Lindsay Fox’s company fined for illegal grass lawn on the beach in front of his Portsea property
Billionaire truck tycoon Lindsay Fox has found himself in another run-in with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council — this time after he laid down turf over a protected 4600 sqm section of Portsea beach.
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Trucking tycoon Lindsay Fox has again been embroiled in a fracas over Peninsula planning laws, this time for illegally ripping up beachside vegetation and replacing it with a massive lawn.
Fox’s company, W Everton Park Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to comply with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council’s planning scheme at Dromana Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
It was third time unlucky for the goods-moving magnate, who has been involved in previous stoushes with the Shire over his sprawling Portsea property.
Fox upset the council by installing bollards on a stretch of the beach in 2014, while locals flew into a rage over Fox flying his helicopter onto his land in 2003.
He won both fights but this one he lost, with the local law lawn transgression resulting in a $20,000 penalty — a drop in the ocean for the billionaire businessman.
Sixteen charges — eight against Fox and eight against his wife, Paula Grace Fox — were withdrawn.
Neither one — or anyone from the company — faced court yesterday.
Works to mechanically level the 4600sq m beachside area, install an irrigation system and roll out a turf lawn were carried out between December 1, 2017 and February 10 last year.
Protective native and non-native grasses and weeds were removed from the area — which measures 150m long and about 40m at its widest point — sparking a council investigation.
Fox’s lawyers told council officers they did not believe a planning permit was required.
But the area is covered by overlays requiring a permit to remove, destroy or lop any vegetation.
The turf lawn remains — with weeds growing through it — and is expected to be subject to further discussions at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The Shire’s prosecutor told the court the breach was not the most serious he had seen but the “carelessness was extreme”.
He said the defence’s previous lawyers had taken a “bolshie” attitude to the matter.
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A lawyer representing Fox’s company told the court complexities involving the area’s high water mark confused the planning requirements, making it an unusual case.
The lawyer said there was no dispute Fox’s company owned the land, with the public allowed access, and originally believed it didn’t require a permit.
He said the charges were at the lower end of the scale and it was “not a wilful breach of planning regulations” or “wanton conduct”.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said the court could deal harshly with those that deliberately undertook works without permits but this case was “not in the first rank of seriousness”.
W Everton Park Pty Ltd was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay Shire costs of $10,000. No conviction was recorded.
The maximum penalty was a fine of just under $200,000.