2015-07-21 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

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provisions for                                                                                ‘Koala Habitat Areas in the Natural Conservation (Koala)
environmental offsets, | Action: Noosa Shire Council have included a new definition for | Conservation Plan’ in the footnote and the probable
provided those          ecologically important areas that are considered to include Matters of | solution have been removed.
provisions are          State Environmental Significance (MSES) and Matters of Local
consistent with the     Environmental Significance (MLES).   Whilst identifying MSES in the | Reference is now made to the Assessment
Environmental Offsets | scheme is supported, this is not differentiated from MLES.            Development Area Koala Habitat Values as mapped in
Act 2014                                                                                      the Koala Conservation State Planning Regulatory
                        The state does not mandate the methodology for determining MLES; | Provisions.
                        however the Environmental Offsets Regulation 2014 does specify that
                        MLES   cannot   be  MSES or matters      of national environmental | A new map is to be included in schedule 7 to show
                        significance (MNES).                                                  updated koala habitat. The new map in schedule 7 is not
                                                                                              intended for the purposes of local or state environmental
                        Mapping for MLES is the responsibility of a local government in the | offsets - it is to show the general extent of known and
                        plan making process and provides flexibility for Councils’ to identify | potential habitat to support the provisions in the
                        locally significant environmental!  matters.   Regardless   of  the | Biodiversity Overlay Code
                        methodology chosen, mapping of MLES should be scientific, robust,
                        well documented and legally defensible and must be approved by the | Within the Biodiversity Overlay Code references is made
                        state as part of the state interest review and approval of a local | to the new map of Koala Habitat Areas in Schedule 7
                        government planning scheme.                                           and the following two new solutions are added:
                                                                                                 ©   $7.1 Development avoids removing and
                        As MLES cannot be separated from MSES there is therefore no                  fragmenting koala habitat (Footnote: Koala
                        capacity for Noosa to determine focal offsets under the Noosa Plan.          habitat areas are shown on the Schedule 7
                                                                                                     map)
                        Council must identify all Matters of Local Environmental Significance to ¢   S7.2 Where clearing of non-juvenile koala
                        my satisfaction prior to commencing public notification or remove ail        habitat trees is unavoidable in an area shown as
                        references to environmental offsets throughout the Noosa Plan.               bushland habitat, high value rehabilitation
                                                                                                     habitat or medium value rehabilitation habitat on
                        Reason: Under the SPP, environmental offsets for matters of local            the map called ‘Map of Values’, such clearing is
                        environmental significance should be consistent with the state offset        minimised and a biodiversity offset is provided in
                        legislative and policy framework.                                           accordance with the Queensland Environmental
                                                                                                     Offset Policy (Footnote: The Assessable
                                                                                                     Development Area Koala Habitat Values are
                                                                                                     mapped in the South East Queensland Koala
                                                                                                     Conservation State Planning Regulatory
                                                                                                     Provisions)
                                                                                              Within the DEOs a reference to ‘Environmental offsets’
                                                                                             is replaced with reference to ‘Koala habitat offsets’ to

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