2020-01-13 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                   13 JANUARY 2020


Conservation Covenant
Under the Land Act 1994, a conservation covenant is registered on title over the conservation area
on the property in perpetuity. The conservation covenant is a legal agreement between the
property owner (the covenanter) and Council (the covenantee) and requires preparation of a survey
plan and legal documents, and lodgement with the Titles Office. Average conservation covenant
establishment costs are approximately $7000 but can be significantly more on larger properties
with complex survey requirements.
Nature Refuge
A Nature Refuge gazetted under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 is placed over the conservation
area on the property. Similar to a conservation covenant it runs with the title over successive
owners. A Nature Refuge offers the highest level of statutory protection however is subject to the
Queensland Government’s stringent requirements such as minimum size of the conservation area
(greater than 10ha) and high biodiversity values. Average Nature Refuge establishment costs
(outsourced to Qld Trust for Nature) are $4,500. The amount of Nature Refuges that can be
established by Council is contingent on the Queensland Government’s capacity to process the
applications through to gazettal by effectively resourcing the Nature Refuge Program.
A third statutory protection mechanism is proposed for the VCA program. This is split-zoning the
conservation area of the VCA property as Environmental Management and Conservation zoning
under the new planning scheme, with the balance of the property remaining in its original rural or
rural settlement zoning. Council periodically reviews its planning scheme including the zoning for
individual land parcels. There are several land parcels across the shire that are currently split
zoned. Cooloothin Creek Bushland Reserve and Johns Landing are Council freehold land and
are proposed for split zoning under the New Noosa Plan. In the Environmental Management and
Conservation zone, the emphasis is on protecting and enhancing biodiversity values. This makes
it very clear for existing and future property owners where development is allowed and where it is
not and provides statutory protection for the areas to be conserved.
The process after receiving a request for a zone change from a landowner is to present it to
Council, consult with the community on the changes, and provide the changes to the State for
signoff. The amendments are then formally gazetted. It is proposed that Council provide VCA
zoning amendments as a batch to be progressed in the next planning scheme review.
A significant benefit to Council and the community is that split-zoning is more cost effective than
establishing covenants as it doesn’t require surveying or legal costs, and has the planning
scheme as the head of power. It is proposed that split-zoning also be offered to existing VCA
property owners to provide an additional layer of statutory protection over the conservation area
on their properties. Landowners who apply for a VCA but whose properties are ineligible for a
VCA will also be offered split zoning without the VCA agreement (i.e. no financial incentives).
The advantages and disadvantages of the 3 protective mechanisms are indicated below.

Protective Mechanism                    Advantages                            Disadvantages
Nature Refuge           Highest level of statutory protection,      Subject to Qld. Govt. priorities (eg
                        under the Nature Conservation Act, runs     minimum size of 10 ha) and
                        with the property title.                    capacity to process applications
                        Moderate establishment costs
                        Compliance actions are the responsibility
                        of the State Govt.
Conservation Covenant   High level of statutory protection with     Can be expensive to establish.
                        clear obligations as a contractual          Compliance actions are the
                        agreement between the landowner             responsibility of Council
                        (covenanter) and Council (covenantee)
Split Zoning            High level of protection under the          Significant time (up to 18 months)
                        planning scheme.                            between receiving an application
                        Low establishment costs.                    from the landowner and final
                                                                    gazettal of zoning changes.


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