Waverley Council spared soaring legal bill over controversial Allianz Stadium litigation

After forking out $137,000 of ratepayer money over the litigation, Waverley Council has avoided an even bigger legal bill over its failed efforts to halt the stadium redevelopment.

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Waverley Council has avoided a huge costs blowout over its failed legal bid to halt the redevelopment of Allianz Stadium, with a court ordering it will only have to foot its own legal bill for the action.

The judgment handed down by Justice Nicola Pain in the Land and Environment Court last week ends months of uncertainty about what council would have to fork out over the court effort that fell flat in the lead up to the March state election.

Earlier this year the Wentworth Courier revealed Waverley Council spent $137,000 of ratepayer money on the litigation, with some figures in council fearing the eventual bill could soar past $500,000 should it be ordered to pay the costs of the State Government.

The wreckers were called in after the Land and Environment Court through out a bid by Local Democracy Matters ahead of the state election earlier this year. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts.

That figure, obtained under Freedom of Information laws and then revealed in council documents, lead to council claiming its release “could promote open discussion of whether council acted responsibly when it decided to start legal proceedings in relation to the Allianz Stadium”.

In the same documents, council attributed its total $254,000 increase in legal fees on the action.

Former mayor John Wakefield had previously said the proceedings were launched because of the potential impact on residents in Waverley, despite the project falling within the City of Sydney.

Its joint partner in the action Local Democracy Matters has also been spared an even bigger legal bill, with Justice Pain ordering it too would only have to pay its own costs.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Mayor John Wakefield and Randwick Mayor Kathy Neilson had all joined the public effort to stop the redevelopment earlier this year.

The court had heard that only one member of the advocacy group had an address in Centennial Park, where the project is located.

In arguing for its costs to be covered by the losing parties, the State Government said the proceedings were brought about for political purposes by LDM through the Greens.

Waverley Council submitted it conducted its case “entirely proper and reasonable” and “did not persist with points lacking merit”.

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