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[2011] HCA 15
High Court of Australia
2011-05-11
Atkinson J, McMurdo J, French CJ, Crennan JJ
Original judgment source is linked above.
Springfield Land Corporation (No 2) Pty Ltd v Queensland [2011] HCA 15
D F Jackson QC with M D Hinson SC for the appellants (instructed by Russell and Company Solicitors)
D R Gore QC with J M Horton for the respondents (instructed by Clayton Utz Lawyers)
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
Springfield Land Corporation (No 2) Pty Ltd v Queensland
Real property - Compulsory acquisition - Compensation - Assessment - Section 25(2) of Transport Planning and Coordination Act 1994 (Q) empowered Chief Executive of Department of Main Roads ("Department") to acquire property "for the purposes of transport" - Section 20(3) of Acquisition of Land Act 1967 (Q) ("Acquisition Act") required that, in assessing compensation for acquisition, there be considered any enhancement of value of land adjoining acquired land "by the carrying out of the works or purpose for which the land is taken" - Appellants entered agreement to transfer certain land ("Transfer Land") to respondents for amalgamation with land held by Department in return for payment of compensation set in accordance with Acquisition Act - Nature of purpose for which land is acquired - Whether purpose for which Transfer Land was acquired would enhance value of appellants' adjoining land.
Words and phrases - "purpose for which the land is taken".
"Almost from the outset [the Springfield companies] proposed that the development would include the construction of a major road running from the Centenary Highway (where it then ended at the Ipswich Motorway) through the Springfield land, and in particular through or close to the proposed Springfield Town Centre, and continuing west beyond the Springfield land.
In 1994 a draft Springfield Development Control Plan was prepared which identified such a 'Regional Transport Corridor'. In 1998, [the Springfield companies] and the Ipswich City Council entered into what was called the Springfield Infrastructure Agreement, whereby certain land within the development site was to be dedicated for road purposes, and in particular for this transport corridor. In 1999, the Council approved a subdivision application by [the Springfield companies], on terms which included the transfer to the Council, free of compensation, of certain land to be held in trust in favour of [the Springfield companies] for future road purposes. That included the area described as Trust Lot 7, which was identified as the land upon which there would be constructed that part of the transport corridor from what is called the Western Interchange to the western boundary of the Springfield land."
"By the end of 1998 the Centenary Highway had been extended to the Springfield land and by June 2000 it had been further extended to the Springfield Town Centre. This road construction was described by the arbitrator as 'very much a joint venture type arrangement' between the Queensland government, [the Springfield companies], a contractor and a financier, under which [the Springfield companies] paid for the construction. The arbitrator also found, at least from 1994, that it had been intended that this road would continue beyond the Springfield Town Centre and in turn from the western boundary of the Springfield land to the area of Ripley and ultimately to the Cunningham Highway. In January 2004, the government announced that the section of the transport corridor from Springfield to Ripley would be built and later that year, it announced the preferred route for this corridor. In early 2005, it announced that it was committed also to the extension of the corridor from Ripley to the Cunningham Highway."
"In the course of planning of this extension of the corridor from the Springfield Town Centre, it was found that some of the land within Trust Lot 7 would not be required, but that some land owned by the first [appellant] adjacent to Trust Lot 7 was required instead. The land not required became known as 'the returned land'. By this time, the Department [of Main Roads] had become the owner of Trust Lot 7 in place of the Council and it transferred this land back to the first [appellant]. The newly required land [of a little less than seven hectares] was the so called Transfer Land."
"(1) In assessing the compensation to be paid, regard shall in every case be had not only to the value of land taken but also to the damage (if any) caused by either or both of the following, namely -
(a) the severing of the land taken from other land of the claimant;
(b) the exercise of any statutory powers by the constructing authority otherwise injuriously affecting such other land.
(2) Compensation shall be assessed according to the value of the estate or interest of the claimant in the land taken on the date when it was taken.
(3) In assessing the compensation to be paid, there shall be taken into consideration, by way of set‑off or abatement, any enhancement of the value of the interest of the claimant in any land adjoining the land taken or severed therefrom by the carrying out of the works or purpose for which the land is taken.
(4) But in no case shall subjection (3) operate so as to require any payment to be made by the claimant in consideration of such enhancement of value." (emphasis added)
"The issues for the arbitrator concerned the valuation of the Transfer Land, whether there was any enhancement for the purposes of s 20(3) and whether the value of the returned land was to be set‑off against the compensation. There is no challenge to the arbitrator's finding that the value of the Transfer Land was, in aggregate, the sum of $1,468,806 (which became the assessed compensation). Nor is there any challenge to the arbitrator's conclusion that the value of the returned land should not be brought into account[8]. The challenge concerns the enhancement issue."
"As appears to be common ground, the onus was upon the [State of Queensland] to establish that there was some relevant enhancement and its amount. Ultimately the [State of Queensland's] case was that the value of the [Springfield companies'] land would be enhanced by the carrying out of the works which were the extension of the transport corridor west from the Springfield Town Centre. The Transfer Land was being taken for the carrying out of that work or for that purpose, although it would constitute only a very small part of the land required. The [Springfield companies'] case was that the purpose for which the Transfer Land was being taken was merely to effect a realignment of the designated transport corridor, which of itself would cause no enhancement in the value of their land. That argument was upheld by the arbitrator."
