Have Your Say In Protecting Rural Land

Mt Alexander Shire Council is inviting residents to ‘have your say on rural land use’ by completing a survey.  For more information about this and the link to the survey, go to the Council’s website: https://shape.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/rural-land-use-strategy/rlus-community-survey

The website states, “The Rural Land Use Strategy will identify potential areas for rural activities, rural conservation and rural living as well as provide guidelines for development on these lands.”  The latter point regarding “development” is a complex one.  The survey canvasses what you value about rural land and what you think are the main priorities.  It asks what types of things you would like to see in rural areas, ranging from small farms, hospitality and living.  There is a section on rating of impacts, such as environmental, housing pressure and impacts on agriculture.  These areas reveal the competing interests in rural land uses – environmental, economic, hospitality, tourism, social and cultural. We love our rural area for values such as a healthy ecosystem and want to make sure that “development” does not degrade this.

Alarming results in the Victorian State of the Environment 2023 Report https://www.ces.vic.gov.au/soe2023 from the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability is motivation enough for us to have a say in land use wherever possible. From this report, the overall summary of status assessments;  biodiversity, out of 42 assessments, one is good, six are fair and the remaining are poor or unknown; for forests, 26 assessments, three are good, nine fair with the remaining fourteen poor or unknown.  “more than 14 million hectares (60%) of Victorian land has been cleared, mainly for agriculture and settlements.” ces.vic.gov.au/soe2023/key-topics/land

Another issue is farmland and the dilemma of how to maintain sustainable, local food economies. This competes with the pressure to build more homes. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/periurban-planning-failure-a-ticking-time-bomb-20150213-13dw6r.html

The Shire conducted a community consultation as part of a Rural Land Study in 2014. This provides some historical context and interesting information and maps on the various zones that are identified as Farming, Rural Living, Low Density Residential, Rural Conservation, Public Conservation and Resources, water body. https://share.google/PS84gRV8Ii0UDP8jl

To find out if your property is in a rural zoned area, go to https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/vicplan/ then type in your address and read the planning property report.

Mount Alexander Shire have provided this forum for us to let them know what the community thinks and we urge you to take this opportunity to support our environment.