LAKE Macquarie City Council will introduce new controls to prevent development on flood-prone land at risk of permanent inundation.
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The controls – to be introduced in September – reflect the council’s determination to ramp up its defences against sea level rise and flooding risk.
They establish a rule that new residential development ‘‘should not be located in areas predicted to be permanently inundated’’ during its ‘‘asset life’’.
Asked how many lots the rule would affect, the council said: ‘‘It is not possible to answer this question as it is dependent on the asset life and nature of the development’’.
Ordinary houses had ‘‘asset lives’’ of about 50 years, while bigger and higher buildings were considered to have 100-year lives, the controls said.
Council flood maps show several hundred residential properties are predicted to be permanently inundated by 2100.
The council’s flood plan predicts foreshore land below 0.5 metres above sea level may be permanently inundated by 2050.
Land below one metre above sea level ‘‘may be permanently inundated by 2100’’.
The council estimated about 3800 lots had some land below one metre above sea level, but said ‘‘90per cent of these lots are owned by council or the Crown’’.
Council documents said the new rule applied to land on a ‘‘flood-control’’ map.
Asked for a copy of the map, the council said it was ‘‘not finalised’’.
It said the map would be available once the controls were in place.
The council said its new rule would apply to ‘‘development that we require to be built up to a flood planning level’’, but this did not mean no renovations or additions.
Asked what suburbs could be affected, the council said: ‘‘Any suburb that has land adjoining the lake’’.
Council flood maps show the worst affected suburbs would be Swansea, Marks Point, Belmont South and Dora Creek.
Other suburbs with flood-prone parts include Teralba, Belmont, Warners Bay, Valentine, Blackalls Park, Kilaben Bay, Fassifern, Marmong Point, Balmoral, Balcolyn, Silverwater, Bonnells Bay, Fishing Point, Arcadia Vale, Speers Point, Boolaroo, Nords Wharf and Toronto.
While infrastructure to stop flooding – such as levees and seawalls – could be built, the council’s flood plan said this may not be possible in some areas.
Councillor Jason Pauling said if the council’s ‘‘true position was to start withdrawing’’ from land at risk of permanent inundation, ‘‘then we should be telling people’’.
‘‘I don’t agree with withdrawal, but if that is plan A let’s be upfront about it,’’ he said.
Cr Pauling said the new controls would ‘‘impact on freedom of choice and informed consent’’.
He said 2100 was ‘‘an awful long time from now’’.
‘‘Council seems to want zero acceptance of any risk for sea level rise and flooding, but they’re nowhere near as paranoid about other catastrophes that could occur by 2100 – such as fire and drought,’’ he said.
Councillor Barney Langford said ‘‘what we’re doing is about risk management’’.
Cr Langford said if that meant ‘‘there might be the odd place where development can’t take place, that’s good solid risk management’’.
‘‘Why would you let someone build where it will be inundated?’’ he said.
‘‘You’d be setting yourself up to be sued.’’
The new controls follow the council stating in its 2012 flood plan that permanent inundation and increased flooding from rising lake levels ‘‘may make some land unsuitable for future development or redevelopment’’.
Insurance against permanent inundation from sea level rise was not available, the flood plan said.
In 2010, an environmental security assessment prepared for the council estimated total losses in land value from permanent inundation at $528million by the year 2100.
‘‘This would not start to be realised until after 2050,’’ the report said.
The council’s new controls had regard for state government guidance.
NEW-RELEASE lots would be banned in large areas around Lake Macquarie, under the council’s new development controls.
The controls for ‘‘greenfield subdivision’’ said ‘‘creation of new lots for residential, commercial or industrial development must be avoided’’ on land below three metres above sea level that was ‘‘open to inundation from the ocean or lake’’.
Despite this, the council said there were ‘‘no new-release areas’’ in flood-prone locations.
However, the controls aimed to ‘‘avoid the creation of new lots’’ for development on land covered in its 2012 flood plan.
The council said it ‘‘may consider’’ subdivision of land below three metres above sea level on ordinary residential land in established urban areas.
‘‘The development type most likely to lead to a request to subdivide land in this zone is dual occupancy,’’ the council said.
Other than this, all lots from a subdivision on land below three metres above sea level ‘‘must provide a sufficient building area above three metres below sea level’’.
If subdividing land below three metres above sea level, ‘‘all new roads, associated infrastructure and utilities’’ must be above three metres above sea level, the controls said.
The council said there were about 11,000 lots ‘‘partly or entirely’’ below three metres above sea level in Lake Macquarie, which includes residential, industrial and environmental land and open space.
