THE CITY of Greater Bendigo spent $87,000 on Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal battles in 2021, excluding some staffing costs for specific cases.
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The bulk of that money - nearly $60,000 - was spent on one case, according to figures disclosed by the council.
Bendigo's council spent $59,632.10 defending a decision to deny company CV Welding and Fabrications retrospective permission to use land in Ingham Road, Axedale.
The bill included four days of hearings, an expert witness and a compliance application.
VCAT ruled that the land would be unsuitable and, the council said, awarded it $11,000 in costs.
The permit decision was one of 10 rulings VCAT published in 2021.
The tribunal has typically ruled on between six and 10 Bendigo council cases since 2016.
The council won six cases outright in 2021 and VCAT modified planning conditions it had imposed in another.
Bendigo council's most high profile loss was over a retrospective planning application for a property along Victoria Street, which it had spent $7,499.80 attempting to defend.
Transport company Grays Bendigo had taken the council to VCAT after a narrow majority of councillors denied it a permit in January 2021.
The councillors' decision was made despite a report by city staff concluding it met relevant planning scheme provisions.
The councillors had had concerns about amenity for people living close to the business, which among other things hired out shipping containers, machinery and portable buildings.
Some councillors had also argued that the site was wedged between an industrial and residential area, in a slice of land intended as a transition between land uses.
VCAT reversed the council's decision last December after Grays drew up new plans responding to the council's concerns.
The tribunal separately modified several conditions on a Herriot Street, Heathcote planning permit, in a case the council spent $9,110.75 on.
The council spent another $10,608.62 successfully defending its decision to block a subdivision in Nolan Street, North Bendigo on neighbourhood character and orderly planning grounds.
The figures released to the Bendigo Advertiser do not include the cost of council staff's time and expertise on six cases that went to VCAT without additional costs.
Planners completed all six appeals as part of their normal duties.
The council won four of those cases, which ranged from opposition to an advertising billboard on the Midland Highway in Huntly to stopping a developer building a petrol station on a busy city centre intersection.
It lost one bid to stop a subdivision in Panorama Road, Lockwood South and another against a digital billboard in Wills Street.
VCAT also decided to award the council $8000 over an enforcement matter heard at the tribunal in 2020.
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