Leagrove Pty Ltd v Gold Coast City Council

Leagrove Pty Ltd sought judicial review of a decision by the Gold Coast City Council to levy special charges in relation to a canal. The applicants sought disclosure of documents from the council relevant to the non-inclusion of certain costs in the Planning Scheme Policy and Priority Infrastructure Plan, which were the subject of the Recreation Charge. The council resisted disclosure on the grounds that there were no documents that evidenced the non-inclusion of the costs in the Policy and Plan. The council also resisted the disclosure of instructions to and communications with certain experts who had provided reports relied upon in the decision-making process. The applicants argued that the instructions were disclosable as a matter of course.

The court considered whether documents existed that evidenced the non-inclusion of the costs in the Policy and Plan, and whether the instructions to and communications with the experts were disclosable. The court found that there were no documents that evidenced the non-inclusion of the costs in the Policy and Plan and ordered the council to provide an affidavit from an officer of the council attesting to this fact. The court also found that the instructions to and communications with the experts were disclosable as a matter of course and ordered the council to disclose these documents.

The orders of the court were that the council shall file and serve an affidavit attesting to the non-existence of documents relevant to the non-inclusion of the costs in the Policy and Plan, and that the council shall disclose the instructions to and communications with the experts Cardno Lawson Treloar, John Wood Consultancy Services and CB Richard Ellis.