THE council is unlikely to recover thousands of dollars in court costs from a quarry proponent.
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The company, Figtree Reserve Trust Pty Ltd, challenged Council’s refusal of its Tiyces Lane basalt quarry plan in the NSW Land and Environment Court in 2013.
While the court upheld the refusal and awarded costs to Council, the $42,000 bill has gone unpaid. The company was placed under external administration last year.
“We’ve been talking to the liquidator and let them know that money was owed to us but I understand there are no assets to be sold to cover Council’s costs,” general manager Warwick Bennett said.
It has not stopped a related entity, Argyle (NSW) Pty Ltd, from relodging the quarry project, this time to the Joint Regional Planning Panel.
In September, 2011 councillors refused Figtree’s development application to establish a basalt quarry at 288 Tiyces Lane, 14km north of Goulburn. They did so on the basis there was “insufficient information” to allow “a full and proper assessment.”
Scores of nearby residents objected on the grounds of potential noise and dust and what they maintained were discrepancies in the DA. Others argued it was a designated development which should be considered by Southern Regional Planning Panel, not Council.
Figtree Reserve mounted legal action following the refusal. In turn, Council argued the 12- month timeframe for an appeal had lapsed.
The company countered that it hadn’t received the notice of refusal until October, 2012 and it had been incorrectly sent to a related entity, Millerview Constructions Pty Ltd. That company was placed in liquidation in 2008 and its main asset, Marian Vale Estate at Towrang, subsequently sold as part of the process.
Justice Nicola Pain found that while the notice was incorrectly addressed to that company, it did not render the refusal invalid.
“The usual rule in Class 1 proceedings is that each party pays its own costs unless it is fair and reasonable to do otherwise,” Justice Pain said at the time.
“I consider the applicant should pay the Council’s costs…”
Despite the apparent lack of assets, councillors at last Tuesday’s council meeting decided to send the notice of claim for the $42,000 to the liquidator.
Mr Bennett said he was aware Peter Miller, who was a former director of Millerview Constructions Pty Ltd, also had a link to Figtree Reserve Pty Ltd.
“Council is fully aware he has an association but we’re unsure of what that was,” he said.
Mr Miller told the Post in 2013 he was a former director of Figtree Reserve Pty Ltd but was then acting as a consultant.