By Darren Coyne
A Lismore councillor is trying to prevent environmental zones and ‘biodiversity overlays’ being re-introduced into the Lismore City Council’s Local Environment Plan.
Cr Greg Bennett has lodged a notice of motion for next week’s council meeting calling for the exclusions of such zones from any planning proposal, except within urban areas.
E zones were removed from the LEP following a directive from the state government, which announced it was undertaking a review of the zones.
The removal of the E-zones led to Bundjalung man Michael Ryan successfully challenging the council’s attempt to re-zone land on the North Lismore Plateau for a massive residential development around the same size as Goonellebah.
The state government subsequently approved a second rezoning attempt by reintroducing the E-Zones that had been publicly displayed. Mr Ryan has vowed to fight that approval in court also.
The council’s strategic planner Paula Newman has pointed out that the only land with current E-Zones is the North Lismore Plateau, with all other areas mapped as ‘deferred matter’, awaiting consultation with landowners and the state government.
But Cr Bennett maintains that E-Zones and biodiversity overlays are ‘completely unacceptable’
‘..if council wishes to protect environmental aspects on private land then it should buy that land at market price and maintain it, not paying for land is in my opinion regulatory theft and making landowners work for no remuneration is something you would expect in the dark ages,’ Cr Bennet said in comments to his notice of motion.
Cr Bennett, an organic farmer, said rezoning land from agricultural RU1 to Environmental brought about a raft of changes ‘detrimental to the landowner’.
‘This rezoning of land removes the right to conduct many agricultural activities, reduces landowners to existing use rights, devalues property, removes the right to exempt and complying development in most instances and requires the landowner to ‘Protect, Maintain and Improve’ the environmental aspects of the land for no payment or compensation for work done,’ he said.
He said biodiversity overlays would create new restrictions on rural land which would come into play when a development application was lodged for something like a farm shed.
‘Once a DA is lodged council can and will apply a raft of conditions and require extra reports to support the development,’ he said.
‘This will greatly increase the cost of the DA and possibly make it cost prohibitive.
‘Most farmers simply will not be able to afford to do development their properties. ‘
Meanwhile, Strategic Planner Paula Newman said the council would be conducting workshops on possible LEP amendments on 28 June, followed by consultations with landowners.
Her advice to councillors is that it would be premature to remove E-Zones from a future planning process to rezone land mapped as Deferred Matter prior to those consultations taking place.
The Lismore City Council meets next Tuesday at 6pm at the chambers in Goonellabah.
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