Council
3 December, 2025
Council deny another subdivision
CORANGAMITE Shire Council have refused to grant a permit to a proposed subdivision in Newfield, citing the protection of agricultural land as one of their reasons for refusal.
The proposed subdivision would include the creation of a small lot to excise the existing dwelling from the balance farmland, creating an isolated rural-residential lot within a Farming Zone.
The report presented before council at last month’s Ordinary Meeting of Council noted the proposed subdivision would not fit in with the strategic direction and subdivision policies of the Corangamite Planning Scheme.
Councillor Ruth Gstrein moved the motion and said there could be long-term issues with the approval of subdivided farming land.
“When we look at this small lot subdivision of just over three hectares of land and the balance of the lot being 76.36 hectares it once again is fragmenting agricultural land and is creating a lot that is no direct link with the surrounding farming operations,” she said.
“I’m concerned also with the fact that this piece of land that it’s not a front block, it’s actually got a significant driveway down through the subdivision.
“I can see in the short term there may not be issues with the small lots but in the long term when you have a number of people who are looking for a tree change to move down to the country and find that they’re being surrounded by farming operation and find issues around loss of amenities.
“Then it becomes issues about right to farm.
“I think with this case, and I know we’ve had a number of these come to us recently, and I think we’ve taken the right attitude and tried to dissuade people from looking at these sorts of subdivisions in the future.”
Councillor Jo Beard seconded the motion and reiterated council’s priority of protecting agricultural land for the future.
“I would also like to add that with the remaining large lot of this subdivision it still has the ability to provide another dwelling on that property, which then in turn in the future you could end up with another parcel of fragmentation,” she said.
“This is all around protecting agricultural farming land and it’s a really tough one because the applicants, as most applicants, they’re doing it for the right reasons.
“It’s probably just a true reflection again of how important it is when applications, before they come to council, that there is some pre-planning happening with the planning team to try and go through some of these processes, to try and get the best outcome for both parties.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re not seeing those sort of things happening but when you see the depth of what’s gone over in terms of looking through the framework, everything that goes into these reviews, it’s really important that everything gets checked over and it’s very thorough.
“We don’t come up with a recommendation to refuse for no reason so it’s important to continue to look at the bigger picture of protecting our prime agricultural farming land and that is the case in this particular application.”
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