Kala Developments Pty Ltd v Surf Coast Shire Council

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

03/12/2010

LITIGATION TYPE

Project Approval - Adaptation

SUBJECT MATTER

Coastal hazard

REVIEW TYPE

Merits review

SUMMARY

The proceeding concerned an application to amend a permit issued at the direction of the Tribunal, relating to the development of various shops, restaurants and dwellings in Anglesea. The question before the Tribunal was whether a settlement between the developers and various objectors, which was not agreed upon by all of the objectors, could be used to facilitate the Tribunal making final orders in relation to the permit. The Tribunal held that the requirements of natural justice required that all the objectors be given an opportunity to be heard on the merits of the proposed amendments to the permit, particularly in relation to the coastal hazard vulnerability assessment, which had not been part of the original permit application.

The second judgment stemmed from previous proceedings in relation to the amendment of a planning permit, granted for a development consisting of shops, restaurants and dwellings in Anglesea. The dispute concerned a claim by the respondents that the amendments did not adequately address concerns over climate change impacts. After discussing the relevant approach to implementing the precautionary principle, the Tribunal held that the engineering response offered by the applicants, relating to the concerns raised over climate change impacts and flooding, was satisfactory. The Tribunal acknowledged that it may not be the most ideal outcome, but indicated that the best/ideal outcome was not the test under the planning scheme.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Kala Developments Pty Ltd v Surf Coast Shire Council [2010] VCAT 2106
Kala Developments Pty Ltd v Surf Coast Shire Council [2011] VCAT 513