The treatment plant, which had already been built, had not previously received approval from council and had been the subject of regular questions at council meetings.

Development consultant Martin Ruggeri, speaking on behalf on Real Juice, said the construction without approval was not “ignorance or arrogance”.

“Real Juice has a commitment to finalising some of the outstanding matters with this development,” Mr Ruggeri said.

“There’s a couple of notes referring to tanks and equipment already being established on the site and we don’t walk away from that… but the reason the tanks were established was part of an interim arrangement to hold wastewater before the system was commissioned.”

However, Mr Ruggeri did note an approval condition required a payment to council almost equalling the value of the development itself.

A total of $341,910 was found by staff to be owing to council in ‘Section 64’ contribution fees related to the maintenance of water infrastructure. While council approved the development application, the ‘Section 64’ condition drew debate among councillors.

Councillor Dino Zappacosta questioned how the amount was calculated and asked for a detailed report to be provided by staff.

Director of sustainable development Neil Southorn explained how the amount had been calculated and Cr Alison Balind, who had asked about the plant at almost every council meeting for a year, asked why they should delay the payment with a report.

Cr Bill Lancaster had declared a significant, non-pecuniary conflict of interest and left the chamber before the matter was discussed. A vote to require the additional report from staff was narrowly passed 6-5 with the support of mayor John Dal Broi.

Real Juice was given 12 months to submit a development application including existing development on the property and planned future production increases.

It was required to pay a $4000 ‘Section 94’ fee and they were also required to transfer a 28.28 megalitre water allocation to council and provide documentation on the transfer.

Mr Southorn said council had taken the approach of working with Real Juice, but noted they had taken compliance action against the company in the past.