Vegetation clearing rules to be eased in fire-prone parts of NSW
- Date
- November 13, 2013 – 11:24AM
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Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains was hard hit in last month’s fires. Photo: Dallas Kilponen
The NSW government plans to loosen planning rules to give residents in bushfire-prone regions more freedom to clear vegetation around their homes without a permit.
The new rules, to be introduced next year in the next session of Parliament, would allow homeowners in designated areas to fell trees within 10 metres of their homes and clear shrubs and other vegetation out to 50 metres on their own land without requiring planning permission.
The proposal comes weeks after early-season bushfires in the Blue Mountains and elsewhere destroyed more than 200 homes and damaged 120 more.
RFS volunteers at a hazard-reduction burn in Scheyville National Park in Sydney’s north west. Photo: Nick Moir
“Residents in designated bushfire prone areas will not need to seek permission to sensibly clear vegetation from around their property that is posing a fire risk,” Premier Barry O’Farrell said in a statement.
“This will need to be done in an environmentally responsible manner.”
Homeowners will be encouraged to “responsibly manage fire risks on their own properties”, Mr O’Farrell said.
“Our changes will ensure the rules regarding hazard reduction are based on protecting lives and property – and not satisfying a narrow Green agenda that seeks to put trees before people.”
While the clearing rules won’t go before the Parliament this year, the government will this week introduce laws giving the Rural Fire Service Commissioner the power to carry out hazard reduction burning on private land without consent of the owner if “reasonable attempts to contact the landowner have failed”, the statement said.
The RFS Commissioner will also have the power to direct a Bush Fire Management Committee to amend its Bush Fire Risk Management Plan if it is considered to be inadequate, the statement said.
“We need to ensure the community is as prepared as it possibly can be for future bushfires and that authorities have the powers they need to conduct essential hazard reduction work,” Mr O’Farrell said.
Not broken?
Pepe Clarke, chief executive of the Nature Conservation Council, environmental groups support hazard reduction efforts and cautioned against hasty changes to existing rules.
‘‘The current system works well and any changes need to be carefully considered,’’ Mr Clarke said. ‘‘Will the changes actually reduce risk to life and property and result in unnecessary environmental harm?’’
He said the RFS is ‘‘embedded’’ in the present bushfire risk management of local districts, and to exclude their role in providing advice to households could be detrimental.
‘‘It means people don’t have direct access to the RFS and their advice on what measures will have the most impact in hazard reduction,’’ Mr Clarke said.
Council view
Jennifer Anderson, mayor of Ku-ring-gai council on Sydney’s northern fringe, welcomed the proposed changes.
‘‘I place a high priority on the safety of our residents, and if it’s going to be improved through these initiatives, then I think they’re very worthwhile,’’ Ms Anderson said.
At present, tree preservation orders require residents to apply for tree removal, which can be a lengthy procees. ’’If there are a lot of requests then it can take several months,’’ she said. ‘‘If there’s an emergency imperative, that process can be too lengthy.’’
‘‘I’d certainly support (permission to clear land around houses) in an emergency situation.’’
Care, though, must be taken where endangered species are involved, with state and federal laws protecting such areas, Ms Anderson said.
Risks
Research conducted for the previous Labor government by Risk Frontiers in 2010 found the distance of houses from the bushland boundary to be the most important factor in determining vulnerability to fire.
Based on major blazes in the past, houses within 200 metres of at least half a hectare of bush are at-risk properties, the research found.
By that gauge, about 37,893 addresses in the Blue Mountains local government area were vulnerable, the most exposed of any region in NSW, Risk Frontiers found.
The research group, based at Macquarie University, found that, in significant blazes in the past, the probability of loss in the first 50 metres of the bush was about 60 per cent.
In the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria, “60 per cent of losses occurred within 10 metres of bushland”.
Separate laws will also include two new offences for littering involving cigarettes and matches. Police and enforcement officers will be able to issue penalty notices for such littering on days when a total fire ban is in place.
Fines will be $330 and $660 for an aggravated offence, the government said.