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

58 Did the council comply with key legislative, planning scheme and other requirements?
The difficulty with this clause is that while it can facilitate the
consolidation of titles into a large agricultural parcel, it sometimes gives
rise to rural residential sized lots adjoining that parcel. As indicated above,
the problem arises when houses are constructed on the new lots, rather
than the subdivision itself.
Applying excision provisions
The council has generally considered the excision provisions as a tool to
facilitate the transfer of farm management to the next generation.
However, these subdivisions are likely to be driven by financial gain (to
create an asset which can be sold) 22 .
The council’s planning contractor and the council have taken the view that
there is a right to excise any dwelling from any lot. This view is based on a
belief that if there is an existing lot, then there is an entitlement to a house,
and if there is already a house on a lot, what difference does a subdivision
make?
As many existing lots are significantly smaller in size than 40 hectares, the
application of this provision has had the effect of making many
uneconomic rural blocks even smaller. This application of the scheme has
created small lot subdivisions (particularly in high amenity rural fringe
areas), which are at odds with the zone’s purposes.
The pressure to excise lots is more pronounced at the fringe of the council’s
town centres. This is due to a demand for small lots so that a non-urban,
yet essentially residential, lifestyle can be pursued. However, most of the
shire’s towns have at least 20 years’ supply of these allotments in their
town centres. Consequently, any demand does not need to be met by the
excision of further small lots in the rural zone.
The Victoria Plan Provisions Rural Zones Reference Group also considered
this issue and concluded that:
Where excision provisions are “scheduled in”, a planning permit should
only be granted if the balance of the land (or the “residual lot”) is
prevented from being used for a dwelling.
Minimum lot sizes must be based on a proper land capability study that
takes into account a range of factors, including a comprehensive natural
resource assessment, the existing settlement pattern, environmental
features, access to water and access to other infrastructure. Land
capability is much more than soil type and land classifications.
22 An examination of excisions in the Barrabool Shire (subsequently Surf Coast Shire) during the
1990s found that more than 50 per cent of excised lots had been sold within 5 years of subdivision to
persons unrelated to the farm.