Forum owner accepts ruling on expansion

The new owner of the Bunbury Forum has ruled out further legal action over the expansion of the shopping centre for a potential department store.

The WA Supreme Court last month handed down the latest verdict on the proposal which was heard by the State Administrative Tribunal last year.

Justice Ralph Simmonds rejected three grounds of appeal over SAT’s decision to reject a bid by former owner, Atlas Point, to expand the Bunbury Forum for a department store.

A spokesman for financial services company Challenger, that bought the shopping centre in October last year, told the South Western Times there would be no appeal of this decision.

“We acquired the Forum with knowledge of the vendor’s desire to obtain DA (development application) for a department store but did not have this ambition for the centre ourselves, ” the spokesman said.

The tribunal found there was not a realistic prospect of a department store being based in Bunbury within five years.

Also, if a department store was based at the Bunbury Forum, it would reduce trade in the central business district by between nine and 15 per cent.

But the former owners, Atlas Point and Pro Investments Australia, appealed against this decision claiming the tribunal had had erred in its ruling.

As part of its appeal they claimed the tribunal had failed to take into account the critical importance of a department store for Bunbury. But Justice Simmonds rejected this argument.

In 2010, Atlas Point gained approval to expand the shopping centre by 31,000sq m.