Two Durras residents are urging people to have their say on the Eurobodalla draft sea- level rise policy, now on exhibition.
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The South Coast Regional Sea Level Rise Policy and Planning Framework is on exhibition until Friday.
Eurobodalla Shire Council and the Shoalhaven Council, commissioned an independent review of the evidence on sea level rise.
While adopting a smaller projection for 2050 than the previous NSW government policy, down from 0.35m to 0.26m, the report’s authors warned sea-level rise “is real” and would get worse as governments failed to curb carbon emissions.
They said a rise of 0.05m had occurred since 1990 and predicted a rise of 0.10m by 2030.
Durras residents Judy Brown and George Bates said people should not assume they are not affected by sea-level rise and urged them to undertake research.
Mrs Brown did not think her property would be affected by sea-level rise, until she received a letter from council telling her otherwise.
“It never even came into my mind that I would be affected,” she said.
“My neighbour, who is lower down the hill than I am, didn’t get the letter and didn’t know about the report until I asked him.”
Mrs Brown said, like her, she was sure other people in the Eurobodalla did not know the issue related to them and had not received the letter.
“I am sure there are people out there that don’t know they are affected,” she said.
“Why did only some people get the letter?
“I knew about sea-level rise, but didn’t take notice because I didn’t think I would be affected.”
Mrs Brown fears her insurance premium will increase, the value of her home will depreciate and wonders if the council’s benchmarks are too high.
“I do not understand why they have decided to take the worst possible outcome,” Mrs Brown said.
“When I called council after getting the letter, they did not shed any light on the situation at all.
“They should be doing all they can to help residents.”
Mr Bates said that although it would not affect him, he thought the level proposed by the council was “ridiculous”.
“It won’t affect me, but when my boys want to renovate my house after I’m gone, they will have to go through a long process,” he said.
Urging people to put in a submission to council, Mrs Brown said council should have done more to inform ratepayers.
