Byron Bay millionaire property owners lose seawall court fight

A court has blocked a bid by three Byron Bay beachfront residents’ to protect their multimillion-dollar properties against the sea with more than 900 tonnes of rock.

A court has blocked a bid by three Byron Bay beachfront residents’ to protect their multimillion-dollar properties against the sea with more than 900 tonnes of rock.

Retailer John James, former Seek.com.au director Bob Watson and businessman Geoffrey Tauber lost their appeal in the NSW Planning and Environment Court on Friday.

One of the properties at Belongil Beach

The Belongil Beach property owners have been fighting against the tide since Byron Shire Council installed a sea wall to protect the nearby town in 1964, the Northern Star reports.

In the latest court stoush, Justice Brian John Prescott denied the appeal because the proposed expansion of sea walls would block public access and beachgoers would not be able to stroll past the rocks at high tide.

A beachfront home protected by temporary sandbags at Belongil.

The sea wall expansion would block public access and beachgoers would not be able to stroll past the rocks at high tide, the court ruled.

Under threat.... Properties at Belongi.

In January 2017, the three property owners applied to the NSW Transitional Coastal Panel to dump more than 900 tonnes of rock along a combined 120m to stop the sea from eroding their properties.

The panel refused the application to bolster the existing sea walls at Belongil Beach in September 2017.

The panel decided the planned works did not show the wall would protect the land over 30 years, it would set an “undesirable precedent” and would “limit public access to, and use of, the beach”.

Belongil Beach has been ripped apart big seas.

Property owners along the exclusive Belongil Beach have been fighting to improve their sea walls for years.

In 2010, they filed a Supreme Court case against Byron Shire Council, blaming the sea wall that has protected the town centre since 1964 forcausing erosion at their properties.

In 2016, eleven owners were paid $2.75 million and were allowed to keep their sea walls as long as Byron Shire Council did not have to pay to maintain them.