Toowoomba council taken to court by Pengelly Trucks and Trailers over application for expansion

A Toowoomba business’ proposal to expand its operations has ended up in court, nearly a year after it was first lodged with the council.

A pair of small business owners have taken the Toowoomba Regional Council to court over a lengthy bid to expand its operations.

Scott and Sharon Pengelly, who own Pengelly Trucks and Trailers off Boundary Street in Torrington, filed an appeal in December 2022 in the planning and environment court against the council.

The claim relates to the couple’s application in March to demolish 100 sqm of gross floor area on its business site (that being the existing lunch and amenities building) and then add another 333 sqm to its current warehouse building over two levels.

According to the claim, matters became complicated when the council’s officers requested more information from the applicants in relation to issues like parking and vehicle manoeuvring, which town planner Peter Swan argued had already been addressed in the original DA from 2015.

A pair of Toowoomba business owners have taken the council to the planning and environment court of an application to expand its operations on Boundary Street in Torrington.

“On September 8 2022, the appellant met with the respondent regarding various other matters alleged by the respondent to be preventing approval of the change application,” the claim said.

“During the discussion, the appellant requested the matters alleged to be preventing approval of the change application be detailed by the respondent in a plan with notations or other information.

“The information requested has not been provided to the applicant by the respondent.”

The applicants claimed the council had not made a decision on the application within the specified period, that being April 14, and requested the court approve it “subject to reasonable and relevant conditions”.

The council’s solicitors Holding Redlich entered an appearance to the appeal.