Electricity Generating Works are Permitted with Consent in the Proposed RU4 zoning. This means solar farms, wind turbines and battery storage.
A Strategic Rezoning for Rural Economic Development
Rezoning from RU2 to RU4 is a proactive policy tool to reshape rural areas.
Strategic Intent Likely Is:
1. Create Rural Enterprise Clusters: To encourage the development of intensive, high-value agriculture (berries, aquaculture, niche livestock) and its supporting processing and service industries on smaller, more affordable lots.
2. Prevent Rural Sprawl & Commercial Creep: The detailed prohibited list is a powerful tool to stop rural land from being used for suburban-style housing estates, retail strips, or standalone tourism resorts.
3. Develop Rural Service Nodes: By allowing a wide range of community and utility uses, the zone can facilitate the growth of identified small towns or the creation of new rural service hubs to support a growing intensive farming population.
Potential Impacts & Conflicts:
For Landowners: Could significantly increase land value and development potential for those wanting to run intensive agricultural businesses. For those seeking a quiet rural lifestyle or existing tourism businesses (like a B&B or caravan park), it could devalue their land or make their business non-conforming.
For Community: Could lead to more jobs and local services, but also to more intensive farming impacts and a busier, more “industrial” rural character.
For Council: Provides a strong tool to direct and manage rural economic growth, but requires careful mapping to ensure it’s applied to appropriate locations with adequate infrastructure.
In summary, this change represents a move away from a passive, protectionist rural zone towards an active, economically-driven one. It trades the broad flexibility of RU2 for a more directed, productive, and community-supporting model in RU4, with clear fences to keep urban uses out. It’s a vision for a working, productive countryside.
Overall Shift: From Broad Rural Landscape to Intensive Rural Enterprise Hub
Current RU2: A flexible, landscape-focused rural zone that accommodates a wide mix of rural living, tourism, and light industry, with an emphasis on maintaining character and preventing fragmentation.
Proposed RU4: A highly permissive, economically-focused rural zone designed for intensive, diversified, and value-adding rural enterprises on smaller lots. It encourages a dense mix of agriculture, industry, tourism, and even community services, while drawing a sharp line against urbanisation.
Key Changes & Their Implications
1. Evolution of Zone Objectives
RU2 Objectives: Focus on sustainable production, landscape character, preventing fragmentation for agriculture, and rural tourism.
RU4 Objectives: Expands to include diversity, employment, small-lot/intensive enterprises, and the maintenance of productive rural landscapes. The tourism objective is refined to be more explicitly linked to primary production.
Implication: The zone’s purpose shifts from preserving a landscape to actively fostering a diverse rural economy. “Productivity” and “employment” become central goals alongside character.
2. “Permitted Without Consent”: Minor Change
RU2: `Extensive agriculture; Home occupations`.
RU4: `Environmental protection works; Extensive agriculture; Home businesses; Home occupations`.
Implication: `Home businesses` are promoted to “as-of-right,” encouraging rural entrepreneurship. `Environmental protection works` are formally recognised.
3. Massive Transformation of “Permitted with Consent”
This is where the change is most dramatic. RU4’s list is longer and more intensive, but with a different focus.
New Intensive & Value-Add Focus:
`Intensive livestock agriculture` and `Intensive plant agriculture` are explicitly added. This is a major shift from RU2’s broader `Agriculture`. RU4 is designed for feedlots, poultry sheds, greenhouses, hydroponics, etc.
`Artisan food and drink industries`, `Markets`, `Rural supplies`, `Vehicle repair stations`. This turns RU4 into a zone for processing, selling, and servicing the rural economy.
Expanded Community & Service Role:
`Correctional centres`, `Public administration buildings`, `Places of public worship`, `Health service facilities`, `School-based child care`. RU4 can evolve into a rural service centre or village hub, which is not the intent of RU2.
Tourism Model Shift:
RU2 allows specific types: `Backpackers’ accommodation`, `Bed and breakfast accommodation`, `Caravan parks`, `Hotel or motel accommodation`.
RU4 uses a broad category `Tourist and visitor accommodation` but explicitly prohibits the specific types listed in RU2 (`Backpackers’, Caravan parks, Hotel/motel`). This suggests a preference for a different, undefined tourism model (likely `Agritourism` and `Farm stay`).
New Infrastructure: `Electricity generating works`, `Telecommunications facilities`, `Waste or resource management facilities`.
4. Introduction of a Major “Prohibited” List
This is the most critical difference. RU2 has a simple catch-all prohibition. RU4 introduces a detailed list of 49 prohibited uses.
What’s Now Prohibited (that was allowed in RU2): `Airports`, `Backpackers’ accommodation`, `Caravan parks`, `Hotel or motel accommodation`, `Industries`, `Kiosks`, `Marinas`, `Neighbourhood shops`, `Restaurants or cafes`, `Shops`.
Implication: While RU4 is more permissive for rural industry, it is dramatically more restrictive against commercialisation and urban-style development. It prevents RU4 land from becoming a strip of shops, a tourist resort, or an industrial estate.
Comparison Table: From Landscape to Enterprise
| Aspect | Current RU2 | Proposed RU4 | Implication of Rezoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Driver | Broad-based rural living & tourism. Character is key. | Intensive, diversified rural production & value-adding. Productivity is key. | Land is for business, not just lifestyle. Expect more sheds, packing facilities, on-site sales |
| Scale & Intensity | Lower intensity, broadacre focus | Higher intensity allowed (feedlots, greenhouses, workshops). | Potential for more noise, traffic, odour, and visual impact from concentrated operations. |
| Tourism Role | Explicitly encouraged in various forms | Refocused and restricted. Specific tourist accommodation types are prohibited; only `Agritourism` and broad `Tourist accommodation` allowed. | Shifts from general tourism to tourism directly linked to and subordinate to the farming operation. |
| Commercial Activity | Allows `Kiosks`, `Neighbourhood shops`, `Restaurants`. | All retail, shops, and cafes are PROHIBITED. Only `Roadside stalls` and `Markets` allowed. | Prevents any evolution into a commercial hub. Commerce must be directly farm-based |
| Community Function | Allows some community facilities. | Expands significantly to include prisons, government buildings, health facilities. | Can become a service centre for surrounding rural areas, not just a collection of farms. |
| Land Use Control | Flexible, permissive list. | Highly prescriptive: Very long “Permitted” list paired with a very long “Prohibited” list. | Much less ambiguity. Provides certainty but less flexibility for innovative uses. |