Wagners ordered to pay two-thirds of Toowoomba Regional Council’s costs in charges appeal
THE Court of Appeal has determined costs in the multimillion-dollar Wagners and Toowoomba Regional Council dispute over infrastructure charges.
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THE Court of Appeal has determined costs in the multimillion-dollar Wagners and Toowoomba Regional Council dispute over infrastructure charges.
The saga, which had dragged on for more than three years, saw the Court of Appeal in September agree with a May 2019 decision by the Planning and Environment Court which cleared Wagners of having to pay more than $20 million in stormwater infrastructure charges across the whole Wellcamp development.
The court found the decision to levy stormwater charges on infrastructure that caused no additional demand on the stormwater system was unlawful.
And in a win for the council, the court ruled that Wagners’ original, successful appeals against the traffic trunk infrastructure charges were dismissed, allowing the council to charge as per the infrastructure charges notice.
The Court of Appeal took submissions from both parties as to costs.
The council’s position was that Wagners be ordered to pay the council’s costs of the application for leave to appeal and the appeal, or if that was not the case, that it should pay no more than 20 per cent “on the basis the council’s success in the proceeding was substantial”.
On the other hand, as “each party achieved a measure of success”, Wagners submitted it would be appropriate there be no order as to costs.
The Court of Appeal found the council had to pursue the appeal in order to recover the significant quantum for the traffic trunk infrastructure charges, but that had to be balanced against the “not insignificant time” it spent arguing the Planning and Environment Court had made an error in its legal approach to the appeal.
The court found that in view of “the significant monetary success for the council in the appeal”, the outcome should not be characterised as “contestable”.
Wagners were ordered to pay two-thirds of the council’s costs of the application for leave to appeal, and the appeal.
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