2021-10-12 Planning & Environment Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                   12 OCTOBER 2021


•     be managed by the Short Stay Local Laws team within the Development Assessment branch;
•     be available 24/7;
•     receive and record complaints;
•     notify the contact person responsible for the property of the complaint;
•     record the action undertaken by the contact person;
•     notify the complainant of action taken; and
•     maintain a centralised register of complaints reported to the Short Stay Local Laws team for
      action.
Under the provisions of the proposed local law, the contact person must respond within 30 minutes
of receiving the complaint. The complaint hotline will attempt to notify the contact person 3 times
over a 30 minute period.
Where the contact person fails to be contacted within 30 minutes and / or no action is taken to
remedy the complaint, this will be recorded and reported to Council for further compliance action.
Note: The contact person must still maintain their own register of complaints in accordance with
the proposed local law requirements.
4.2.2 Security
When Council resolved to undertake public consultation about the proposed local law, Council also
resolved to investigate incorporating a Council employed security firm replicating the Mornington
Peninsula model.
Mornington Peninsula approach
Mornington Peninsula’s local law requires registration of all short stay let and home hosted
accommodation properties; a contact person to manage the property and deal with complaints; and
guests to adhere to a code of conduct.
During the first three years of implementation of the local law, Mornington used security services
to patrol, observe and take evidence of non-complying properties on Friday and Saturday nights
between 10pm – 2am and during peak periods. Security did not enter a property nor take any
intervention, reporting their observational findings the following business day to Council.
Rather than roaming security patrols, Mornington are now trialling the deployment of security on
an as needs basis to 10-20 identified problem properties. Residents contact security directly 24/7
and security notify the contact person of the complaint and observe and take evidence only and
report to Council for action the following business day.
Security options for Noosa
Two options have been considered for the use of after hours security service to support the
proposed local law.
Option 1 - On-site intervention
The on-site intervention approach involves a 3rd party security firm responding to and resolving a
complaint at the property in the absence of the nominated contact person dealing with it.
This approach requires substantial amendments to the proposed local law to authorise a 3rd party
to act on Council’s behalf, including required qualifications, extent and limitations of power and
conditions in which they operate, identity cards, offences and matters of liability and insurance.
State agency referral and further public consultation would also be required.
There is potential for additional legal, state agency and community issues to be raised with the
approach, potentially further delaying the process. Any further delays will likely result in some level
of negative response from stakeholders and loss of trust in the local law making process.
In addition, scope to exercise powers under the local law are restricted by the rights of an occupier
to not permit the security officer on site and the inability to enter a private property with a locked

                                                                                      Page 16 of 185