Stockland Development Pty Limited v Sunshine Coast Regional Council & Ors

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

Queensland Planning and Environment Court

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

23/07/2020

LITIGATION TYPE

Project Approval - Adaptation

SUBJECT MATTER

Water

REVIEW TYPE

Judicial review

SUMMARY

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT – APPEAL – appeal against refusal of a development application for a Variation Request and a Development Permit to Reconfigure a Lot to create a residential community featuring a large pumped saltwater lake

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT – ASSESSMENT – compliance with the planning scheme – whether appellant has discharged the onus of demonstrating adverse ecological impacts can be adequately mitigated by the imposition of lawful conditions attaching to subsequent development approvals – whether the proposed development complies with the planning scheme

Given the uncertainties in terms of weather events currently being experienced as a consequence of climate change, the utilisation of the most normal period of the past 120 years of data is a questionable benchmark. Furthermore, in circumstances where only increases in rainfall, but not periods of drought have been taken into account, I am not persuaded that the model is sufficiently rigorous or accurate to provide a sound basis for a hypothetical engineering solution to both recharge the central wetland with freshwater, and protect it from the deadly intrusion of groundwater salinity.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Stockland Development Pty Limited v Sunshine Coast Regional Council & Ors [2022] QPEC 30