Surfrider Margaret River calls for last-minute planning scheme changes for bushfire safety

Protest group Surfrider Margaret River believes the draft Local Planning Scheme 2 fails to offer adequate protection against bushfire at the coast.

In comments provided to the Times before last week’s Shire of Augusta-Margaret River council meeting where elected members adopted LPS2 for the WA Government’s final approval, Surfrider’s Preserve Gnarabup campaign leadership argued mechanisms such as “special control areas” were needed to keep residents safe.

“The Augusta-Margaret River shire is at the highest level of bushfire risk of almost all shires in the State,” the group said.

“The Shire’s Bushfire Risk Management Plan rates the fire danger for large areas of the shire as ‘extreme’.

“This designation means that a bushfire ‘is almost certain/sure to happen’ and the consequences will be ‘major or catastrophic’.”

In refuting the group’s claims last week, planning and regulatory services manager Matt Cuthbert said the Shire held no planning documents which were an adequate guide to demarcating areas of risk.

The cited BRMP was a document focused on protecting assets and not endorsed as a planning tool by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, even though it was central to Surfrider’s argument.

Surfrider’s arguments took into account Freedom of Information Act findings a 140-lot subdivision off Salter Street in Gracetown was scrapped due to fire risk and opposition to Westin Margaret River Spa & Resort because single roads in and out were said to pose unacceptable risks.

Surfrider said between a resort, plans for extra houses and a new commercial village centre, Gnarabup could host up to 1000 extra people during peak summer bushfire season.

Surfrider believed the Shire could find itself liable if it did not do more to prevent identified bushfire risks.

“We are concerned that if the Shire knows these areas have very high risk and doesn’t control development, then the Shire will be liable if people are injured or killed or lose their homes or other property in a bushfire,” the group said.

“Tourists in these areas are particularly vulnerable as they don’t know the local roads and exit points.”

Surfrider believed “LPS2 currently has very few controls to reduce bushfire risk”.

The group said the Shire should follow what it argued was West Australian Planning Commission’s take on coastal bushfire safety.

“The Shire and WAPC should apply the same logic to the rest of the shire and increase planning controls to limit the risk to human lives and property,” their spokesperson said.