Perth Residents lose bid to halt Burswood hotel development

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Perth Residents lose bid to halt Burswood hotel development

March 26, 2015

Design / Hospitality / Legal / Tourism /

Perth residents fighting the approval of an expansion of the Crown Casino in Burswood have had their appeal rejected by Western Australia's highest court.

Residents had argued construction of the 500-room hotel was invalid because it was not subject to the usual town planning or development approval.

However, last year a Supreme Court judge threw out their case, finding that the hotel was lawfully subject to legislation passed in 1985, called the Casino (Burswood Island) Agreement Act, which dealt with the construction of the original Burswood casino and hotel complex.

That legislation exempts the casino from the usual town planning rules and gives the Western Australian Minister for Racing and Gaming the power to grant approvals for all developments at the site.

The residents took their case the Court of Appeal but, in a unanimous decision, it has now dismissed their case.

In his ruling, the Chief Justice Wayne Martin said the "insurmountable obstacle in the path of all the appellants' propositions, is that they are contrary to the natural and ordinary meaning of the words used in the Casino Act".

Burswood Residents' Action Group Chairman Jeff McCann, described the decision as a "blow to democracy".

McCann said the Act was written decades before residential development occurred on the peninsular, and its application stripped residents of their say on buildings and features like cooling towers in close proximity to homes.

McCann told the ABC "under normal circumstances, any other Australian citizen would be able to go to the local government body, the plans would lay on the table, residents would have an opportunity to have their say in those developments.

"As it stands, we have none of those rights under the casino act."

Work on building the $570 million 'six star' hotel (pictured) is already underway. To be known as the Crown Towers it will be the largest hotel in Perth.

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