Peregian Beach Community Association has commended Noosa Council for a balanced and proactive approach to tackling the risk of Climate Change, and warned residents to be wary of a ‘scare campaign’ launched by a Peregian Springs based Facebook group.
PBCA President Marian Kroon says an attack on Noosa’s draft Climate Hazard Adaptation Plan by the group Peregian Family and Friends is misleading and causing unnecessary concern to residents.
She says “claims that insurance premiums will rise, or are already rising, because the Council is consulting the community about climate change and mapping future risks – are simply not true”.
“That’s not how insurance works, or how Local Government functions.”
Insurance companies conduct their own risk modelling based on publicly available information, including the sort of mapping that has been drawn up by independent experts for Noosa Council under State Government approved guidelines.
Council areas that demonstrate a proactive approach to climate risks can be rewarded with lower premiums than those perceived to be avoiding the issue.
Alarmist Facebook posts suggesting the risk mapping will lock in an “exclusion zone”, preventing people from building on their own properties show an ignorance of how planning processes work.
The way Noosa approaches gradual changes to building and zoning in the decades ahead will be subject to expert analysis, community consultation and political debate that will take years to play out.
In the meantime, we strongly support the draft recommendations to prioritise protecting the dunes and native vegetation that provide our first and best line of defence, and this is something PBCA and other local bush care volunteers spend thousands of hours doing on behalf of our community.
PBCA suggests that even though PFAFA is not based in Noosa Shire, they could still take up the Council’s offer of a meeting to help them become better informed about these issues.
Above all, PBCA hopes Noosa Council will continue planning transparently and proactively for the challenges of the decades ahead and does not allow itself to be side tracked by attempts to politicise this issue.
Statement by Council’s Acting Environment and Sustainable Development Director, Anthony Dow:
Council welcomes the Peregian Family & Friends group’s interest in the draft Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan (CHAP) - we encourage all Noosa residents to review the draft plan and have a say.
We appear to be the only Queensland council so far to extend our CHAP consultation beyond the minimum requirement of 28 days and the information we provided to the community regarding mapping is far more detailed and transparent than other councils have provided. Residents now have until March 8 to provide comment.
This is the first time the community has been asked to comment on a draft Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan for the shire.
It’s important to clarify that the CHAP will not specify how individual properties can and can’t be developed. That is a matter for the planning scheme.
If the Council wants to amend its planning scheme in the future, it needs to go through a separate consultation process and any changes will be subject to ministerial approval.
Council staff are always available to answer questions about the CHAP and welcome the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Peregian Family & Friends to clear up any confusion or misunderstandings its membership has about the scope of the CHAP.
Noosa is one of 32 Queensland councils developing coastal hazards adaptation plans with funding from the state.
Have a say at yoursay.noosa.qld.gov.au
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