REVISED POLICY GUIDELINES- PRIVATE LAND CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIPS · report

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING                                              11 APRIL 2023


23 existing properties is presented in Attachment 1 (confidential).
If additional VCA properties in future years are registered extra funding will be requested via budget
bids during the budget preparation cycle.

Split Zoning Conservation Program

The guideline introduces a third landowner engagement program entitled the Split Zoning
Conservation Program. This is noted in the current Policy Guideline as part of the VCA program but
is now proposed under the amended Policy Guideline as a separate program.
Council can split zone a property to place the nominated conservation area on a property under
Environmental Management and Conservation zoning, which is then protected under provisions of
the Noosa Plan. This rezoning doesn’t show on the property title.

Split zoning is appropriate for those properties that do not meet the eligibility criteria for a
Conservation Covenant or Nature Refuge in terms of size (less than 5 hectares) or high biodiversity
values. As with a VCA, the process is voluntary and is purely driven by a landowner’s aspiration to
protect and restore the native vegetation on their property. The process is that the landowner signs
a letter nominating an area of their property to be rezoned as Environmental Management and
Conservation zone and marks up the nominated area on a map of the property.

The balance of the property outside the conservation zone remains in its original zoning (usually
rural or rural residential). To formalise this zoning change under the Noosa Plan, Council submits
planning scheme amendments to the State from time to time. Compliance action in the event of
breaches of the Noosa Plan provisions is the responsibility of Council. There is a long lead time
between a landowner nominating the property for split zoning to final gazettal as planning scheme
amendments are done as a batch every three to four years.

It is proposed that Council will provide support to landowners who have nominated and had their
properties rezoned as Environmental Management and Conservation Zone under the Noosa Plan.
This will be via a three-year agreement providing a financial incentive capped at $1,500 per annum
to be used to improve the ecological condition of the rezoned area (such as environmental weed
management, revegetation). These works will be identified under an abridged environmental
management plan and agreement. The landowner must demonstrate a commitment to maintaining
the works past the three-year funding window by proactively managing their property for nature
conservation, e.g., invasive weed management, maintaining tree plantings. Council will undertake a
site inspection and assess the condition of the property as part of the agreement.
Previous Council Consideration
Ordinary Meeting Minutes 16 January 2020, Item 8, page 4.
That Council note the report by the Conservation Partnerships Officer to the General Committee
Meeting dated 13 January 2020 and
A. Approve amendments to the Environment Levy Policy as provided at Attachment 1;
B. Approve amendments to the Policy Guideline - Private Land Conservation Partnerships as
provided at Attachment 2, with the following changes:
   1. wording of the fifth dot point under the heading Support for Land for Wildlife to read “An
   incentives program which may consist of other initiatives consistent with the intent of the Land for
   Wildlife Program such as free native tubestock, training/assistance with environmental weed
   management, equipment loans such as fauna cameras, nest boxes, resource books, and open
   property days.” and;
   2 reinstating the details of the Binding Covenant Example (in Appendix 2) and the VCA Example
   (in Appendix 3) and authorise the CEO to make the necessary changes to the Guideline to reflect
   those details being retained in Appendix 2 and 3; and
C. Write to the Queensland Government Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef,
Science, and the Arts expressing support for the Nature Refuge program and requesting that the
program be adequately resourced.