BLUEBERRIES were again on the Nambucca Valley Council meeting agenda last week, with Councillors resolving to examine ways to limit community conflicts and answer growing community concerns on the issue.

During public access, councillors and staff heard several members of the public give passionate speeches on the topic.

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“Our valley has never seen such a rapid change in our landscapes, with hectares of blueberry farms being established as we speak,” said Benita Shuh to Council at Thursday night’s meeting.

Ms Shuh also spoke about the Nambucca Valley’s 2010 Local Environment Plan (LEP), a planning tool Council uses in determining what requires developmental consent.

She made the point that currently blueberry farms as a ‘horticulture operation’ are permitted without consent in zones RU1- Land for primary production and RU2- Rural landscapes.

However, Ms Shuh believes this is in breach of the 2010 LEP which says ‘Intensive Agriculture’, such as blueberry farming, is ‘Permitted with Consent’.

In answer to questions by councillors on this matter, Daniel Walsh, Council’s Manager of Development and Environment, explained that ‘Horticulture’, as referred to in the 2010 LEP, has been deliberately excluded from the restrictions imposed on ‘Intensive Agriculture’, the umbrella term for the category.

‘Horticulture’ is defined by the LEP as ‘the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, cut flowers and foliage and nursery products for commercial purposes, but does not include a plant nursery, turf farming or viticulture’.

Frustration has been growing in the community over several large blueberry farms recently established in the area.

“This council does need to listen to community concerns and the community have a right to be concerned and to want something more than what they’ve got now,” Councillor Susan Jenvey told the meeting.

Councillor Troy Vance said it was “tempting to tinker with the zoning”, however claimed this was “very difficult because of state regulations and state planning law”.

A resolution was passed by council in five parts.

1. Actively seek to minimise land use conflict between different types of farming through use of buffer zones, planning changes, and better definitions of ‘productive farmland’ etc.

2. Receive a report on the proposal to submit a planning proposal to the Planning Minister which seeks to amend the Nambucca LEP 2010 to make intensive plant agriculture permissible with development consent in the RU1 and RU2 zones.

3. Write to the Minister for Water and the Environment requesting assurances that greater resources be allocated to State agencies responsible for monitoring legislative compliance within the Nambucca Valley horticulture industry associated with water testing, water harvesting, clearing of native vegetation and pollution.

4. Seek legal advice to clarify if development application is required prior to the erection of netting and greenhouses associated with horticulture (blueberries) in rural zones; and if a development application is not required, seek legal advice as to which changes are needed to make it so, using the experience of the Coffs Harbour Council.

5. Receive a report on a Rural Land Use Strategy.

By Ned COWIE