Stubberfield v Brisbane City Council

In the High Court of Australia, Justices Deane, Toohey, and McHugh considered two applications for special leave to appeal concerning planning matters. The applicants were John Richard Stubberfield against the Brisbane City Council, and Stubberfield against Malcolm Victor Newing, and also Stubberfield against the Redland Shire Council and Paradise Grove Pty Ltd.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether these planning cases raised a fundamental question of general principle, which is the threshold requirement for the High Court to grant special leave to appeal.

The Court reasoned that it has consistently held that special leave to appeal in planning cases will only be granted if the matter involves a fundamental question of general principle, as established in previous decisions such as *Courtney Hill Pty Ltd v South Australian Planning Commission*. In this instance, the Court found that the appeals would not involve such a question of general principle, but rather would depend on their own particular facts.

Consequently, the applications for special leave to appeal were refused in both cases.