2021-10-12 P&E Agenda - Item 2 - Attachment 6 - Cost Benefit Analysis

COST BENEFIT ASSESSMENT – PROPOSED LOCAL LAW AMENDMENT: SHORT STAY
LETTING & HOME HOSTED ACCOMMODATION

The requirement for short stay letting premises to adopt a code of conduct for guest behaviour and to appoint a
local contact person to respond to complaints within 30 minutes of notification will result in lesser incidence of
adverse effects due to a combination of Council specifications for use, enhanced understanding of acceptable
guest behaviour and better local resolution of unacceptable guest behaviour. It is anticipated that such controls will
lead to avoided noise disturbances and an improvement in the general health and wellbeing of residents. While not
all of the issues raised by residents in the consultation process will be addressed by the local law (e.g. turnover of
guests, service/trade activity) given that short-term accommodation will still be allowed to take place (if lawful), the
local law does also aim to mitigate these adverse effects through appropriate local controls.

WHO (2011) identified a range of adverse health effects associated with environmental noise, which can be applied
to a residential disturbance impact setting in the following manner:

•    Cardiovascular disease – there is concern about the impact of environmental noise on public health,
     particularly regarding cardiovascular outcomes and the risk of hypertension.

•    Sleep disturbances – noise disturbances significantly impact the capacity of individuals to effectively relax and
     achieve the desired length and pattern of sleep.

•    Cognitive impairment – as a consequence of impacted sleep, affected individuals may have concentration and
     productivity issues in undertaking work and other activities.

•    Annoyance – noise and other disturbances can create stress through continued annoyance, which over time
     may result in suffering and mental anguish for affected individuals.

•    Anxiety – the combined effect of the ongoing turnover of ‘neighbours’, different noise disturbance experiences
     and the lack of capacity to ensure appropriate behaviour from visitors creates uncertainty for affected
     individuals over the type of visitor that will next arrive, causing ongoing anxiety.

Residential amenity will also be enhanced by ensuring appropriate conduct for vehicle parking, use of premises,
waste management, traffic and safety, etc. Such aspects of amenity are deemed to be impacted by short stay
accommodation in the current environment due to the fact that commercial lodging activity is being undertaken in
traditional residential areas. By establishing conditions on the approval to operate short stay letting and home
hosted accommodation activities (e.g. appropriate waste management, onsite parking capacity), the adverse
residential amenity effects associated with such activities should be reduced.

4.3.3        Assumptions
Jensen, H., et al. (2019) included an assessment of the impact of noise on residents in high density dwellings which
is somewhat related to a residential disturbance from short stay accommodation setting given it considers noise
within a residential context and noise that impacts quality of life and potentially impacts sleep and general lifestyle
patterns. This study identified 35.6% of residents in high density dwellings as being bothered by noise from
neighbours, with:

•    24.5% of very bothered residents suffering from sleeping problems or insomnia, 16.4% suffering from
     melancholy, depression or unhappiness and 16.4% suffering from anxiety, nervousness, restlessness or
     apprehension.

•    15.5% of slightly bothered residents suffering from sleeping problems or insomnia, 9.7% suffering from
     melancholy, depression or unhappiness and 10.1% suffering from anxiety, nervousness, restlessness or
     apprehension.

In a study of the burden of disease on people from environmental noise, WHO (2011) indicated disability weights 7
of 0.07 for insomnia and 0.02 for general annoyance. In a study of the burden of mental disorders on people, Vos,
T. (2000) indicated disability weights of 0.23 for anxiety and 0.14 for mild depression.




7 A component to measuring the Disability Adjusted Life Year – a measure of the burden of health problems/risks measured between 0 and 1.




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