At the December meeting of Council held in Jindabyne last night, the recommendations presented for the Draft Rural Land Use Strategy resulted in much debate and an adjournment for future discussion.
Extensive discussion was held around inclusions in the strategy, such as E3 – currently out on exhibition, formation of a steering committee, and a further extension of the consultation period.
The previously announced strategic consultation process will continue as planned.
Mayor Peter Beer thanked the staff for taking the initiative to bring the issue back before the council to think about the next steps of consultation. He said, “The team has met with all of the people who have made submissions, have conducted 30 meetings including meeting with 29 community groups across all corners of the LGA, and as a result made a clear recommendation based on this.”
Given the consultation period is fully underway, Councillors would like to complete this process with no change to the information currently out for public comment. There is a large amount of information to review and many face-to face meetings have been held to date. Councillors are listening to community concerns over the E3 zone inclusions and will work towards achieving good outcomes for the community from this process.
There were also concerns about clarity of the strategies taking into account the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct (SAP). Once the SAP masterplan is released and the SAP boundaries confirmed, Council will re-consult with the community and amend strategies in line with this. The SAP area is a small part of the Snowy Monaro region that the Rural Land Use Strategy applies to ie. region-wide so Council needs to continue progressing through the consultation process. With this in mind, amendments will be made in consideration of the SAP.
The consultation period was extended from the original and the advertised close date is 1 February 2021. After this date, Council’s strategy and executive teams will formally assess the submissions and report to Council on the matters of concern plus recommendations to address outstanding issues.
The February cut off is an important step in the consultation process as that will give Council the opportunity for review and recommendation, consideration of extension, and formal acknowledgement of concerns raised to date. Preparation of the next stage of the Community Engagement plan will then commence with consideration of various community engagement options. This also times well with the potential release of the SAP masterplan proposed for March 2021.
The following engagement activities have been conducted to date showing the networking across all areas of the LGA. These are face to face meetings with community, in addition to media placement, social media and website materials.
• 29 October – Community Consultation Session Jindabyne
• 4 November – Community Consultation Session Cooma
• 5 November – Meeting with Canberra Region Joint Organisation (CRJO)
• 10 November – Community Consultation Session Bombala
• 11 November – Online Community Consultation Sessions
• 12 November – Community Consultation Session Berridale
• 17 November – Michelago Workshop (three sessions)
• 18 November – Online Community Consultation Sessions
• 19 November – Kybeyan Workshop (three sessions)
• 20 November – Community Consultation Session Bombala
• 20 November – Meeting with Monaro Farming Systems
• 24 November – Meeting with RFS
• 24 November – Meeting with NSW Farmers
• 25 November – Online Community Consultation Sessions
• 3 December – Councillor Briefing
• 8 December – Smiths Road Workshop sessions (three sessions)
• 10 December – Michelago Community Vision Workshop
• 11 December – Community Meeting Calabash/Tinderry area
• 14 December – Community Meeting Shannons Flat area
• 17 December – Council Meeting
Upcoming:
• 21 December – Jerangle Workshop (two sessions)
• 22 December – South East Timber Association Private Native Forest Workshop/Field Day
• January 2021 – Adaminaby Community Consultation Session
• January 2021 – Department of Planning
• January 2021 – Biodiversity Conservation Division of DPIE
Approximately 2000 individual letters have been sent to community groups plus landholders potentially impacted by proposed changes to either land zone or minimum lot size.
Council has also recorded more than 2000 interactions on the YourSay website (public exhibition portal) where the maps and strategies are housed for public viewing.
Council thanks those community members who have already made a submission on these strategies. All submissions received will be included in the final report going back to the Councillors for review.
