Brisbane man wins five-year fight to move giant LED billboard outside Red Hill home

It took five years but this man has finally won his fight to move a four-storey LED billboard outside his house.

Richard Leahy in front of billboard that was outside his rental property for five years. It was finally moved, on June 26, next to the Black Rabbit coffee cart. Picture: Adam Head

It went all the way up to Australia’s highest court and took five years, but a Brisbane lawyer has finally won his David and Goliath fight against Brisbane City Council over a giant billboard.

The saga began one day in 2020 when Richard Leahy was conducting a rental inspection of his quaint Red Hill worker’s cottage on busy Musgrave Rd.

He was taken aback to find a four-storey high LED billboard had been erected only metres from his cottage, blocking its sweeping views of the CBD.

What happened next was reminiscent of cult movie The Castle — a five-year legal bunfight that went to the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and finally the High Court.

Even after council withdrew its application to the High Court for special leave, which should have spelled the end of the billboard, it remained for another two years.

Richard Leahy in front of billboard that was outside his rental. It is now next to the Black Rabbit coffee cart.

The billboard in its original spot, just in front of Mr Leahy’s cottage. Picture: Google Maps

The deadlock was resolved only after council recently approved a development application to move the sign about 25m down the road, outside the popular Black Rabbit Espresso coffee cart.

Mr Leahy’s drama finally ended on Thursday night when cranes were called in to move the 5.3m wide, 11.3m high billboard, operated by outdoor signage company GSM.

“The first I knew about it was when I went to do an inspection. The tenants hadn’t told me and it was suddenly just there,’’ he said.

“It’s still pretty close, but I’m not going to fight City Hall any more.

“I looked at challenging the new application but it was too difficult.

“It has always been illegal. The court ruled they (council) should have sought my views.’’

Mr Leahy would not reveal how much the titanic struggle had cost him.

The giant billboard being moved into its new position on Thursday night.

However council was forced to pay most of his legal bills, which at one point included fees for a King’s Counsel (KC) and junior counsel.

The cost to ratepayers was unknown but likely to have run to tens of thousands of dollars.

Council used its in-house legal team and also engaged its own KC and junior counsel.

Council declined to comment.

In 2022 the Brisbane Supreme Court found council had failed to afford Mr Leahy procedural fairness and failed to take into account mandatory considerations including the interruption of views from neighbouring properties.

The court found in favour of Mr Leahy, ordering the council set aside its approval of the billboard construction and that the approval be remitted for further consideration.

But the council refused to concede defeat, instead lodging an appeal against that decision in the Court of Appeal.

In June, 2023, the court dismissed that appeal, upholding the Supreme Court’s decision and ordering council to pay Mr Leahy’s costs.

Council then sought special leave to have the case heard in the High Court but later withdrew its application.

Black Rabbit owner Peter Coulam was philosophical about the new billboard, which had forced him to move his coffee van further back from its prominent roadside spot in front of bridal shop White Lily Couture.

He said he had used the billboard in previous years to advertise his business.

Mr Coulam hoped the concrete podium could be trimmed, allowing his coffee van to move closer to the roadside.

Originally published as Brisbane man wins five-year fight to move giant LED billboard outside Red Hill home