Eurobodalla councillors Liz Innes and Lindsay Brown successfully moved to ditch controversial E3 environmental zones from the council’s local environmental plan (LEP).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Cr Innes put forward a motion to Tuesday night's council meeting, supported by Cr Brown, recommending that overlays not be included in the LEP. The motion was approved.
It recommended that council advise Planning Minister Pru Goward that E3 zones are “not appropriate” for rural lands in the shire, and overlays should not be included in the LEP.
It comes after Bega MP Andrew Constance called on the council to remove the controversial E3 zoning overlays from the LEP and “get on with it” earlier this month.
The motion requests council’s Rural Lands Steering Committee to further consider the remaining E zones, including E4.
E3 zones are applied to land where there are special ecological, scientific, cultural or aesthetic attributes or environmental hazards.
Any development within an E3 zone is to be well located and designed so that it does not adversely impact the environmental qualities of the land.
In 2011 and 2012 hundreds of Eurobodalla landowners prepared submissions on the council’s draft LEP objecting to their properties being zoned E3 and council deferred the process to a review, which is yet to be finalised.
Cr Innes said her motion was not just a case of “we don’t want it, so don’t use it”, but rather a very strong case built through submissions from the community.
“It’s pretty clear in the background of why we have come to this point,” Cr Innes said.
“We can comfortably say that our advice to the Minister to not apply the E3 zone is the correct one.
“This is a small step in the right direction but it certainly doesn’t mean the job is done, because it’s clearly not.”
Although Cr Innes supports the community’s view that all E zones are inappropriate, she said council needed to build a case as to why.
“I have no doubt that the rest of the E zones are just as contentious and can cause just as many issues as E3 zoning,” she said.
“Already no lands are unconstrained so in my view, further constraints are unnecessary and unjustifiable.”
Cr Innes hopes the motion, if approved by her colleagues, would make it easier to pass the LEP, but said the job was not over.
“I think it’s imperative now that we put our boots back on and get stuck in and start to investigate those E zones further,” Cr Innes said.
“If we all want to see vibrant and prosperous rural industries, we can’t keep choking it with more and more restraints.”
Cr Brown said the E3 zones were causing major concern within the community and council was in a position to move forward with the decision to get rid of them.
“As well as the E3 zones, the overlays impact on the opportunities of properties,” he said.
“We can react quicker to any problems if these aren’t tied into the LEP that is only reviewed every five years.”