Small business takes State Government to court over Westconnex, and wins
The State Government has lost a bid to acquire land for the WestConnex, in what a small company says was a David and Goliath battle.
The 5,000 square metres owned by property developer Desane in Rozelle is near stage three of the roads project linking the M4 with the M5.
The firm took the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to court over its plan to forcibly acquire its head office.
The company’s Chairman John Sheehan says the Supreme court ruled the RMS was trying to compulsory acquire the property for parkland.
“The RMS alleged that they set us a letter to indicate that they were trying to acquire the property,” he tells Ross Greenwood.
“We had an initial valuation undertaken by the RMS valuer of $18 million on the basis it was just industrial property.
“We knew that wasn’t a realistic figure and we had it independently valued.”
He tells Ross the general figure was between $90-100 million.
Taking the case to court, John admits he knew it wouldn’t be easy.
“Going to court is not an inexpensive exercise.
“We had to decide whether or not to we would essentially undertake a David and Goliath battle.”
Listen to the full interview below