Plans for major retail centre dead as messy court battle concludes
War waged through the legal system for two years over plans for a rival Smithfield retail centre has come to a conclusion.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A LONG-held dream of a Townsville developer to build a rival Smithfield retail centre has been crushed by a final court decision to disallow construction of the Smithfield Hub.
The Brisbane Planning and Environment Court on Tuesday found in favour of Cairns Regional Council in a planning war waged through the legal system over the past two years.
An appeal by Trinity Park Investments (TPI) and L’armonia against a decision by Cairns Regional Council in 2020 denying the rezoning of land to build the Smithfield Hub shopping centre was dismissed by Judge William Everson.
Judge Everson told the court at the centre of the dispute was the question of whether there was a need for the proposed development and if the proposed shops would compromise effective function of centres provided for in the CairnsPlan 2016 planning scheme.
Judge Everson said council “laboriously” outlined numerous code assessable benchmarks TPI had failed to comply with.
“The failure to comply with the relevant assessment benchmarks in this regard is such that the appeal must be dismissed,” he said.
“None of the other assessment benchmarks identified by (council) either of themselves or in combination would warrant refusal of the development application however, because they are either complied with or the noncompliance does not warrant refusal. Accordingly, I dismiss the appeal.”
The court decision underscores a four-way decade-long arm wrestle involving Cairns Regional Council, TPI, Smithfield Shopping Centre and the development arm of the Woolworths company, Fabcot.
In July 2020 councillors rejected plans to build the Smithfield Hub shopping centre – proposed for a former palm tree plantation near McGregor Rd and less than 2km from Smithfield Shopping Centre – based on a lack of need.
In a complicated shopping centre stoush former manager of Smithfield Shopping Centre Dexus and Trinity Park Investments opposed the development of Woolworths Trinity Beach when it got the green light from council in May 2020, a decision also the subject of court action.
TPI was previously granted permission to build at the Captain Cook Highway site and a lapsed approval was reapplied for in response to building permission for the Woolworths project granted by the planning court in May this year.
The TPI appeal of the 2020 council knock back was before the court this week.
Division 9 Councillor Brett Olds said he felt vindicated after the court sided with council planners.
“We are getting more shopping centres than people,” Cr Olds said.
“It’s a positive that council are making good decisions and are being backed up by the court.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Plans for major retail centre dead as messy court battle concludes
Emergency services called to spate of Far North incidents
Emergency services have been called to spate of incidents in the past 24-hours including a ute into a hotel on the Tablelands, a car into the ocean and multiple road crashes on Saturday morning.
MP welcomes council ‘finally stepping up’ on CBD crime
A Cairns MP has welcomed the council’s spending of millions on inner-CBD safety measures, saying the council was finally “stepping up to their responsibility in relation to inner-city security”.