Supreme Court rules in Westfield's favour over rival mall

The Supreme Court has sided with giant mall company Westfield in overturning the granting of a resource consent to economist Josephine Grierson's Discount Brands to operate a 50-store Fox Outlet Centre on Auckland's North Shore.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision, held that a resource consent allowing the operation of the discount outlet shopping centre was invalid because Discount Brands' application for the consent was not publicly notified.

It reversed the decision of the Appeal Court and restored a High Court order setting aside both the North Shore Council's decision of July 25, 2003 allowing the application to proceed without notification. The resource consent granted on August 21, 2003 and the mall began operation in November.

However, the decision does not mean that the Discount Brands centre will be obliged to close. The Supreme Court was informed a second resource consent had been granted by the council. That too was the subject of legal proceedings which have yet to be heard by the High Court.

In its reserved decision, the Supreme Court said the non-notification decision was invalid because it was made by the council without adequate information concerning potential adverse effects on existing North Shore shopping centres.

"Such effects are required to be taken into account under the Resource Management Act 1991 and the North Shore District Plan," a summary of the judgement said.

Discount Brands argued that Westfield's case was a "dressed-up" trade competition case. The high profile Ms Grierson was not immediately available to comment.

The mall is on the former Palmers Garden Centre site on Akoranga Dr at Northcote, a derelict large-format store that had been empty for many years.

Australian-based Westfield Group is the world's largest listed retail property group which owns 11 malls in New Zealand and manages property worth $32 billion worldwide.

Most of Discount Brands' stores sell seconds, surplus and out-of-season goods marked down by 35 per cent, including clothing, household items, books, footwear, jewellery and music.

- NZPA