A WIMMERA mayor has pushed for changes to land zoning to allow for more development in small towns.
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Yarriambiack Mayor Ray Kingston said there was an issue in many small towns where there was land for sale, but the zoning of the area meant houses could not be built there.
“We have a lot of little towns with not much left, but still strong communities,” he said.
“Over time these towns have been re-zoned to farm land, yet there are still many little house blocks being bought and sold in these towns.
“The zoning means anyone who buys these blocks and asks us if they can build a house, we have to be against the development.”
Council voted to amend its planning scheme on Thursday. “At the moment, we see illegal development in these towns,” Cr Kingston said.
“If someone wants to build on a cheap block and have access to a quiet life, I can’t see a downside of that.
“At the moment, if we tell families that they would be discouraged from building a house, they would feel like they are being discriminated against.
“It might seem black and white, but I don’t see any other way.”
Council planning officer David Young said council would require government approval and justification to change the scheme.
He said the process would take about a year to 18 months.
“Council’s position now is to strongly discourage housing and any developments on these blocks would trigger a planning permit application and a council decision would be required,” he said.
Cr Andrew McLean said it wasn’t appropriate for council to make this decision this close to local government elections. “This is setting a directive for the new council and I think it’s a job for them,” he said.
“For us to start doing it now, there is no way forward.”
Cr McLean voted against the change.
Cr Kingston said he was not happy to leave the decision to the new council.
“We’ve been talking about this for two years and I’m trying to bring it to a head,” he said.
“I feel we have been neglectful in our responsibility to provide clarity to residents.
“I wish I had done this a year ago.” Cr Kingston said there were risks involved if council continued to assess planning permits on a case-by-case basis.
“Whenever we have a planning permit application, our planning officer has to recommend we deny the application, which opens us up to a VCAT debate if we approve it but neighbours are against it,” he said.
“On the other hand, if we changed the planning scheme, the planning officer would recommend we approve applications.”