, operated, and maintained to offer a basic family amusement park," he found.

Rides not operating

The court ordered Mr Grant to dismantle the archery range, remote control boats, a ninja wall, a giant slide, and a bumper car circuit.

Mr Grant denied the rides were unsafe and said SafeWork NSW had carried out numerous inspections of his property and he had complied with its advice.

"There are so many things they said I must do," he said.

"I have put fences around the dam, I have put gates around the archery range because SafeWork said you must do that.

Mr Grant said the business struggled to make money and added new attractions to generate interest.

"I have to attract people," he said.

"People who do the maze won't come back for years so you have to do other attractions."

Mr Grant said the rides the council had identified as unsafe were not in operation.

Other rides at Granties Maze remained operational, including the maze itself, the spider web, the bomber ride, and donkey rides.

Kiama Municipal Council welcomed the judgement saying it provided the community a strong message regarding public safety.

The council acknowledged the professionalism of its staff who had been involved in the matter "over many years".