New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1993 - SECT 496B

496B Making and levying of annual charges for coastal protection services

(1) A council may, in accordance with this Act and the regulations, make and levy an annual charge for the provision by the council of coastal protection services for a parcel of rateable land that benefits from the services, being services that relate to coastal protection works constructed:

(a) by or on behalf of the owner or occupier (or a previous owner or occupier) of the parcel of land, or

(b) jointly by or on behalf of:

(i) the owner or occupier (or a previous owner or occupier) of the parcel of land, and

(ii) a public authority or a council.

(2) An annual charge for the provision of coastal protection services must be calculated so as to not exceed the reasonable cost to the council of providing those services (including any legal, insurance, engineering, surveying, project management, financing and similar costs associated with providing those services).

The coastal protection services for which an annual charge may be made and levied are services:

(a) to maintain and repair coastal protection works, or

(b) to manage the impacts of such works (such as changed or increased beach erosion elsewhere).

See the definition of "coastal protection service" in the Dictionary.

(3) If a person is aggrieved by the amount of the annual charge, the person may appeal to the Land and Environment Court and that Court may determine the amount.

(4) The fact that an appeal is pending does not in the meantime affect the levying of the annual charge to which the appeal relates and the charge may be recovered as if no appeal were pending.

(5) If a person’s appeal is, in whole or in part, successful, the council must refund any amount paid in excess of a requirement for payment under this Act.

(6) If the Land and Environment Court, in the course of determining an appeal under subsection (3), determines the reasonable cost to the council of providing coastal protection services in relation to particular coastal protection works, that determination is binding in relation to the calculation of the annual charge for all other parcels of land that benefit from those same services.

(7) For the avoidance of doubt, a parcel of land benefits from the provision of coastal protection services even if:

(a) the services relate to private coastal protection works (such as a seawall) wholly on the parcel or on a neighbouring parcel of private land, or

(b) the services are carried out on land that is outside the council’s area.

(8) Subsection (1) does not authorise or permit a council to make or levy an annual charge for the provision of coastal protection services for rateable land that is held under a lease for private purposes granted under the Aboriginal Housing Act 1998 or the Housing Act 2001 .

(9) The Minister administering the Coastal Protection Act 1979 is to issue guidelines relating to the making and levying of charges under this section. A council is to have regard to any such guidelines when making and levying such charges.