A DECADE of having no permitted use for his Belmont land has led Peter Stewart to the Local Court.
Mr Stewart is scheduled to appear in the Local Court on April 6 for hearings into a dispute he is having with the City of Belmont over about $2,500 in unpaid rates.
His land is in what is known as the Springs Redevelopment Project, an area bordered by the Swan River, Great Eastern Highway, the Graham Farmer Freeway and Brighton Road, which was the subject of the City of Belmont’s Town Planning Scheme 13.
Mr Stewart said he had objected to paying rates on the land since 1999 because not having a permitted use meant the land he owned was blighted.
“You don’t know what you can do with the land,” he said.
Mr Stewart said that, since 1996, when council put TPS 13 over the area, there had been no permitted use on the land. He said land in the area also had no zoning.
TPS 13 was discarded by Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan in 2003. The land’s future is now in the hands of a WA Government committee.
“My argument with council is how can they rate my property when there is no permitted use for the land?” Mr Stewart said.
City of Belmont CEO Shayne Silcox confirmed that the council had summonsed a ratepayer over non-payment of rates.
“There is an appeal process for any payment of rates and this ratepayer has chosen not to use it,” Mr Silcox said.
Mr Silcox dismissed the argument that there was no permitted use for the land.
“Land uses in the area are at council’s discretion,” he said.
Mr Stewart said he had been unaware of the rates payment appeal process until just before a pre-trial conference last week.
