Change does not come easy at Sydney’s wealthy Palm Beach, where many residents are angry over development plans they claim could turn the elite enclave into Mosman, Noosa or – heaven forbid – Dee Why, a hotbed of high-rise a few kilometres down the coast.

Their ire is focused on plans by Rich Lister Robin Khuda, who made his $600 million fortune from data centres, to redevelop the local fish and chip shop into apartments and retail, in the process modifying a development application approved in 2014.