Suburban Blue Print Pty Ltd v Hobsons Bay City Council. Country/Territory Australia Type of court Others Date Jul 26, 2010 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Seat of court Melbourne Judge Read. Reference number [2010] VCAT 1272 Language English Subject Land & soil, Environment gen., Sea Keyword Land-use planning Coastal zone management Climate change Flood Abstract This case concerned a decision by the Hobson Bay City Council to refuse to grant a permit for the construction of a semi-detached pair of large, two-storey dwellings, citing a number of reasons relating largely to lack of respect to neighbourhood character. A further ground included the possibility that the site may be vulnerable to coastal hazards and inundation arising from possible future rise in sea level due to coastal climate change and associated storm surges. The Judge considered the question of whether the site was vulnerable to future sea-level rise and, if so, whether the proposal was acceptable. He held that there was a marginal risk of future inundation and he must take into account 'the absence of appropriate policy, the complexity of already existing issues that policy must address in the future'. He considered that the absence of a flood-related overlay and the fact that the planning scheme identifies no flood-related referral authority indicated that flooding levels that would trigger clause 15.08 were not contemplated. He also noted that the site was in an area where there were possibly hundreds of existing dwellings with floor levels below the desirable 2.94 meters AHD recommended. According the Appellants expert witness this meant that potentially hundreds of existing dwellings are subject to flooding from a climate-induced sea level rise up to 2100. The Tribunal held that it was reasonable, therefore, to conclude that in this context another dwelling with similar floor levels and possibly floodable basements is acceptable. The decision of the Council was set aside. Full text COU-156704.pdf