Jennifer Eliot in the Cairns Post (Australia): New low set homes and single storey units could be banned in low lying areas of Cairns under a proposed state development plan, based on predictions sea levels will rise by 80cm by 2100 and 30cm by 2050.The State Government yesterday revealed it would carry out an overhaul of the Far North’s coastal development regulations that could also see Cairns Regional Council lose total control of planning decisions.
A draft copy of the Queensland Coastal Plan, obtained by The Cairns Post, would ban any living spaces, such as bedrooms, kitchens and lounge rooms being built below the new 80cm mark but it would not exclude carports, storerooms or laundries. It will not impact on existing buildings. Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones said the draft proposal, which was designed to combat flooding and erosion in hazardous areas, would prohibit homes being built in areas that could be inundated by rising sea levels.
"We need to ensure development, particularly urban and residential development, does not result in unacceptable risks to people or property from coastal erosion, sea level rises or storm tides which may result from climate change," Ms Jones said.
"The predicted 80cm sea level rise by 2100 will inform many decisions about the allocation of new areas for urban development and planning by councils for coastal erosion and storm tide inundation."…
A mangrove seedling on Cairns beach, Australia, shot by Guillaume Blanchard, Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0 License
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