Council raises concerns over Livingstone Shire Planning Scheme
Published on 10 January 2017
Rockhampton Regional Council will this week submit a formal submission objecting to parts of Livingstone Shire Council’s draft Planning Scheme that is currently open for public consultation.
Rockhampton Region Mayor Margaret Strelow said some proposals within the ten year draft Planning Scheme surrounding the land use designations beyond Rockhampton’s northern boundary may impact on Rockhampton Region’s future long-term development
“The area just to the north of Rockhampton is obviously where the future growth for Rockhampton City will be,” Mayor Strelow said.
“Livingstone Shire are proposing to allow large parcels of land just over the border to be subdivided into a park residential acreage.
“This creates two problems for us. The first is that extra people will be living in this part of Livingstone Shire and putting pressure on Rockhampton Regional Council's roads and services but not contributing to the costs of the services. But the second and probably more worrying is that when land has been chopped up into this size block it becomes very hard for proper residential subdivision to happen later.
“The type of proposed zoning on this land has certainly raised some concerns for Rockhampton Regional Council.
“We strongly believe that the Scheme, which proposes additional rural residential land will impede on the growth corridor north of Parkhurst.
“Correct zoning of this land is extremely important for our future as our urban area is already constrained by the Berserker Ranges to the east and flooding to the south and west.”
Council’s Strategic Planning team reported that not only will further development of rural residential land place a constraint on urban growth to the north in the longer term, but it will also place unreasonable demand on services provided by Council in the short to medium term.
It also added that once land is subdivided into rural or park residential allotments a greater urban density can therefore no longer be achieved without significant cost to Council or future developers.
Once the report is submitted, Livingstone Shire Council will be required to respond to Council’s concerns raised in the submission.
Mayor Strelow said that it was not unusual for neighbouring councils to make submissions on each other's Planning Schemes.