ONE of Council’s long-awaited important planning projects has been given the green light with NSW Planning and Environment approving Kempsey Shire Council’s Rural Residential Land Release Strategy.
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This was one of the high priorities for Council and has been prepared as part of Council’s role in planning for population and housing growth.
Throughout the preparation of the strategy, areas of high quality farmland, animal and vegetation habitat have been excluded from the identified rural residential release areas.
This presents a good balance between preserving the natural values the community has identified as being important, while providing opportunities for housing and lifestyle growth within the Kempsey Shire in a sustainable way.
The carefully developed plan boosts existing supply of rural residential land in the Shire by identifying an additional potential 1225 lots for future rural residential use across 10 localities.
Most of the additional land earmarked is contained in areas adjacent to existing land zoned rural residential, along with new potential areas identified at Kundabung and Yarrahapinni. Rural residential land in the Kempsey Shire is currently zoned R5 Large Lot Residential.
This is land that generally has a minimum lot size of one hectare. Land identified in the completed Land Release Strategy for potential future rural residential use would have a similar minimum lot size, depending on site specific characteristics.
Some recommendations on land zoned RU4 Primary Production Small Lots have been made with the potential to decrease the lot sizes to four hectares. This aspect will also be considered in the broader Rural Lands Strategy to be undertaken by Council in the future.
Throughout the project, Council engaged with interested and affected landowners holding workshops and public information sessions, along with newsletters that provided updates on the progress of the strategy.
We would like to thank the community and stakeholders for their patience and participation in preparing this strategy, the valuable input received was a key part of the project’s success. The final newsletter for the project will be issued in early 2015. The next important step is to implement the strategy.
A key part of this next stage will be to continue to engage with the community, and Council will be writing to individual landowners whose land is identified within release areas inviting them to a series of workshops. The workshops will provide landowners with advice on the way Council plans to implement the strategy, particularly on how landholders can move to prepare planning proposals should they wish to rezone their land.
The Rural Residential Land Release Strategy in the final form approved by NSW Planning and Environment can be viewed on Council’s website. I look forward to providing further updates on the progress of the strategy and how it translates into delivering better planning outcomes and viable development for the Kempsey Shire.