Published on Friday, 8 December 2023 at 1:30:34 PM
MEDIA RELEASE
Local Planning Policy on Tree Farms out for Public Consultation
At the Shire of Perenjori’s Ordinary Council Meeting held on the 23 November 2023, a resolution was passed to advertise a new local planning policy that ensures Council will have increased guidance when assessing any application for a Tree Farm.
Traditional agricultural activities such as cropping, grazing, and food production should generally remain the predominant land use with tree farms as ancillary and complementary. The new policy does not attempt to introduce maximum planting areas by means of a percentage of the lot area as there needs to be some flexibility. As a general rule the Shire will assess if a tree farm is ‘ancillary’ taking into account;
- The area of each lot;
- The proportion or percentage of the tree farm area on a lot by lot basis. Generally, a 30-35% maximum planting area is encouraged, although each application will be assessed on its merits on a ‘case by case’ basis;
- The extent of existing remnant vegetation areas and
- Whether a significant portion of each lot can continue to be used for agriculture.
Council will be able to clearly identify whether agriculture remains as the primary use, simply because detailed site plans are lodged for all applications and show the extent of planting areas.
This policy aims to actively encourage the integration of tree planting with traditional agricultural farming activities. It will not generally support the planting of whole lots for tree planting due to the potential for the displacement of agricultural pursuits, reduced population and loss of agricultural land.
The Shire President, Cr Jude Sutherland, advised “that there needs to be a policy in place that provides guidance on the Council’s position on tree farms for harvesting or the planting of native species for carbon sequestration’.
The Council will follow the procedures for advertising a local planning policy and will be putting it out for public consultation over the December 2023/ January 2024 period. Follow the link below to access the draft policy:
/Profiles/perenjori/Assets/ClientData/Attachment_Tree_FarmsDraft_Policy_V3_November_2023.pdf
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