Coastal Management Act 2016

This Act is the Coastal Management Act 2016.

This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.

The objects of this Act are to manage the coastal environment of New South Wales in a manner consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development for the social, cultural and economic well-being of the people of the State, and in particular—

to protect and enhance natural coastal processes and coastal environmental values including natural character, scenic value, biological diversity and ecosystem integrity and resilience, and

to support the social and cultural values of the coastal zone and maintain public access, amenity, use and safety, and

to acknowledge Aboriginal peoples’ spiritual, social, customary and economic use of the coastal zone, and

to recognise the coastal zone as a vital economic zone and to support sustainable coastal economies, and

to facilitate ecologically sustainable development in the coastal zone and promote sustainable land use planning decision-making, and

to mitigate current and future risks from coastal hazards, taking into account the effects of climate change, and

to recognise that the local and regional scale effects of coastal processes, and the inherently ambulatory and dynamic nature of the shoreline, may result in the loss of coastal land to the sea (including estuaries and other arms of the sea), and to manage coastal use and development accordingly, and

to promote integrated and co-ordinated coastal planning, management and reporting, and

to encourage and promote plans and strategies to improve the resilience of coastal assets to the impacts of an uncertain climate future including impacts of extreme storm events, and

to ensure co-ordination of the policies and activities of government and public authorities relating to the coastal zone and to facilitate the proper integration of their management activities, and

to support public participation in coastal management and planning and greater public awareness, education and understanding of coastal processes and management actions, and

to facilitate the identification of land in the coastal zone for acquisition by public or local authorities in order to promote the protection, enhancement, maintenance and restoration of the environment of the coastal zone, and

to support the objects of the Marine Estate Management Act 2014.

In this Act—

beach means an area that is generally composed of sand or pebbles or similar sediment that extends landwards from the lowest astronomical tide to the line of vegetation or bedrock or structure.

beach fluctuation zone means the range of natural locations a beach profile occupies from its fully accreted condition to its fully eroded condition, with—

a landward limit defined by the escarpment resulting from the erosion associated with a 1% storm event or a more extreme event of record, whichever is the greater landward limit, and

a seaward limit that is the 40m depth seaward of the highest astronomical tide for the open coast and 10m depth seaward of the highest astronomical tide for estuaries or tidal coastal lakes.

Note—

The beach fluctuation zone ambulates as the coastline or estuary or coastal lake foreshore experiences net long-term recession or accretion due to changes in their sediment budgets.

beach system means the processes that produce the beach fluctuation zone and the incipient foredunes and foredunes landward of the relevant beach.

coastal hazard means the following—

beach erosion,

shoreline recession,

coastal lake or watercourse entrance instability,

coastal inundation,

coastal cliff or slope instability,

tidal inundation,

erosion and inundation of foreshores caused by tidal waters and the action of waves, including the interaction of those waters with catchment floodwaters.

coastal management area means an area of the coastal zone identified in Part 2.

coastal management manual—see section 21.

coastal management program means a coastal management program prepared and adopted under Part 3.

coastal protection works means—

beach nourishment activities or works, and

activities or works to reduce the impact of coastal hazards on land adjacent to tidal waters, including (but not limited to) seawalls, revetments and groynes.

coastal sediment compartment means an area of the coast defined by its sediment flows and landforms.

coastal zone—see section 5.

coastal zone emergency action subplan means a part of a coastal management program as referred to in section 15 (3).

Department means the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

ecologically sustainable development has the same meaning as in section 6 (2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991.

electricity supply authority means a person or body engaged in the distribution of electricity to the public or in the generation of electricity for supply, directly or indirectly, to the public, whether by statute, franchise agreement or otherwise, and includes—

an energy services corporation within the meaning of the Energy Services Corporations Act 1995, and

a transmission operator or distributor (in each case within the meaning of the Electricity Supply Act 1995), and

(Repealed)

the Water Administration Ministerial Corporation constituted under the Water Management Act 2000.

essential infrastructure includes infrastructure for the following purposes—

electricity generation, transmission and distribution,

telecommunications,

rail,

roads,

gas,

sewerage systems, water supply systems or stormwater management systems,

airports, ports, shipping and harbours.

estuary means any part of a river, lake, lagoon or coastal creek whose level is periodically or intermittently affected by coastal tides, up to the highest astronomical tide.

foreshore means the area of land between the highest astronomical tide and the lowest astronomical tide.

function includes a power, authority or duty, and exercise a function includes perform a duty.

management objectives, for a coastal management area, are the management objectives for the area set out under Part 2.

NSW Coastal Council means the NSW Coastal Council established under Part 4.

public authority means a Minister of the Crown of the State, a State owned corporation, an electricity supply authority, a Public Service agency, a local council and any other public or local authority constituted by or under any Act, and includes any person or body prescribed by the regulations.

surf zone means the area from the line of the outer most breaking waves to the limit of wave run up on the beach.

Note—

The Interpretation Act 1987 contains definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this Act.

Notes included in this Act do not form part of this Act.

In this Act, the coastal zone means the area of land comprised of the following coastal management areas—

the coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area,

the coastal vulnerability area,

the coastal environment area,

the coastal use area.

The coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area means the land identified by a State environmental planning policy to be the coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area for the purposes of this Act, being land which displays the hydrological and floristic characteristics of coastal wetlands or littoral rainforests and land adjoining those features.

The management objectives for the coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area are as follows—

to protect coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests in their natural state, including their biological diversity and ecosystem integrity,

to promote the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests,

to improve the resilience of coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests to the impacts of climate change, including opportunities for migration,

to support the social and cultural values of coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests,

to promote the objectives of State policies and programs for wetlands or littoral rainforest management.

The coastal vulnerability area means the land identified by a State environmental planning policy to be the coastal vulnerability area for the purposes of this Act, being land subject to coastal hazards.

The management objectives for the coastal vulnerability area are as follows—

to ensure public safety and prevent risks to human life,

to mitigate current and future risk from coastal hazards by taking into account the effects of coastal processes and climate change,

to maintain the presence of beaches, dunes and the natural features of foreshores, taking into account the beach system operating at the relevant place,

to maintain public access, amenity and use of beaches and foreshores,

to encourage land use that reduces exposure to risks from coastal hazards, including through siting, design, construction and operational decisions,

to adopt coastal management strategies that reduce exposure to coastal hazards—

in the first instance and wherever possible, by restoring or enhancing natural defences including coastal dunes, vegetation and wetlands, and

if that is not sufficient, by taking other action to reduce exposure to those coastal hazards,

if taking that other action to reduce exposure to coastal hazards—

to avoid significant degradation of biological diversity and ecosystem integrity, and

to avoid significant degradation of or disruption to ecological, biophysical, geological and geomorphological coastal processes, and

to avoid significant degradation of or disruption to beach and foreshore amenity and social and cultural values, and

to avoid adverse impacts on adjoining land, resources or assets, and

to provide for the restoration of a beach, or land adjacent to the beach, if any increased erosion of the beach or adjacent land is caused by actions to reduce exposure to coastal hazards,

to prioritise actions that support the continued functionality of essential infrastructure during and immediately after a coastal hazard emergency,

to improve the resilience of coastal development and communities by improving adaptive capacity and reducing reliance on emergency responses.

The coastal environment area means the land identified by a State environmental planning policy to be the coastal environment area for the purposes of this Act, being land containing coastal features such as the coastal waters of the State, estuaries, coastal lakes, coastal lagoons and land adjoining those features, including headlands and rock platforms.

The management objectives for the coastal environment area are as follows—

to protect and enhance the coastal environmental values and natural processes of coastal waters, estuaries, coastal lakes and coastal lagoons, and enhance natural character, scenic value, biological diversity and ecosystem integrity,

to reduce threats to and improve the resilience of coastal waters, estuaries, coastal lakes and coastal lagoons, including in response to climate change,

to maintain and improve water quality and estuary health,

to support the social and cultural values of coastal waters, estuaries, coastal lakes and coastal lagoons,

to maintain the presence of beaches, dunes and the natural features of foreshores, taking into account the beach system operating at the relevant place,

to maintain and, where practicable, improve public access, amenity and use of beaches, foreshores, headlands and rock platforms.

The coastal use area means the land identified by a State environmental planning policy to be the coastal use area for the purposes of this Act, being land adjacent to coastal waters, estuaries, coastal lakes and lagoons where development is or may be carried out (at present or in the future).

The management objectives for the coastal use area are as follows—

to protect and enhance the scenic, social and cultural values of the coast by ensuring that—

the type, bulk, scale and size of development is appropriate for the location and natural scenic quality of the coast, and

adverse impacts of development on cultural and built environment heritage are avoided or mitigated, and

urban design, including water sensitive urban design, is supported and incorporated into development activities, and

adequate public open space is provided, including for recreational activities and associated infrastructure, and

the use of the surf zone is considered,

to accommodate both urbanised and natural stretches of coastline.

LEPs may amend SEPPs to identify coastal management areas For the avoidance of doubt, a local environmental plan under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 may amend a State environmental planning policy under that Act to identify a coastal management area (or part of such an area) for the purposes of this Act.

Note—

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, Division 3.4 deals with the making of local environmental plans, including the preparation and submission of planning proposals for the making of local environmental plans by councils and other relevant planning authorities.

Recommendation of Minister required A provision of an environmental planning instrument under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 that identifies a coastal management area (or part of such an area) for the purposes of this Act must not be made without the recommendation of the Minister administering this Act.

Hierarchy of management objectives if overlapping A single parcel of land may be identified by a State environmental planning policy as being within different coastal management areas. However, in such a case, if the management objectives of the areas are inconsistent, the management objectives of the highest of the following coastal management areas (set out highest to lowest) prevail to the extent of the inconsistency—

the coastal wetlands and littoral rainforests area,

the coastal vulnerability area,

the coastal environment area,

the coastal use area.

This Part applies to—

a local council whose local government area, or part of whose local government area, is included within the coastal zone, and

any other public authority that exercises functions in connection with the coastal zone.

The purpose of a coastal management program is to set the long-term strategy for the co-ordinated management of land within the coastal zone with a focus on achieving the objects of this Act.