Restall & Ors v. Hobsons Bay City Council

Summary:

Applicants seeking permission to develop four joined two-story units on a beachfront plot appealed the city council’s denial. The city council, following the suit, supplemented the list of reasons for rejecting permission with a statement of concern for climate change impacts on the site. When it considered issues of vulnerability to sea level rise, the Tribunal determined that no specific vulnerability assessment was necessary and that the floodplain management authority’s floor elevation recommendations amounted to sufficient precaution vis-à-vis climate change. On that basis and others, it ordered the council to grant conditional permission for the development.

At Issue: Permission to develop in an area subject to flood risk