The Lismore City Council will hold back – for now – on a proposal to reduce the available land for rural land sharing developments.
Cr Adam Guise successfully amended a motion that would have resulted in the amount of land available for rural land sharing being reduced from 19,000 hectares to 4,000 hectares under the council’s Growth Management Strategy.
In March, the council resolved to support amendments to the Lismore Local Environment Plan to allow the subdivision of approved and new rural landsharing communities (RLSC) using community title provisions, and to reduce the area of the Lismore Local Government Area (LGA) in which new rural landsharing communities would be considered.
The proposal would have reduced the available land by 80 per cent,.
‘This reduction of potential area for community title is significant,’ Cr Guise said.
‘Restricting rural land sharing development to just some of the LGA’s villages and not others – notably Larnook, Cawongla, Jiggi, Rosebank, Corndale etc – does not adequately acknowledge the character of these villages and the role they would play in supporting multiple occupancy developments.
‘While I certainly support the sentiment of taking pressure off our roads and infrastructure by preventing urban sprawl, as well as protecting farmland, my personal experience with rural multiple occupancies demonstrates them to be of a positive net benefit to agriculture, pest/weed management and environmental rehabilitation.
‘I feel we need more people – especially younger people – returning to the land in order to farm and manage it.
‘RLSC development potentially offers people lower cost housing; water, energy and waste self sufficiency; and a lifestyle that works more harmoniously with the environment.
‘Let’s use RLSC development to help Lismore achieve it’s namesake of ‘great garden’!’
Cr Greg Bennett has expressed concerns that 3,500 hectares being considered for rural land sharing was prime agricultural land, and that other ratepayers would end up subsidizing any future developments.
Thank you for not restricting MO land. MO Communities are the only way many young people can afford to get back onto the land.
Not everyone wants to raise cattle or grow grain. Intensive market gardens require more people to work the land, but they are more productive than pasture and grain. Organic market gardens end up putting less chemicals and pollutants into the local ecosystem as well.
A wide variety of locally grown produce as well as adequate conservation areas is a good outcome for prime agricultural land, and a darn sight better than fracking!!
In this age of climate change, we need more MOs, and more local food security, not less.
Perhaps to alleviate any concerns about land use, designate a certain amount of land within MOs for agriculture.
With the concern in mind that we not lace too much pressure on roads and infrastructure to out reaching communities Why not open up some of the land immediately around lismore for agricultural land sharing communities. Sustainable practises can reduce the need for infrastructure by using rainwater tanks, composting dunnies, solar power and market gardens could provide income for these communities.