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Councils launch North East Link legal challenge and ask the extension of tunnels

A legal channel by Banyule, Boroondara and Whitehorse councils may delay the North East Link for months. Brisbane Times reports that the councils argue the draft design Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne signed off on was not developed enough to have been lawfully approved.

An independent advisory committee concluded that the six-kilometre tunnels must be extended to curb the impact on residents.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/victoria/like-approving-a-planning-application-without-plans-councils-launch-north-east-link-legal-challenge-20200211-p53zra.html

  • Roger N.R. Denton
    By Roger N.R. Denton

    When the government takes control of the land under your house.... They don't pay you a dime!

    In Australia, it is known as 'substratum acquisition'. It is the term for a state government taking away the ownership of the land x meters below your land. It is normally done for building tunnels and other infrastructure like the #NorthEastLink. Landowners are not paid any compensation for it because the land, say 30 meters below your property, is deemed to have a market value of zero.

    I think it is fair thinking. Likewise, those aircraft flying over your property do not have to pay you fees, I guess. So if you were thinking that you own the land and ground under it to the centre of the Earth, well not really. Not in Australia in any case.

    I wonder how the laws are in other countries.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-17/compulsory-acquisition-how-much-say-do-you-have/11967218

    A major tunnel will run under Christine's house but she won't get compensation

    www.abc.net.au

    Governments across the country are compulsorily acquiring properties to make way for massive infrastructure projects. But what the government wants to acquire can make a huge difference to the outcome for those affected.

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