Fishers Having A Win Maybe.
A few years ago now Forrest Beach south of Bunbury was closed off to vehicles by a local landowner who erected a fence extending down the beach into the water and today I found out that he has been given 14 days to remove the fence because he only owns the land to the" high "water mark and from the high water out three nautical miles is state owned so the fence is not legal. The local Shire council from what I can gather doesn't have duristinction either. If that applies in the Capel Shire Council it must be the same along the rest of the coast line including Binningup Beach. I've got the local Abc radio presenter in Bunbury who has the morning programme to find out whats the go and looks like being on tommorrow at 10 o'clock. I'm just wondering why it's taken two years for him to be told to pull it down. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow.
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Buz
Posts: 1555
Date Joined: 28/08/07
Didnt he only fence it off
Didnt he only fence it off due to him being told he has to insure the beach as its part of his 'property' too?
I was of the impression he didnt really care for the people using the beach or not, but if he couldnt 'insure' it or refused too he had to close it off, or else run the risk of someone injuring themselve on 'his' beach and sueing him?
MattMiller
Posts: 4171
Date Joined: 15/06/09
Yep
I heard the same Buz.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
thats the story
thats the story i was told it was fenced off because of an insurance issue
sea-kem
Posts: 15036
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Sounds like miscommunication
Sounds like miscommunication or beaurocracy gone mad. Didn't think you could 'own' beach. We had issues buillding our beach access at Seabird which runs down the dune onto the beach all sorts of hoops to jump through. Native title being one.
Love the West!
Buz
Posts: 1555
Date Joined: 28/08/07
From what i remember reading
From what i remember reading i the local paper when this whole debacle kicked off, this farmer and his family DID actually own the beach. Something to do with it being that way when their first family members settled it eons ago, and because its been in their family ever since it hasnt changed. I think if they sell it though and the property changed hands the beach goes back to being public land.
It was a while ago but as i said i think he only fenced it off to 'stop' people accessing it, incase they got injured and sued him. Because up until that point his farm insurance didnt include the beach, then they decided to change it on him, and really what choice did he have, pay the extra insurance for a strip of land that he doesnt use and has no way of regulating it to make sure people dont get injured? I think he was hoping with enough public outcry the council would cover the cost of insuring the beach, but i think the council didnt want to because technically it was Private Property. And i dont think he was going to hand over a big chunk of land for free over to the council or state, and they werent willing to buy it off him.
Hopefully its all sorted though.
sea-kem
Posts: 15036
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Beaurocracy gone mad then.
Beaurocracy gone mad then.
Love the West!
tot
Posts: 1162
Date Joined: 31/01/10
also
what iv been told is you can camp anywhere - overnight , within the high tide line for the same reason. true or false??
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Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
Yes its been pretty frustrating
To say the least. The greatest issue for people still wanting to use the beach for example during March, April, May, June for the beach Mulloway season were pretty much treading on each others toes. As well as that the "tiny" section between the perimeter fence and the no go zone put in place by the shire left about 400 metres of beach to fish. People being the creatures they were still wanted to enjoy accessing the beach and use their 4X4's, it didn't take long for the small section of beach to become very "carved up" by the vehicles. When the beach was open without the perimeter fence this situation never occurred ( and I've fished the beach at that time of the year for over 20 seasons). Hopefully when the beach is opened again people will accept this as a blessing and use the stretch of beach available to us very sensibly for fear of losing it all over again. Yep Bureauracy gone nuts for sure.
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
I think he used to be a
I think he used to be a shire councillor in Capel, so those guys do what they want. I remember one shire councillor in Capel who used to have the road up to his place graded every week up to his driveway and anyone else living further up had shocking road all the way to them.
Cheers
Dale
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Dizzy
Posts: 753
Date Joined: 21/02/11
Lots of old properties still
Lots of old properties still have boundaries extending to the HWM, and (due to the expense of legal costs & buying the land) the govt won't do anything unless there's a dire need to do so.
But if he ever wants to subdivide, there'll be a big fat condition from WAPC for him to give up a strip of land that'll be dedicated as a foreshore reserve free of charge - and then it's up to him to challenge it to get fair remuneration / compensation.
Howard George
Posts: 544
Date Joined: 10/03/11
It's A mess
What the story this morning revealed that you have some landowners who properties go to the mean high water mark like the Forrest family property but further along the beach the Roberts family property goes the low water mark and as Paul Sheedy the CEO of the Capel shire said "It's a nightmare trying to manage it all" which I think is a fair statement. I personally think it's about time the State Government through Landgate sorted this whole mess out and either bought the beach's from the landowners or compulsory acquire them similar to what Allannah wanted to do with the wetlands on peoples properties.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
the nanny state
yep people can't be left alone to their own devices, if you are an idiot and you come unstuck the first thing most idiots do is look for some one or body to sue. gone are the days when you took care and planned before you did something and you accepted the responcability of your own actions,like if you jump of a jetty into shallow water and break your neck,it's your own fault. if you go into the large surf and get dumped you should take it as your own responcability.