KNOX Council is wasting money by continually refusing development applications that technically meet all planning requirements, a councillor believes.

Cr Joe Cossari estimated the council spends $20,000 each time it fights an application at the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal and loses.

He made the comments after the council refused permits for two high-rise developments because they didn’t suit the ‘‘character of the neighbourhood’’.

Figures provided to the Weekly by the council show that in the 2010-11 financial year, 45 of 1033 planning applications were refused by the council.

Of 36 appeals lodged with the VCAT, 15 were successful. Many of the 1033 applications were approved by council officers before council meetings, because they were for non-controversial permits such as extensions or single-storey homes.

The Weekly asked how much money the council spent defending its decisions at the VCAT in 2010-11 but did not receive a response by deadline.

The council’s director of city development Angelo Kourambas said the cost of going to the VCAT ‘‘depends on the nature of the case’’. ‘‘The simple case costs the council about $5000, although some larger or more complex cases can cost more.’’

Cr Cossari said that even if the council didn’t agree with current structure plans, it needed to follow the guidelines. He said the tribunal judged each application according to the council’s current housing and planning policies.

‘‘If it meets the criteria that is set out, we should support it. We need to look at the permit against the current criteria. At the moment, we’re just shifting our decisions to the VCAT and lots of the applications get overturned.’’

Knox Ratepayers Association secretary Stewart Campbell said he believed the council was trying to do the right thing when rejecting high-rise developments.

‘‘By rejecting these developments they are trying to have some sort of control and not let areas like Boronia turn into ghettos.

‘‘Developers get rejected by the council and then just take it to the VCAT like it’s a rubber stamp process,’’ Mr Campbell said.