Proposed planning scheme policy for agricultural buffers

The purpose of the planning scheme policy is to:

• Provide guidance for the design, construction and ongoing maintenance of agricultural buffers to minimise conflicts between agricultural operations and sensitive land uses (e.g. residential uses and urban development)
• Inform the design of new residential development proposed adjacent to agricultural land uses in order to limit impact on lawful agricultural operations
• Provide appropriate design considerations and maintenance advice to ensure buffers are effective in mitigating off-farm impacts adjacent to sensitive land uses
• Support applicants in satisfying the requirements of the planning scheme, and to assist development assessment officers in their assessment of new development applications that require agricultural buffers.

The Institute is calling for member feedback, views, and comments on the draft planning scheme policy, specifically how this may affect the ability to deliver residential communities and urban development.

It is our understanding that council is looking to introduce the use of covenants to ensure protection and maintenance of the buffers and establish a period prior to the buffer being put ‘on-maintenance’.

We are keen to understand members views on the proposed separation distances and widths, and prescribed vegetation heights and types within the draft policy. These details can be found within council’s supporting material here.

Any views that you have on this can be provided to Policy Executive, Robert Tily via email or on (07) 3229 1589.

Email Robert