Community grapples with planning for a climate changed future

When she retired, Sally Allen returned to the place she had spent summer holidays as a child.

She built a breezy off-grid house on the outer barrier, a narrow sand dune near Lakes Entrance, a fishing town on the East Gippsland coast. The barrier is quiet except for the lapping water and wind. There are only a handful of holiday homes and no other permanent residents.

The foreshore of Sally Allen's property on the outer barrier, Lakes Entrance.

You can’t get to Allen’s place by car. Town is a 15-minute journey away in her beloved outboard dinghy. One of her weekly tasks is laying out bracken and driftwood along on the shoreline to try and fortify her vanishing beach.

The unique area is subject to complex planning laws, along with state-wide guidelines adopted after the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. According to the municipal fire authority, all building on the outer barrier needs to be approved individually by the state planning department.

Sally says those restrictions have put the value of her house in doubt, without making her any safer.

Read the story from The Citizen by Claire Capel-Stanley - “Community grapples with planning for a climate changed future.”