Gold Coast legal battle over future of Surfers Paradise’s Bruce Bishop carpark

A major legal battle involving the Gold Coast City Council is set to drag out, with city leaders warning that ratepayers will be forced to foot the eye-watering bill.

A BATTLE to prevent the controversial sale of the Bruce Bishop car park is set to drag into 2020.

The Save Surfers Paradise Inc (SSPI) group is suing the Gold Coast City Council to prevent the $48 million sale of the car park in the heart of the Glitter Strip.

Townsville court generic

But the council says it is fully prepared to fight the challenge and intends to collect more than $250,000 in legal fees it says ratepayers have had to fork out for the legal fight.

SSPI secretary Deborah Kelly said any suggestion the legal bills would be as high as $250,000 was “fake news”.

“We are expecting to have a hearing date by the end of the year,” she said.

“We are suing council and pre-trial preparations are underway.

Bruce Bishop carpark. Photo: Supplied

“This is a normal part of the process.”

The council in July last year sold the Surfers Paradise car park to Care Park and Far East Consortium for $48 million.

SSPI took action against the council in August but part of the case was struck out.

However the sale was halted in September when SSPI was granted special leave by the Queensland Attorney-General to continue its case against the council.

A rally protesting the sale of Bruce Bishop carpark. Photo: Andrew Potts

The court also ordered that SSPI would be forced to pay for court costs.

The group sent a confidential email to the council including a settlement offer, which it claimed would save up to $1.5 million in legal costs.

But city hall has no plans to relent in its pursuit of recovering costs of the legal battle.

“Suffice to say that the legal costs of responding to SSPI’s litigation against council has unfortunately been very substantial,” a council spokesman said.

The Bruce Bishop carpark in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Jerad Williams

“The cost order against SSPI provides for council’s legal costs to be recovered after the conclusion of the current litigation.

“Council continues to pursue all legal avenues available to it to resolve the litigation.”

Mayor Tom Tate said it would be “absolutely unfair” for ratepayers to bear the costs of litigation brought against it by a community group.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE GOLD COAST BULLETIN - JUST $1 FOR THE FIRST 28 DAYS

He said the sale of the car park would fund other projects.

“When the $48 million sale proceeds we can further improve community infrastructure and services across the city,” he said.

“The car park operator, who bought Bruce Bishop car park, wants to cut car parking costs, so this would be an immediate benefit for users.”