Land identified in the 2010 New England Development Strategy has been earmarked by Uralla Shire Council for possible future development into large lot residential and rural small holding development.
A full planning investigation is underway with an environmental biodiversity strategy conducted on some land within Invergowrie, Rocky River, South Arding and Kentucky.
Landholders whose properties fall within the identified areas were notified by Uralla Shire Council that it has engaged the services of consulting firm, The Envirofactor, to undertake the study required by the NSW Department of Planning that will look at the impact on flora and fauna, bushfire threat and indigenous cultural heritage.
“We are conducting this biodiversity strategy to look at whether we should have potential development in areas earmarked within Uralla Shire,” said Uralla Shire Council Manager of Planning, Libby Cumming.
“The biodiversity strategy is the base stone. The New England Development Strategy looks at the possibility for development potential and highlighted three areas out of the four that we are investigating.
“We don’t know what that development potential is. This biodiversity strategy will allow us to know if, or if not, there is development potential in those areas.
“These areas have been picked out because the precedent has been set with the smaller minimum lot sizes where we might have a minimum lot size of 400 hectares; we have a lot of properties out there that have a cluster effect of around 20a or 30 hectares.”
Uralla Shire Council identified these areas through its work on reviewing the LEP on advice gathered through the New England Development Strategy.
“I think it is great to have the biodiversity study in place. Uralla Shire Council is very proactive in terms of the environment but also we want to have responsible and well directed development,” said Uralla Mayor Isabel Strutt.
“We need this inform-ation to work with. There is growth all around. Communities and the State Government are looking for growth and we as a council are really driving this and want this to happen.
“The biodiversity strat-egy is the first to be done in the New England, west of the dividing range. It is funded by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure under its LEP acceleration funds and Uralla was one of a handful of councils to be included, receiving $100,000 to fund the biodiversity strategy.”
“We have contacted all affected property owners by letter to advise that we have consultants in the field who may contact them,” said Libby Cumming.
“They won’t be targeting everybody’s individual property as they will be doing a lot of desktop review off aerial photos and satellite imagery. Once the consultants have done their work, they will submit a draft back to council.
“Council will advise property owners once the draft has been accepted by council. We won’t be taking submission on this as it is a fact finding mission. They will make recommendations but it is up to council to make the final decision. When council does make the decision it will then go out for public submissions.”
The long-term view of Uralla Shire Council is for continued growth, with the council actively looking towards maintaining a strong and prosperous future for the community.
“We need to do this in a balanced way and we are very mindful of this,” said Mayor Isabel Strutt.
“In the review of our LEP we have looked at tidying up a few re-zoning issues and done some housekeeping so the council can plan for development that is appropriate in the different areas.
“Around Invergowrie for instance, it is a lifestyle choice and so we want to make sure that the conditions that we set and the decisions that we make, uphold the character of that area for lifestyle and perhaps a little bit more residential development, where it is appropriate.”