"It is relevant to refer again briefly to the Pointe Gourde Case if only for the purpose of putting it aside as having no relevance to the question of enhancement to the other lands of the claimant as a consequence of the resumption. Pointe Gourde establishes authoritatively the principle that in valuing the resumed lands, one excludes as irrelevant for that purpose any appreciation or depreciation in the value of the resumed land brought about by the scheme underlying the resumption.
In the context of considering enhancement to other lands for the purposes of Section 20(3), the Pointe Gourde principle has no place." (emphasis in original)
"In considering s 20(3), the arbitrator was required to identify the works or purpose for which the land was taken. He identified the purpose as 'the very narrow purpose ... to realign in minor respects an existing proposed road corridor'. In one sense at least, that was undoubtedly true. But the question is whether that could be regarded as the purpose which is relevant in the operation of s 20(3). As already noted, the purpose within s 20(3) would appear to correspond with the purpose for which there is a power of compulsory acquisition. That indicates that the purpose was to be understood as the public benefit or end to be achieved, rather than some means to that end, and that the arbitrator's identification of the purpose was incorrect."
It also should be noted that the arbitrator looked to "the reason why [the s 7 Notices] were given" and found that what had led the Chief Executive to give the s 7 Notices was the decision to realign the proposed road corridor "in minor respects".
"(3) In assessing the compensation to be paid, there shall be taken into consideration, by way of set-off or abatement, any enhancement of the value of the interest of the claimant in any land adjoining the land taken or severed therefrom by the carrying out of the works or purpose for which the land is taken."
"for the construction or erection of any public or other works which the constructing authority is authorised by any Act or resolution of Parliament to construct or erect or for the purposes of any Act".
At the material time, s 25(1) of the Transport Planning and Coordination Act 1994 (Q) provided:
"(1) The chief executive may, for the State, acquire … property for the purposes of transport or for an incidental purpose."
"(3) In particular, the chief executive may, for the State, acquire property for any of the following purposes -
"(8) The chief executive is a constructing authority within the meaning of the [Act]."
"(3) A notice of intention to resume shall be in writing and shall -
(a) specify the particular purpose for which the land to be taken is required".
The notices of intention to resume stated that the purpose for which the land taken in 2005-2006 was required was "future transport purposes including the facilitation of transport infrastructure (namely road and busway, rail or light rail) for the South-West Transport Corridor". Section 12(6)(b) of the Act provided:
"(6) Subject to section 11, publication of the gazette resumption notice shall be evidence, and in the absence of evidence in rebuttal, conclusive evidence that -
(b) in any other case - the provisions of sections 7, 8 and 9 or, as the case may be, 7, 8 and 10 have been complied with."
That made publication conclusive evidence, in the absence of evidence in rebuttal, that the notice of intention to resume had complied with the need to specify a particular purpose for which the land to be taken was acquired. It prevented challenge to the validity of the resumption in that respect. But it did not make publication conclusive evidence of the truth of that which was stated to be the particular purpose so as to foreclose demonstration that the actual particular purpose was different from or additional to the specified purpose. And it did not control the application of s 20(3). If, alternatively, it is correct to hold that s 12(6) made a statement of purpose in the notice of intention to resume conclusive as to its truth, in the absence of evidence in rebuttal, s 12(6) made it permissible to receive and examine evidence in rebuttal, and here there was evidence in rebuttal: the materials to which the arbitrator referred and on which he relied.
(a) the scheme to develop the South-West Transport Corridor since 1999 had enhanced the value of the appellants' land nearby;
(b) the slight alteration of the boundaries of the Corridor realignment made in 2005-2006 involved resumption of a small part of the appellants' land;
(c) s 20(3) did not require that the effect on the value of the appellants' land of the entire project since 1999 be set off against the value of the small area resumed.
"It would, for example, be easier sensibly to conclude that a realignment is a purpose in itself if the road of which it was an adjunct had been constructed many years earlier or if the realignment was a response to the exigencies of transport functions in the immediate vicinity of the stretch of road being realigned. To say this, however, is to recognise that the arbitrator … acted upon a view of s 20(3) … which was apt to make such differences in the facts of the case immaterial because of the narrow focus of his approach."
The first sentence is correct, but not the second. It is true that in the present case the road to pass through the South-West Transport Corridor had not been constructed by 2005-2006, and it is true that the desire for realignment which triggered the 2005-2006 resumptions was not a response to the exigencies of transport functions arising from experience of the road in operation. But in terms of assessing the enhancement of the value of the appellants' adjoining land it was material for the arbitrator to consider that the road route being realigned for a short stretch in minor respects had been planned for years and that land had been acquired and set aside for it. The mere existence of the planning for that road is what increased the value of adjoining land, not a minor alignment to it.
Springfield Land Corporation (No 2) Pty Ltd
Queensland
[2008] HCA 5
(2009) 171 LGERA 38
(2009) 169 LGERA 284
(2008) 233 CLR 259