Planning & Environment Court

From time to time, Council’s decisions either to approve, or refuse, a development application within the City is appealed by the applicant or objectors. These can either be individual members of the public, other developers or commercial interests.

In Queensland, disputes arising from development applications are initially dealt with in the Planning and Environment Court.

The Gold Coast is one of only five regional centres outside of Brisbane where resident District Court judges regularly reside over Planning and Environment Court hearings.

The Planning and Environment Court was constituted in 1990 by the local Government (Planning and Environment Act), and replaced the former Local Government Court.

Planning matters dealt with by the court are often highly complex and technical, requiring detailed interpretation of the relevant state's Planning Act.

Hearings can sometimes take many weeks.

A court calendar and a listing of recent judgements, along with other related information, are available on the Queensland Courts website: www.courts.qld.gov.au