A FORMER Lend Lease executive who headed up Queensland's all-powerful planning authority has been accused of improperly favouring the company's interests in approving a major residential development in the state's southeast.

Documents filed in a Supreme Court lawsuit by Logan City Council detail the intervention of then-Urban Land Development Authority chief Paul Eagles in making development conditions for Yarrabilba, a proposed city of 50,000 residents, "commercially viable" for Lend Lease.

The council claims the ULDA's approval of Yarrabilba, southwest of Beenleigh, was "an improper exercise of power" that will leave it millions of dollars out of pocket on infrastructure costs.

Mr Eagles "made a call" to change the draft conditions so that the development could occur, according to documents.

However, Lend Lease's economic position was "an irrelevant consideration" that the ULDA under its governing act should not have taken into account, council claims.

The council applied to the court last week to have the Yarrabilba approval overturned, claiming it was left out of the loop on a decision that will affect its funding and delivery of basic infrastructure elsewhere. It claims the ULDA has refused to correct a blunder on infrastructure charges to be levied on Lend Lease for Yarrabilba, leaving the council with a $13.8 million shortfall.

The ULDA has "acknowledged the error" but claims "as the conditions have been issued they cannot be amended", the documents state.

Mr Eagles allegedly apologised to council staff for this on April 27, telling them "he had made changes to the draft conditions prior to them being issued to Lend Lease in order for the development to be commercially viable to Lend Lease".

Three days earlier, he allegedly told council representatives including mayor Pam Parker "the draft conditions of the approval were not commercially viable for Lend Lease and he had "made a call" to change the draft conditions so that the development could occur".

Mr Eagles was the company's southeast Queensland major projects director when it lodged its first application for Yarrabilba in 2004. He is now a deputy director-general in the Department of Development, Infrastructure and Planning.

Originally published as Bias claim in Yarrabilba land deal