New plan to save historic homes

LISMORE City Council has been granted an exemption allowing flood-impacted homes to be relocated to rural blocks, potentially saving many historic houses

The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has granted the exemption which means the council can consider relocating houses purchased through the NSW Reconstruction Authority’s Resilient Homes program to existing rural properties where it had not previously been permitted.

Under the Lismore Local Environmental Plan, there are restrictions on the number of houses allowed on rural blocks. Generally, this is one house per 40 hectares, but the entitlement varies, depending on historical factors and site suitability.

The community has expressed a desire to preserve structurally sound buy-back homes and the mayor says the exemption offered a “common sense solution” to save historic homes.

The council’s head of planning, Graham Snow, said it’s senseless to abandon structurally sound homes when they could be relocated to accommodate people.

“It doesn’t make sense that we have hundreds of abandoned houses that are structurally sound that could be housing people,” he said.

“The challenge is to find suitable sites where they could be relocated.” The Reconstruction Authority’s Resilient Lands program has helped provide new residential lots in Goonellabah, East Lismore and North Lismore, and the exemption opens the rural housing possibilities.

The exemption will last until September 30, 2026, and applies only to existing lots. No additional rural subdivisions below the minimum lot size are permissible.

A development assessment is required to relocate a home, and the council has implemented a streamlined application process specifically for the resiting of dwellings that have been purchased under the Resilient Homes Program.

Houses that have been gifted will be considered under this plan, and the NSW Reconstruction Authority is looking to run a pilot ‘expression of interest’ process to gauge interest in the purchase of flood-impacted dwellings.

Lismore Council has prepared a Fact Sheet about re-siting dwellings to rural lots and the exemption terms on its website, www.lismore.nsw.gov.au which outlines the eligibility criteria.