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

Figure 9 - Strategic Cropping Land Trigger Map




Where the trigger map showed land to be SCL a development proponent could lodge a validation
application with the Department of Natural Resources and Mines to have the land removed from
the strategic cropping layer. In doing so they had to prove either that the physical criteria of the
land was in fact not suitable for cropping (necessitating a very technical / scientific analysis) or they
had to disprove a history of cropping on the site. The areas shown in grey on Figure 9 are where
validation applications have resulted in land being removed from SCL designation.

The SCL Act was subject to many concerns claiming that the legislation was prescriptive and
inflexible, adding significant costs and time delays to projects and development proposals. There
seemed to be relatively few instances where an applicant did not ultimately succeed in having their
validation application approved and therefore the whole purpose was questionable.


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