Experts say Victorians need to adjust their ideas of future coastal living as governments move to ban building in some sea-side communities based on predictions of rising sea levels. And for those landowners who have already paid for coastal blocks, the new regulations are having an immediate financial impact.
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00:00When Henry Lewis and his wife used their super to buy a house block on Locksport's waterfront in 2016,
00:09they started planning their retirement.
00:12We bought the property on the basis that we had approval already.
00:16But before construction could begin, updated sea level forecasts resulted in new state government regulations
00:22about where houses could be built.
00:25His approval was cancelled and his retirement dream was dashed.
00:29The new regulations heavily impact the state's low-lying east coast,
00:34and in communities like Locksport, show the devastating impact future sea level rises could have on some seaside towns.
00:43But experts say this will be the new normal.
00:46I don't think this is alarmist at all. I think they've probably taken a conservative estimate, if anything.
00:51David Kennedy says Victorians need to change the way they think about coastal living.
00:56We've got to prioritise our society and what our desires are for the coastline.
01:02Do we want an urban seawall type coast or do we want a natural environment?
01:06And we're going to have trade-offs. We're not going to be able to have both.
01:09Towns like Locksport are already dealing with the new reality.
01:13We've got maybe around 30 blocks for sale at the moment that are impacted by the flood overlay.
01:20No buyers looking at them.
01:22While across Wellington Shire, more than 350 blocks are affected.
01:27The challenge is you're going to be left with essentially a dead, dark block of land,
01:31and that unfortunately happens when a lot of these planning changes come into play.
01:35The state government says it's safeguarding Victorians by making sure new homes aren't built in places that put people at risk.
01:43But for Henry Lewis, who is still paying rates on a block he can't use or sell, the cost of climate change is all too real.
01:51It basically means the land has zero value. Nobody will buy it.