Coastal property owners win right to protect homes from rising sea levels

The New South Wales Government has intervened in a dispute between coastal residents and the Byron Bay Council, allowing property owners to keep their houses if the coastal line comes within 20 meters of the property.

It is a win for owners of multimillion-dollar homes in the luxury costal town, who originally, under the local council’s controversial “planned retreat” policy, could not build sea barriers to protect their properties.

NSW Environment Minister John Robertson says legislation will be introduced into State Parliament next year to allow residents in Byron Bay and 19 other areas up the Central Coast to construct barriers when the sea comes within 20 metres of a property.

Previously in Byron Bay the council could order homes to be demolished at the cost of the home owner if the sea line came too close.

‘These changes are about making sure taxpayers aren’t required to foot the bill for coastal erosion and properties being eroded away by sea level rise,” Robertson said.

Residents might be happy but the Byron Bay Council, which has been warning about the dangers of costal erosion for 20 years, is not impressed and has warned that the move will lead to the destruction of some of Australia’s most loved beaches.

And the body that represents NSW’s local governments has warned the State Government not to interfere in local matters.

David Airey, president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, says the new decision is part of a growing trend of council decisions being overruled in favour of centralised planning, with the new policy allowing property owners in other councils to lobby for state government intervention.

“I don’t particularly have a view on this topic, but this is happening in a lot of places in Australia whereby state governments are intervening in order to remove, or modify, some of the powers of local councils in order to centralise planning decisions.”

“There are two schools of thought to this one, in that it speeds up planning decisions when they are made by centralised powers, but it takes away what councils were elected to do. The same thing has happened in WA where some developers are not happy with some decisions made.”

The decision to allow property owners to keep their homes if the sea comes within 20 metres of the property, was made by the NSW Government, after nearly 20 years of warnings from the Byron Bay council about its inability to act in the face of coastal erosion damage. But property owners are reportedly happy with the decision, as it will add more value to their homes over several years.

However, the new Government policy allows property owners in other councils to request help to override a council’s planning code if any protective measures are not enacted.

Airey says this will likely occur in other councils, and it is still unknown whether council planning codes or state Government intervention are beneficial for property owners.

“It’s becoming a trend, and there are definitely both good and bad sides to this. A centralised planning authority has more experience in dealing with these issues, but the local view would be that the local councils are in touch with the needs of the community.”