Proposal to halve rural lot sizes to 40ha

COUNCIL: Yass Valley Council has revisited plans to move forward with a proposal to reduce minimum lot sizes in rural subdivisions by half, to 40 hectares.

Yass Valley Mayor Rowena Abbey and Goulburn MP Pru Goward have met with Minister for Planning Rob Stokes to discuss council’s Rural Lands Planning Proposal (RLPP).

Council’s RLPP aims to reduce the minimum lot size for rural subdivision from 80ha to 40ha, which was the recommendation of the local Rural Lands Planning Committee in 2012.

“We had a very productive meeting with the Minister, where we were able to outline the process undertaken by council which included, extensive community consultation, the establishment of the local Rural Lands Planning Committee, a peer review of the proposal and discussions with various State Government agencies,” said Cr Abbey.

“I pointed out that council submitted the request for the proposal to be approved almost 12 months ago and while our Planning Division has continued to follow up the department for further information or a decision, progress has been slow,” commented Cr Abbey.

“There is only one remaining substantial objection to the proposal, which concerns environmental implications, but council believes there are sufficient legislative protections in place to address these issues.”

“Minister Goward has been a very strong supporter of council on this issue and assisted with setting up the meeting with the Planning Minister,” said Cr Abbey.

“Minister Stokes was well aware of the proposal and indicated his Department would have a decision to council by Christmas which is great news given that the rural minimum lot size has been a contentious issue for the past decade.”

– Yass Valley Council