walaj

As part of the ever on going research, I am looking at different areas to live. Some of the area have housing that back onto or are a few blocks away from a National Park (or more specific Ku-ring-gai chase, Sydney)

Some thoughts and queries come to mind

Nearer the park the higher the risk of bush fires - does this have drastic effect on house insurance?
More wildlife including the creepy crawlies - is it really that bad? (I'm not some one to have spiders as a pet but with greater knowledge of bad & good guys will be less 'afraid' of them)
Do people pay premiums to be in such areas - I assume so, but I'm not always right
any effect on planning permission?
Is the land (the National Park) and surrounding forests protected from further development - eg buy property looking onto NP to find a few years later a big housing development pops up!

Are there any other considerations when looking at property close to such areas?

thank you

Ceri

Can't speak for that area in Sydney, or the national parks, but our home is next to a protected Reserve/bush (it's protected by the council/state).

Insurance - I don't pay any extra with my insurance company, at least I don't think I'm paying any more than other people (there's no mention of extra premiums in my policy, so whether ours is more expensive than the "average Joe" I don't 100% know.. but I don't think it is ) , but in the rates there is a a local fire levy to pay - I think all homes pay this here in QLD irrespectively or whether you're living next to bush/reserve , or not (don't quote me on this though, I was in rentals before I bought our home - so it's the only rate bill I've had).

Last summer we had a few fires, one that was only metres away from the back of our garden/land - the firemen were out putting the fire out until gone 12 / 1am in the night - we've personally have had to dial for the fire services twice last summer due to fires - I can not fault the fire services in the least, they are very quick to attend to fires.. and I mean quick - five to ten minute's and they get there. all in All I think there were around 6 to 8 fires broke out in our area last year - all were contained , except where one did get a bit too close .. the neighbours at the very end of our street had to be evacuated as the fire got too close to their home for comfort. The fire service are excellent in our area - can't fault them.

This I would say is the only major downfall of living next to the bush - fires, but you learn to be aware. Funny really the same bush that is threat to us with fire also protects us in wind/storms - we've had a few major storms in the area - ie homes damaged, trees across the main roads.. power lines knocked down - but home always seems protected - the bush behind us blocks out a lot of these wind storms (except for last storm - tree knocked down in the garden, but I wasn't here to see it - I was away)

any effect on planning permission? - you are going to have to check this out with your local council , or state in NSW, different councils/different areas - different rules.. here you can't remove tree's without council perrmission. Can't build in fibro,( although there are some of these older homes around, but they were built years ago)

"Is the land (the National Park) and surrounding forests protected from further development - eg buy property looking onto NP to find a few years later a big housing development pops up!"
---> National parks are supposed to be protected "forever", but nothing is forever ( try telling that to the mining industry).. So who knows? It's certainly should be protected for now, but I'm sure if the state government wanted to build a new road through, or sell off some of the land for houses.. they would try their damnedest to do so...
You can go to your local council offices and check out if there are any plans for future development.
Try buying above a flood plain (above a creek, or a temp creek ) - it's harder for any potential developers to get permission to build and get insurance.

So, what you could do regarding some of your questions is:
Go and get a few quotes (or go throught the process of completing an online insurance.. but without submitting your payment at the end of course.. you'll have to find the post code of the area your intending to buy/build to do this) on house insurance, there are a few online insurers here in Aus, so you can check that one out pretty easily.
Future planning - you can ask, or do a search with in your council (by either going there, or submitting forms from their web site, there is a cost to pay with most councils for this service).

"More wildlife including the creepy crawlies - is it really that bad? (I'm not some one to have spiders as a pet but with greater knowledge of bad & good guys will be less 'afraid' of them"----->
Spiders - we certainly get more in our home than any previous homes we've had, but I've never had one a bed etc.. They usually stick to running around the walls and scuttling across the living room and dining room floors.. they are timid. .. just take the usual precautions like shaking out your shoes etc. Snakes - haven't had one inside the house . Again precautions - don't leave wood lying around the garden, or anything that can be used for a "hide out". If you don't want snakes - don't keep birds such as chickens - I have a friend who keeps chickens, and this summer he came across three brown snakes ( on seperate occasions) near the coop.. One of our neighbours keeps budgies - she's had a few eaten by carpet snakes.
speaking of which - we had a little brown mouse in our garage over the weekend - he was cute (we caught him and lem him into the bush) .. I can't work it out if it was a house mouse or one of the native ones ( there is a native one a "planigale" that looks very similar to a house mouse) .. now where's the snake that chased it ? (before anybody says did it have a pouch.. only the females have pounches on this native mouse)

I certainly would not say it's bad at all - you just learn a bit of caution. The good points far out weigh the downfalls - I certainly would not want to live in a home surrounded by thousands of other homes.. to me that's a jungle, and far more dangerous

cheers

walaj

thanks Ceri. That was a very imformative and indepth post.

no intention to keep chooks, but may get a dog (another one of those things put off til we go to Oz).

Waking up with spider crawling across the bed would not be fun (and glad it does not happen), but a few spiders should ensure that my mother does not overstay her welcome