Landowners in Victoria have been left with ‘worthless’ properties after the state government introduced new planning laws that prevent them from building on their land due to predicted sea level rises.
All new development approvals along Victoria’s coastline are now required to consider a sea level rise of at least 0.8m courtesy of a change to the state’s planning policy to accommodate for climate change.
Henry Luiz bought a beachfront lot at Loch Sport in eastern Victoria in 2016 that he and his wife intended to build a home on and retire to.
However, the local council rejected his development proposal due to rising sea level projections, and now he is unable to sell the property as no buyers are interested.
‘It basically means the land has zero value. Nobody will buy it because of the flood overlay,’ Mr Luiz said on ABC News.
He said he and his wife are about $100,000 out of pocket after purchasing the land and having to pay rates, land tax and water connections for the property as it sits vacant.
The Victorian government said through a spokesperson that its planning directives were about making sure Victorians were protected by not building homes in areas were people were put at risk by flooding.
Professor David Kennedy, a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Melbourne, told the ABC the new considerations for rising sea levels in building approvals weren’t ‘alarmist’ and if anything were ‘conservative’.
‘Do we fortify and keep houses that are already vulnerable and will be more vulnerable or do we look at buybacks and compensation?’ he said.
The situation could also affect land holders outside Victoria, with the Queensland government also declaring a 0.8m sea level rise from climate change is required to be considered in planning and development assessment.
According to CoastAdapt – an advisory body to support coastal decision-makers and managers in , including local councils – the value of a 0.8m sea-level rise by 2100 as a planning benchmark is rapidly assuming the status of a ‘rule of thumb’.
In Victoria the 0.8m sea level rise was incorporated into the Floodplain Strategy 2021.
Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, asked the state government in September last year whether the new flood modelling would render properties that locals have bought in the Gippsland region along the coast worthless.
‘Wellington Shire has recently sent out letters to potentially-impacted landholders advising that this change may result in the relevant authority, the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, opposing future planning applications in flood prone coastal areas,’ Mr O’Brien said.
‘These planning changes will no doubt raise serious concern among people who are planning to build a house in locations such as Loch Sport, Golden beach, Paradise Beach and McLoughlins Beach.’
Mr O’Brien said there was concern that planning permits may be rejected even when the land itself would not be subject to flooding, but where roads to and from the property may flood when allowing for the 0.8m sea level increase.
‘Our local governments deserve leadership from the state government on how these changes will impact future planning decisions for their towns, but most particularly landowners will want clarity.’
Local Loch Sport realtor Rachelle Potts told the broadcaster the new flood modelling affected about 30 of her property listings.
She said the area boomed with sea-changers looking to move out of the city during Covid but now those properties were virtually ‘unsellable’.
The new strategy impacts 350 homes within the Wellington Shire, including those in Golden Beach, Loch Sport, Paradise Beach, and McLoughlins Beach.