Draft Bushfire Risk Reduction Notice

At an Ordinary Council Meeting in May 2024, Busselton Council voted to endorse the adoption of the 2024-2025 Bushfire Risk Reduction Notice, subject to amending point 5 of the Managed Fuel Area definition within the Notice.

Further details on the adoption of the notice will be outlined in the Council minutes, which when published can be found here.

City officers will now develop and roll out a range of engagement and education activities to articulate the requirements of the adopted Notice, including the requirements with regards to Flammable Material, to ensure community understanding and compliance.

Following the 6 week community consultation period, the project Community Reference Group met 8^th March to consider the feedback and suggestions that were received from the broader community.

This resulted in a number of changes, including the order of the notice, changes to requirements of category 1, removal of category 2b, and changes to the requirements in both category 2 and 3 that apply to properties with habitable dwellings. A significant number of changes were also implemented to the definitions, with a full summary available in the report 6.3 of the Bush Fire Advisory Committee meeting 12 March 2024 (unconfirmed minutes here), where the notice was considered and endorsed by the committee.

City officers have since discussed the project with Karri Karrak, with no changes requested to the presented Notice. A report to Council on the project requesting their endorsement for implementation for the 24/25 Summer will be listed on the Agenda of the Ordinary Council meeting May 15.

A community engagement session is scheduled between 330-530pm on Friday 3^rd May in the Undalup room in the City Administration Building. Interested community members are invited to attend to understand how the notice that will be presented to council may apply to them.

Community members also have the opportunity to present their thoughts on the item at the Community Access Schedule on the 8^th of May.