Fetterplace v. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council

Summary:

Mr. Fetterplace appealed the shire council’s denial of building permission, which the council had justified on various grounds, including the risk of climate change-driven coastal flooding. The Tribunal considered the coastal vulnerability assessment submitted by an expert and emphasized, before rejecting the council’s arguments and ordering it to grant building permission, the importance of assessing future flood risk as opposed to merely extrapolating past flooding patterns into the future.

At Issue: Permission to build in area at risk from coastal flooding