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Noosa Shire Council enforcement notices for unlawful vegetation clearing held to be defective

In April 2019, Noosa Shire Council issued multiple enforcement notices to the joint owners of a large rural parcel alleging unlawful vegetation clearing being a development offence under the Planning Act 2016 (Qld) (PA). All of the recipients appealed against the enforcement notices to the Planning and Environment Court which in Serratore & Anor v […]

Councillor roles in development matters

The conduct of councillors in development matters and their dealings with developers and submitters is often controversial and can pose corruption and misconduct risks. To assist councillors and others manage this engagement, the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) has released guidance. The OIA is an independent statutory body responsible for assessing, investigating and prosecuting […]

Coastal Adaption Planning

Like other coastal councils in Queensland, the City of Gold Coast is focused on managing coastal adaption. To this end, Council’s Coast Adaption Plan (CAP) is the latest step from Council and is intended to guide future investigations and actions. Background The City of Gold Coast is one of Australia’s most iconic coastal cities with […]

Developer loses appeal against refusal for overdevelopment of land for retirement village

In GTH Resorts No 5 Pty Ltd v Gold Coast City Council [2020] QPEC 2020, the Planning and Environment Court was required to determine whether a proposed retirement village was an overdevelopment of the land and, if so, were there relevant grounds to justify approval despite the overdevelopment. The land the subject of the proposed […]

Landowners win against council in rating categorisation dispute

In a major win for the owners of two Bunnings warehouses in Ipswich, the Court of Appeal has held that the Ipswich City Council wrongly categorised their properties for rating purposes. The decision highlights the financial impact, as well as the difficulties, that can arise in applying differential rating categories to land. The long running […]

What weight should be given to a draft Planning Scheme or Planning Scheme Amendment?

A proposed amendment to a planning scheme may have drastic consequences for the development potential of land, particularly where land is proposed to be ‘down zoned’ or a more restrictive overlay constraint is proposed. There are a number of key issues which need careful consideration in terms of appropriately timing development in light of a […]

COVID-19 | Managing infrastructure charges and currency periods

Gadens understands the immediate and multi-faceted pressures placed on companies dealing with the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these troubling circumstances, Gadens are sharing, across a variety of practice areas, some of our thoughts on practical measures which can be taken to relieve some of the pressure. Our Planning and Environment Team has […]

The importance of owner’s consent

Where the applicant for a development application is not the owner of the land to which the application applies, the application is required to be supported by the written consent of the owner of the land to the application applies in a range of circumstances. The need for, and consequences of, not providing owner’s consent […]

Changing development approvals – don’t take the Court’s discretion for granted

The lack of unit sales associated with a development to be constructed in accordance with a development permit for 20 multiple dwelling units and a shopping complex (Development Approval), forced a Sunshine Coast developer to reconsider its options for the delivery of its project. To address financing and project delivery issues, the developer sought to amend […]

New koala protections for South East Queensland

Koala populations have been in long-term decline in South East Queensland with estimates that koala numbers have decreased by 50-80 percent in key habitat areas over the last 20 years. To address this situation, the Queensland Government released the draft Koala Conservation Strategy (KCS) in December 2019 and has followed this up with a range […]

Council pays the price for taking enforcement action against the wrong party

Background Gold Coast City Council (Council) issued an enforcement notice to the owner of a lot in a community title scheme (CTS). The lot adjoins a buffer area, which is common property of the CTS (the Buffer Area), and borders Saltwater Creek in Helensvale. Pursuant to the community management statement for the CTS, the lot […]

You’re Out of Time … Start Again

In Supreme Renovators Pty Ltd v Logan City Council [2019] QPEC 63 the applicant attempted to convince the Planning and Environment Court (Court) that there were “sufficient grounds” to extend the timeframe for filing an appeal out of time. The applicant missed its appeal period by approximately two months and one week. The applicant sought two […]