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Bracks Red Tape To Stifle Development In Country VictoriaThe Bracks Government is doing everything in its power to stifle development in country Victoria, with draft native vegetation framework operational guidelines spelling disaster for rural councils and landowners. By Philip Davis - 11th May 2005 - Back to News Shadow Minister for Country Victoria Philip Davis said the operational guidelines had been developed with little consultation with shire councils, resulting in a poorly-planned, complicated bureaucratic nightmare for anyone wanting to build a home on private land in country Victoria.
"These operational guidelines are yet another example of the Bracks Government having no idea how things work in country Victoria," Mr Davis said.
"Labor has funded an expensive advertising campaign to encourage people to relocate to the country, yet the operational guidelines for the native vegetation planning provisions make it extremely difficult.
"These operational guidelines have been developed using complicated scientific criteria, which the local shire council’s planning departments will be left to interpret and manage."
Mr Davis said the Golden Plains Shire had expressed its extreme dissatisfaction with the draft operational guidelines, writing to the Department of Sustainability and Environment detailing considerable flaws and suggesting they are so complicated, that even with a basic native vegetation enquiry:
"Some of the information required is esoteric and only people with an understanding of ecological terms would have the capacity to complete the forms well enough to satisfy the requirements of the framework. This is asking statutory planners to become experts in the management of significant species." - Golden Plains Shire submission to DSE on the draft native vegetation framework.
Mr Davis said the way the guidelines have been developed, there would be few cases concerning private land in country Victoria where the standard assessment would apply.
"The DSE has not taken into account that some private properties are subject to a Wildfire Management Overlay and the consequences of this are that in some cases, the exhaustive process and ridiculous restrictions may result in people not bothering to establish their homes in country Victoria," he said.
"What is the point of these guidelines if would-be home builders and their local shire planners have to become ecological experts to negotiate the native vegetation requirements of their properties?
"While local government is responsible for administering planning provisions, this is a Bracks Government attempt to shift additional state-wide responsibilities to local government which will come at a great cost to rate-payers and be an administrative nightmare.
"This will simply turn people away from country Victoria, not encourage them to settle here."
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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