FINDING a balance between protecting agricultural land and allowing residential development is the challenge Planning Minister Richard Wynne confronted during his visit to Mildura on Wednesday.
Mr Wynne met landholders who are unable to build homes on small lots in the Mildura Older Irrigation Area (MOIA) because of an amendment he signed off in 2016.
His decision to halt development on small blocks has frustrated an estimated 500 to 600 Sunraysia landholders.
Mr Wynne said on Wednesday he was aware of the number of people affected, but his visit in Mildura would simply be a “fact-finding” exercise.
“There are a significant number of landholders affected — it’s not in the small numbers, so this is a serious decision to make and one that I need to be properly informed of,” he said.
Mr Wynne confirmed his visit was partly motivated by Member for Mildura Ali Cupper’s call in State Parliament in June for him to see the issue first-hand.
“Ali Cupper approached me about this in parliament and she sees this as being an issue that requires further resolution,” he said.
“She suggested that I come and actually physically look at it and get a real sense of it before making any further decisions.”
As part of his visit, Mr Wynne met Ms Cupper, who pitched an idea that would boost the local economy through a planning revision to allow houses to be built on blocks between 0.2 hectares and 1.2 hectares.
The aspirations of landholders and Mildura Council’s strategic housing plan were considerations to balance, Mr Wynne said.
“Ultimately, it’s about striking that balance and recognising the council has a housing strategy in place,” he said.
“You have to strike a balance between understanding the need to protect productive agricultural land and some people’s aspirations that they would like to build residential properties.”
In 2009, the Victorian Government halted all housing development in the MOIA to protect horticultural land from residential encroachment.
But since Amendment C89 was passed two years ago, Sunraysia landholders have faced numerous setbacks, according to Mildura planning consultant Roy Costa.
“It’s been an ongoing issue for a number of years and hopefully the minister will listen and do the right thing,” Mr Costa said.
“It has affected a lot of people financially and there’s a lot of hardship for those people and for property owners.
“People have purchased these small lots to build their dream home and the minister would have seen that first-hand.”
Mr Wynne said he did not want to pre-empt making revisions to Amendment C89 as it was a “serious decision”.
“There would need to potentially be a planning scheme amendment to allow that to occur but there would be a public process around that. I don’t want to pre-empt that at this stage,” he said.
Cupper pitches revision to minister
On Wednesday, Ms Cupper pitched an idea to Planning Minister Richard Wynne for a planning revision to allow development of lots between 0.2 and 1.2 hectares.
If the revision was enacted, it would solve an injustice to many local families, Ms Cupper said.
“It would help correct what was an inadvertent injustice for 350 local families and we think that with a proposal like this, with so many winners, there’s only one option and that’s for the minister to hear the community’s case and deliver,” she said.
“This is a proposal that does not undermine the community’s right to farm and it’s a proposal that would stimulate our economy by at least $100 million.”
As part of the pitch, Ms Cupper introduced Mr Wynne to an affected landholder.
“I’ve invited one local landowner who I have deep faith in to be able to articulate the case well and know all the finer details of the policy and its history,” she said.
“I think he was quite a compelling source of evidence for Mr Wynne.”
Ms Cupper said the allotments were simply “not the right size” for farming.
“These are blocks of land that are essentially stranded and, in order for them to be purchased as housing blocks in the first place, the irrigation infrastructure had to be taken out,” she said.
“They are just not the right size and don’t have the right features for farming and this is the reason for the injustice.”
The Victorian Government has invested more than $100 million on modernising irrigation infrastructure in the MOIA.
Ms Cupper said the government did not want the infrastructure investment to be wasted, which is why the MOIA was so heavily protected.
“We agree we want to protect the MOIA asset, but we just need to ensure any inadvertent consequences that have adversely affected so many families can be corrected,” she said.
