Traspunt No. 7 Pty Ltd v Moreton Bay Regional Council

Traspunt No. 7 Pty Ltd sought to appeal a decision by the Moreton Bay Regional Council that imposed a condition requiring the dedication of an area of land for road. The appellant contended that the condition was not necessary, while the respondent maintained that it was required. The appeal was heard in the Queensland Planning and Environment Court. The central legal issue in this appeal was whether the condition imposed by the Council satisfied the statutory requirements for imposing a "necessary infrastructure condition" under s 128 of the Planning Act 2016. The appellant argued that the Local Government Infrastructure Plan (LGIP) identified adequate trunk infrastructure to service the subject premises, and therefore, the condition should not have been imposed. The respondent argued that the condition was necessary to service the premises and that the development infrastructure would service development consistent with the assumptions in the LGIP.

The Court found that Traspunt had not demonstrated that the requirements of s 128(2) of the Planning Act 2016 were satisfied, as the LGIP did not identify adequate trunk infrastructure to service the subject premises. Consequently, the Court did not need to address whether the development infrastructure the subject of condition 6 services development consistent with the assumptions in the LGIP as required by s 128(3) of the Planning Act 2016. The Court concluded that Traspunt had not discharged the onus of proving that the condition was not necessary. The appeal was dismissed, and the Council was directed to file and serve any application for costs, together with all supporting affidavit material, by 4pm on 7 October 2020. If an application was made, the matter would be mentioned for review at 9am on 14 October 2020.