Peregian resident’s association Peregian Family & Friends, has called for Noosa Shire residents and ratepayers to make submissions to the Noosa Shire Council prior to 8 March regarding Council’s draft “Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan” (CHAP). This Plan, once adopted, will be referenced in the Planning Scheme and impose restrictions on Noosa Shire properties which are likely to increase insurance premiums for affected properties and potentially across the Shire.
Peregian Family & Friends Vice-President Leigh McCready said: “In mid-2019, the draft CHAP was open for community consultation along with the Draft Noosa Plan, but a public outcry against the restrictions led the CHAP approval to be deferred.“
“It was also in 2019 that former Noosa Council Mayor Tony Wellington declared a “Climate Emergency” in Noosa, claiming that over 2,000 homes in Noosa were at risk of rising sea levels and inundation. Noosa Council is still the only Council in Queensland to declare such an ‘emergency’.
“Noosa Council is now seeking to finalise the CHAP and use this to justify town planning scheme changes that will prohibit or severely restrict building or renovating houses in affected areas, even though these are in current residential zones; while also intending to remove any Council liability for the devaluation this causes to properties affected.“
“For example, if an affected house is burnt down as occurred during the 2019 fires in Peregian, the owner would not be able to re-build their home in the exclusion zone determine by Council’s mapping. For some properties at Peregian, this exclusion zone covers more than half of their land. It is even worse in the northern parts of Noosa Shire where entire properties are in the exclusion zone.
“Additionally, many properties would now require additional, expensive and time-consuming planning approvals to build on their land which have never previously been required.“
“These restrictions are also likely to increase insurance premiums across the Shire and have already started to affect residents. A locally-based former Director and Risk Committee Chair of an insurance company Board is well informed about the potential CHAP impacts and spoke to us.
“He advised that premiums have already started to rise across the Noosa Shire due to Council’s stance and will continue to rise due to insurance companies and banks which “refuse to take the (climate) risk at all (while others) load the premium (insurers) or Loan-to Value ratio (banks).
“Our other concerns about the draft CHAP include the way the exclusion zones are calculated, the refusal to take into account the evidence that dunes are accreting (growing) rather than eroding and the false assumption that all land next to the beach is “erodible sand”, rather than in many cases vegetation, coffee rock or soil.“
“An example of this can be seen in one property in Peregian Beach below, where the exclusion zones cuts through properties all along Lorikeet Drive, yet the street is not only 83m back from the ’hazard line’, it is also protected by substantial vegetation which has not been taken into account by Council officers.
“Some of these scientific errors have been found to be inaccurate and were corrected by Council. Other errors or omissions remain and affect the current exclusion zones in the CHAP which is open for community consultation.
Ms McCready said while these general issues are of concern to the community, additional factors create “haves” and “have nots” within the Shire, similar to the recently passed Short Term Letting rules.
“In the draft CHAP, risks are considered to be of the same level for both riverside suburbs (Noosa Heads and Noosaville) and the Eastern Beaches, but while properties near the Noosa River are protected and are allowed to continue with ’current levels of residential, commercial and retail development’ Peregian, for example, is required to transition away from building in ’high erosion risk areas’ which includes infrastructure in Peregian Park such as the skate bowl, surf club and playground. This is neither balanced nor equitable.
“Finally, the Council seeks to ignore it’s own responsibility in protecting its residents and ratepayers by failing to properly consider the 93 hectares of land reserve it is Trustee for which sits between the ocean and the properties now caught in the “exclusion zones”. If Council were to take its duty of care seriously, it would protect this land from erosion and in so doing would protect the private properties it now seeks to restrict the rights of.“
Peregian Family and Friends have been advocating for changes to Coastal Hazards planning since the draft first came out in 2019.
“While there have been improvements since then, there are still many issues which may cause significant costs to ratepayers in the future through increased premiums, decreased property valuations and future legal costs due to residents seeking to address these issues with Council through legal means,“ she said.
Make your submissions to Noosa Council at: climatechange@noosa.qld.gov.au by 8 March.
