Supreme Court dismisses Spring Creek developers’ case

THE Supreme Court has dismissed an attempt by developers to open up the Spring Creek valley for housing by overturning the Surf Coast Statment of Planning Policy (SPP).

In June 2022, lawyers representing Zeally Investments Pty Ltd and Duffields Road Pty Ltd filed a joint motion naming the Victorian Planning Minister (at the time, Richard Wynne) and the Surf Coast Shire that called for the decision to finalise the SPP to be quashed and the SPP declared invalid.

Released in its final form in April 2022, the SPP pulled the western boundary back from 1km into the valley from Duffields Road to Duffields Road itself and ruled out any kind of urban development in the valley, including by landowners such as Zeally Investments Pty Ltd and Duffields Road Pty Ltd.

In her decision handed down earlier today (Friday, December 15), Justice Melinda Richards said the developers argued the Planning Minister’s finalisation of the SPP and the shire’s endorsement of the SPP were both “necessary pre-conditions” of the SPP’s final approval and the invalidity of either or both could mean the SPP’s approval was also invalid, but she did not agree.

“The plantiffs have not shown any error on the part of the minister in relation to the finalisation decision or by the council in making the endorsement decision.

“As a result, no question of consequential invalidity arises in relation to the Governor in Council’s approval of the Surf Coast SPP.”

Justice Richards ordered that the proceeding be dismissed, and ordered the plantiffs to pay costs to the Planning Minister and the shire.

Zeally Investments Pty Ltd and Duffields Road Pty Ltd are the largest landowners in the Spring Creek valley, collectively owning 245 hectares of land in the Spring Creek valley at 80 Duffields Road and 140 Duffields Road respectively.

The decision means the Surf Coast SPP – the end result of the Surf Coast Distinctive Areas and Landscapes program – remains unchanged.