2016-07-12 - Item 12 - Att 1 - Agriculture and Agricultural Land in Noosa Shire

As was shown earlier in Map 4 much of what the State maps as the Water Supply Buffer Area is
also mapped as Agricultural Land Class A and B. The use of agriculture is assessable
development within the water supply catchment, requiring code assessment against the Natural
Resources Overlay Code. Specific Outcomes dictate that development does not have an adverse
effect on the quality or quantity of water entering Lake Macdonald, Cedar Pocket dam or their
tributaries or on the Mary River drinking water intake. Development, including new agricultural uses
or operational works associated with agriculture would need to comply with the Seqwater
Development Guidelines: Development Guidelines for Water Quality Management in Drinking
Water Catchments.14

Specific requirements are included to prevent livestock from entering the riparian zone or Lake
Macdonald and its tributaries, and to ensure stock watering points are not located on
watercourses.


7.3       Lifestyle Blocks and Rural Amenity
The rural lifestyle of Noosa Shire is much valued by rural residents and the envy of many urban
dwellers for various reasons. Amenity-led migration popularly known as the ‘seachange’ and
“treechange” phenomena has been influential in the Noosa Shire since the 1980s when the local
area around Cooroy was one of the fastest growing in Australia. The momentum continued
intoThe “treechange” phenomena gained momentum in the 1990s and years since with people
escaping suburbia in favour of picturesque places particularly within a two hour drive from a capital
city. Reasons for the shift include seeking out:

•         A connection to the land
•         Scenic amenity
•         Peace and quiet - escape from hustle and bustle
•         Greater sense of place and closer community
•         More traditional attitudes
•         Less crime
•         More relaxed atmosphere
•         Availability of large blocks to pursue hobbies and home businesses

The Queensland Farmer’s Federation states that the subdivision of rural land to cater for rural
living is one of the most insidious influences on maintaining productive agriculture because of the
conflict of residential uses amongst working farms and because it forces up the price per hectare of
rural land15.

Most of the rural towns and villages have outlying estates with many blocks as small as 4,000m2 or
even less. While within the State’s ALC Class A and Class B designation, protecting them for
agriculture would seem futile. By way of example Stratford Park off Louis Bazzo Drive consists of
house blocks generally between 6,000m2 and 8,500m2. Doonan, Nandroya, Cooran, Black
Mountain and Pomona all show other significant examples. Songbird Estate at Pomona, currently
in the Rural Settlement Zone has house blocks less than 1,000m2 in area and is partly within the
ALC Class A and Class B designation.

Neighbourhoods of acreage lots which have been zoned for rural residential purposes for many
years should not be protected for agricultural purposes as residents expect a certain lifestyle and
amenity that would typically be at odds with commercial primary production. It should not however
preclude small scale, sustainable or regenerative farming that is sensitive to the amenity of
neighbours.


14
     Available from http://www.seqwater.com.au/water-supply/catchments/planning-development
15
     Queensland Farmers’ Federation (2013) Planning for Healthy Agriculture; section 5.3 p 18
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