The Southern Gazette has received a statement from the South Perth Peninsula Action Group that they will take court action against the 35-storey Lumiere development at 74 Mill Point Road.
The statement says that “court action is the only option to prevent this anomalous development since neither residents nor council can appeal flawed planning decisions to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT)”.
It is the second time that the residents have gone to the Supreme Court over the development after successfully quashing a 29-storey version in February 2016.
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READ NOWHowever, Developers Edge Visionary Living had a 34-storey version with a mezzanine level approved by the Joint Development Assessment Panel in October 19.
The group expects the matter will go before the Court of Appeal in October or November this year.
Group spokeswoman Vicki Redden said Karyl Nairn and Ric Hawley were once again having to use their own funds to launch a costly judicial review into a decision by the JDAP.
“Something is seriously wrong with a system where ratepayers have to police, at their own expense, the lawfulness of decisions of an unelected, unaccountable and poorly advised planning body,” said.
“Most residents do not have the means to mount a judicial review but it is currently the only way to protect communities from long-term harm when JDAP misuses its extraordinary powers.
“We can’t keep relying on altruism though, we need better and more cost-effective supervision of planning decisions.”
In its statement, the group called on the new State Government and Planning Minister Rita Saffioti to “intervene and develop a more democratic and superior development assessment process”.
Ms Saffioti said new measures to increase transparency and community involvement in the DAP process were recently introduced.
“We are committed to monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of these new measures to ensure better outcomes for local communities with a view to exploring further changes if necessary,” she said.
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