GREENS councillor Danielle Wheeler wants Hawkesbury Council to investigate illegally built dwellings, whose inhabitants are at risk of flooding or other potential disasters, but could face resistance from her peers.
At the January 30 Council meeting, Cr Wheeler successfully passed a Notice of Motion calling for a report to be prepared by Council staff into the matter.
She said she aware of a number of people living in illegally constructed dwellings, which are well below safe flood levels.
The report will not deal with detached dual occupancy dwellings.
“The purpose of this NM is not to kick people out of their homes,” Cr Wheeler told the Gazette.
“It’s to identify where people are living in dangerously sited houses, especially in flood affected areas, for example in converted boat sheds on the Hawkesbury River.
“If we don’t know people are living there, we can’t notify them to evacuate and the SES can’t help get them to safety in a timely manner without serious risk. Many of these people are tenants who haven’t been told of the dangers.”
Councillors will receive a report “outlining a policy to better deal with unapproved dwellings”. The report will include options for an amnesty period, where people can own up and either have their dwelling approved or take it down.
Cr Wheeler’s motion passed Council, but given it is only a report, any ramifications as a result of that report might have a harder time passing.
Independent councillor Paul Rasmussen said in Council that Cr Wheeler was skating on political thin ice.
“It is well known for people who have lived in the Hawkesbury for many years that this is an issue,” he said.
“My concern is that we are potentially going to hit a lot of young people with this.
“I think this will be one of those things where we wish we hadn't let the genie out of the bottle. Politically I think it would be dangerous...I think it has serious political ramifications.”
Labor councillor and deputy Mayor Barry Calvert said he thought the costs involved with Council staff investigating potential illegal dwellings would be huge.
Independent Peter Reynolds said people could not stick their heads in the sand and pretend there was not a risk to dwellings below flood lines.
Council general manager Peter Conroy issued caution, saying that if Council staff became aware of a problem, they would become compelled to act to rectify it.
“There is a duty of care that goes with knowing things, and once we start knowing things we have to act, and we don't have discretion in some situations,” he said.
Mr Conroy said an amnesty period, which Cr Wheeler had floated as a way to solve the issue, would likely not work.
Cr Wheeler, however, was resolute in her opinion that something ought to be done.
“What I am talking about is people who are living in boat sheds along the river in one in five [year] flood zones,” she said at the meeting.
“Without us knowing they are there, [we cannot] send them a text message or send in the SES to pull them out. I don't give a toss if someone is living in someone's double garage in Wilberforce.
“We have a responsibility to do something about this…I'm not going to front a coroner and say sorry I tried but the rest of the council couldn't be bothered.”
