Source : Perth Now news
Dwellingup is in danger of becoming a “weekend town” and losing its primary school unless the brakes are put on the spread of short-term rentals, a community survey has found.
Landowners in Dwellingup and surrounding rural areas were surveyed by the Shire of Murray in preparation of its draft unhosted short-term rental accommodation (STRA) planning policy.
The policy aims to introduce development guidelines and outline where STRAs can open without development approval.
Shire approval will still be needed for larger STRAs and for any proposed in Dwellingup. They will also be limited to the town centre.
The town has consistently been recognised as one of WA’s best tourism destinations and is heavily marketed as such.
Attractions include the Dwellingup Adventure Trails, Lane Pool Reserve, Forest Discovery Centre and Dwaarlindjirraap Bridge.
But a shire report said there was a critical shortage of permanent housing.
“Proposals will be required to clearly demonstrate that they do not result in a reduction in the availability of permanent residential accommodation,” it said.
“The policy does not impose a blanket prohibition on unhosted STRA in Dwellingup and surrounding localities.
“The amended approach seeks to balance the economic benefits of tourism with the overriding need to protect permanent housing supply, community sustainability and essential services in Dwellingup.
“(it) recognises Dwellingup’s constrained housing market, small population base and reliance on permanent residents to sustain essential services.”
The shire received 91 submissions when it sought comment from the area, which the report said was a “substantial” sample.
“The survey demonstrates community support for tourism but clear opposition to continued unrestricted growth of unhosted STRA where it undermines permanent housing, school viability, workforce stability and community cohesion,” it said.
Unhosted STRA was seen as reducing the amount of properties available to buy or rent in the town.
“Many describe Dwellingup as becoming a ‘weekend town’, with houses vacant mid-week,” the council report said.
One submission said the town was “dead” Mondays to Fridays, while another said some businesses were open only Fridays to Sundays.
Several submissions said people had wanted to live in the town but were unable to find long-term housing.
“A lot of the houses that come on to the market are well out of the reach of young families, partly due to investors purchasing houses for STRA pushing the price up,” one submission said.
“My husband and I, along with our two young daughters, have been knocked back on two properties due to higher offers from people over east wanting to use these properties for Airbnbs/holiday homes,” another said.
The housing shortage was also linked to declining enrolments at Dwellingup Primary School, threatening its viability, and a lack of workers for local businesses.
“The school is always struggling each year to achieve numbers to keep the school open,” one submission said.
Another said the school was the heart of the community.
“Once that has gone the community will die as the ageing population will not be replaced with a younger generation,” it said.
More than half of the survey respondents believed there were too many unhosted STRAs and more than three-quarters said they had negative or mixed impacts.
“(Short-term renters) are there specifically to have a good time and believe they have paid the right to do so and therefore do things they would not normally do in their own quiet neighbourhood,” one submission said.
Some submissions called for purpose-built STRA or not allowing any more at all, while others backed allowing STRAs as they believed the town’s future was in tourism.
“Short-term holiday rentals directly increase tourist spending because they enable visitors to stay longer, travel in groups and spend more locally,” one said.
As of April, there were 104 properties in the shire listed on the State Government’s STRA register. Of these, 29 were listed as hosted accommodation and 75 as unhosted.
The council voted unanimously at its April 23 meeting to release the draft policy for comment.
It was first presented in December but the council deferred it so it could hold a targeted survey of Dwellingup.
Deputy shire president Ange Rogers said this was the right choice as it had received a lot more submissions.
“After hearing their voices a little more loudly, I think the outcome will be better in the long term,” she said.
