Don’t allow unlimited function venues on rural zoned land
Function venues are currently prohibited on rural zoned land.
The new Agritourism legislation will allow function venues to ‘pop up’ on any rural zoned land in NSW greater than 40 acres.
There could be multiple function venues on rural properties right next door to each other.
Up to 52 events per year are allowed on each site, Friday and Saturday nights, operating until 12am.
No one will be able to object to these function venues.
The changes would also allow for other currently prohibited activities to occur on rural zoned land including multiple campers and caravans, construction of multiple large structures and up to 900 visitors per day to ‘farm experiences’.
What would the changes mean
A threat to biosecurity
A threat to local food security
Negative impacts on native flora and fauna
Negative impacts to livestock surrounding the Agritourism venue
Loss of rural landscape and amenity for locals and visitors
Tourist oversaturation
What we are asking for:
- Keep Agritourism regulated
- Keep the current controls in place
- Allow the community to continue to have a say on the development that happens around them that will have a direct impact on them
- Don’t let the pencil pushers in the city control what happens in our rural zoned areas
The Issue
Multiple local councils along the coast want to opt out of the new Agritourism legislation. The NSW State Government Dept of Planning has stopped them.
The Background
After originally stating that councils could decide if they wanted to adopt the Agritourism changes, dependent on their individual needs, the NSW State Government has backflipped, revoking that option, meaning a blanket approach for all of NSW will apply from Dec 23rd 2022.
Why this is happening
The Berry Forum, a community consultative body in the Shoalhaven says:
We believe the State Government’s Agritourism initiative has been hijacked by a group of developers who have persuaded the Planning Minister to overturn the legitimate decisions by councils, such as Ballina, Byron and Shoalhaven, to prohibit the new Agritourism land uses in their LEPs. No explanation was given, for the intervention, or for the revoking of other key DPE assurances provided to councils and the public.
We believe there is a strategy to exploit the lucrative Sydney ‘destination weddings’ market by using the Agritourism provisions to circumvent current legislation, which permits function centres in prohibited rural zones 52 days a year only if there is no adverse impact on amenity of the neighbourhood.
In an article by Paul Bibby in The Byron Shire Echo on Oct 26 2022:
In a thinly veiled attempt to curry favour with the National Party’s rapidly eroding voter base ahead of the upcoming election, the government is creating a series of ‘development pathways’ for agriculture-related tourism operations.
The Councils that want to opt out include:
These councils have many reasons for wanting to opt out, these include:
- Loss of protections for local land owners
- Biosecurity
- Lack of council control over where these venues can ‘pop up’
- A potential for an explosion of venues with no local council planning controls
- Loss of amenity and rural tranquility for visiting tourists
- Overseeing compliance
- Impact to local roads not designed for heavy traffic flows
The NSW State Government Dept of Planning needs to realise:
- Not all regions in NSW have the same land parcel sizes nor the same topography
- Not all regions have the same tourism requirements
- Each region is unique and deserves to be treated as such
- Some regions need a boost to tourism
- Some have adequate levels of tourism
- Councils have good reasons for wanting to opt out
- Land owners and community owners should be able to have a say on development that has direct impacts on them
- Not all ‘primary producers’ are family farmers dedicated to their communities who care about their neighbours and their relationships.
- There is an increasing number of investors/developers who buy up rural land just to profit off enterprises that these changes will allow, unregulated and unchecked.
- These investors/developers often don’t live onsite so won’t have any of the negative repercussions of living with a function venue on their doorstep every weekend
Call to Action
It’s never too late to have your say
Sign the petition – Let your voice be heard
Attend a meeting – Click here to find out what’s on
Spread the word – Share this website with someone you know
Connect – Reach out to councillor or community group
Reasonable Agritourism should be able to proceed but keep the protections and keep it regulated.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Our communities continues to speak up against function centres and excessive farm stay and tourist accommodation on rural lands for good reason, the preservation of agriculture and rural life for themselves, their local economies and for future generations.