By Rachel Eddie
A local council in Melbourne’s east wants its compensation more than doubled to $64 million for the demolition of expansive tennis courts that were compulsorily acquired to make way for the state’s over-budget North East Link.
Boroondara Tennis Centre had 23 courts that were used by 45,000 people a year before it closed in 2022 for the road project. The cost of the North East Link, which is set to open in 2028, has blown out to about $26 billion.
The Boroondara tennis courts were demolished to make way for the North East Link.Credit: Joe Armao
The state government offered the City of Boroondara $30.1 million last year. But last month, the council launched Supreme Court action against the Department of Transport and Planning, arguing the 3.7 hectare site in Balwyn North was undervalued and other losses were not counted.
The council says the state should pay at least $64 million.
Maddocks Lawyers, acting for the council, claimed in court documents that the land alone was worth $58 million, based on a property evaluation by Charter Keck Cramer. A second property valuation for the council by O’Briens put it at $55.4 million.
With the loss of other council assets, employment entitlements to former staff at the tennis centre, legal fees, valuation fees and solatium – compensation for intangible disadvantages as a result of the acquisition – the council argued it is owed more than double what it was offered.
The Boroondara Tennis Centre in 2017.Credit: Eddie Jim
But the government had relied on the Valuer-General Victoria’s determination that the land was valued at $30 million.
The Department of Transport and Planning previously found the cost of paying out long service leave and annual leave entitlements to former staff of the tennis centre was not suffered “as a natural, direct and reasonable consequence of the divestment of the land”.
“Rather, liability for payment of [the] entitlements to the former staff of the Boroondara Tennis Centre existed as a consequence of the employment arrangements entered into with the former staff members,” the department said in a December 2023 letter.
The claim for a solatium payment was also rejected. The parties will meet for a directions hearing later this month.
The 3.7-hectare property had 23 tennis courts, a carpark, a clubhouse, a cafe, offices, a bungalow and open grass areas and bush. It also included a telecommunication tower that raised about $50,000 in rent a year for the council.
The new $26.7 million Monash Tennis Centre, with 18 courts, opened this year in Glen Waverley – jointly funded by the state government and Monash Council – to replace the Boroondara courts.
The 10-kilometre toll road, connecting the M80 Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway through Bulleen, was initially budgeted at $10 billion and then reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed in December that the cost estimate was now $26 billion.
The cost of land acquisitions is included in the overall budget.
North East Link executive program director Jim Waller said the project was the biggest ever investment in Melbourne’s north-east. “It will take 15,000 trucks off local roads and transform the way people move around Melbourne,” he said.
The council declined to comment while the matter is before the courts.
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