Community planning services in Glenelg Shire Council : 1998-2005 ...

56 Did the council comply with key legislative, planning scheme and other requirements?
Impacts of subdivisions are highly evident in rural zones and, in the case
of Glenelg, in the Environmental Rural Zone, which applies to land of
environmental significance or high agricultural value.
The objective of the Rural Zone is to ensure that the state’s agricultural base
is protected from the unplanned loss of high quality productive
agricultural land due to permanent changes to land use. The objective in
the Environmental Rural Zone is to protect the environmental values of the
rural area.
The council can help ensure these objectives are implemented by:
using land capability as a key basis for rural land use planning
setting appropriate minimum lot sizes for rural zones
identifying and protecting high quality agricultural land and areas of
environmental significance
supporting effective agricultural production and processing
infrastructure, rural industry and farm-related retailing
balancing the potential off-site effects of rural land use proposals, which
might affect high quality productive agricultural land, against the
benefits of the proposal
limiting the opportunities to use land for a dwelling not associated with
farm use.
In the Rural Zone and a large part of the Environmental Rural Zone, the
council’s planning scheme requires that each lot resulting from a
subdivision must be of at least 40 hectares. This is equivalent to the
Victoria Plan Provision’s statewide “default” minimum lot size. There are a
limited number of exceptions to this rule, where a permit may (if
appropriate) be granted to create smaller lots. These exceptions include
subdivisions:
involving a re-subdivision of existing lots
where the number of lots is no more than the number the land could be
subdivided into in accordance with the requirements of the scheme
(averaging). For example, an 80-hectare lot could be broken into a 10hectare
and a 70-hectare lot
which create a house for an existing dwelling (excising).
The decision to approve any subdivision, including these exceptions, is
discretionary and must have regard to the policy context and the zone and
overlay objectives for the area. There is no automatic right to a permit for
subdivision or to utilise an exception.