Back in February 2016 Council announced that, "After three years of work, Eurobodalla Council has adopted the Eurobodalla Rural Lands Strategy. Following several rounds of community consultation and exhibition of a draft strategy, Council has adopted a strategy consistent in every regard with the advice provided and positions adopted by the Rural Lands Steering Committee" It was passed on to the Department of Planning and Environment for processing. Nothing happened. In a Council media release in November 2016 Mayor Innes advised: “Since then, site visits were arranged for representatives of the two agencies and the Department to locations where additional lots or dwellings are allowed by the planning proposal. “This basically involved four NSW Government bureaucrats driving around looking out the window of a car for four days. “But what really beggars belief is that these same agencies have been around the table with us for four years preparing the strategy. “To do this at the eleventh hour is insulting to the process our community has worked through. “In my view, Council and the community have prepared an excellent rural lands strategy. It protects key agricultural land and environmental values and provides some opportunities for further development in our rural areas. “These are not ill-conceived concepts. Our strategy has been developed with great care over a long period by skilled people with local knowledge and significant community involvement. “I caught up with Minister Stokes at the coastal conference last week and urged him to intervene. I am now publicly calling on him to approve Eurobodalla’s rural lands strategy planning proposal without further delay.Meanwhile, Member for Bega Andrew Constance has confirmed he has spoken with both Minister Stokes and the Minister for Environment Mark Speakman, requesting the matter be progressed as quickly as possible on behalf of the community and council. Minister Constance said he expects the Rural Lands Strategy to be approved without further delay. Mayor Liz Innes "called on the NSW Minister for Planning to intervene and approve Council’s Rural Lands Strategy without further delay. "Council submitted the strategy to the Department of Planning and Environment in July after an exhaustive four-year process, only to have approval stalled by letters of objection from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the Rural Fire Service." Where are we up to now ? The letter (below) just received might offer an insight into the current status of Eurobodalla's Rural Lands Strategy that has at it's heart the structure of what can and can not be done on Eurobodalla Lands - we wait in limbo. Note the underlined text - this reflects a perspective that what was given to Planning is not necessarily what they will accept. Once we establish what they will allow the public will then need to be informed.
5 years has passed with the matter and still no one seems to know what’s going on
