For the last 22 years, the general rule in relation to costs in
the Planning and Environment Court has been that each party bear
its own costs. The Court has had a discretion to award costs in
certain circumstance (usually if it determined that the proceedings
were frivolous or vexatious), however this discretion was sparingly
exercised.
The existing costs regime has facilitated a jurisdiction in
which those who could not ordinarily afford to take the risk of
being lumbered with a costs order in the event they were
unsuccessful at trial, can actively participate. It is common place
for affected residents or land owners who had made properly made
submissions against a development application to exercise their
rights to appeal an approval issued by Council to the Planning and
Environment Court, often without representation by solicitors. For
Council's, who are automatically party to most proceedings
before the Planning and Environment Court, the existing costs
regime
