Minns ditches ‘ridiculous’ Sydney farm visitor caps farmers said would put them out of business

Red tape restrictions which saw farmers fear weekend family outings to pick your own citrus could be a thing of the past have been blasted by the NSW premier. He’s moving to scrap them.

Onerous red tape restricting the number of visitors to NSW farms are set to be scrapped with Premier Chris Minns blasting the regulations as “ridiculous”.

It comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed Hornsby Council was threatening farms with compliance letters for having more than 100 people on their properties picking fruit at any one time.

Mr Minns said he was unaware of state-wide planning rules which came into effect in December until they were published in the Telegraph on Wednesday.

“They are a legacy of the previous governments state environmental planning changes, and they’d been negotiated by the previous planning minister, but it does seem to me to be ridiculous,” he said.

Mr Minns said he would ask Planning Minister Paul Scully to scrap the new rules

“Those rules seem ridiculous to me, I want to speak to the planning minister about removing those restrictions,” he said.

Mark Watkins, who runs the Watkins Family Farm in Laughtondale, is worried new rules limiting visitor numbers will cripple his pick-your-own fruit operation. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

COUNCIL THREAT

It came after Hornsby Shire Council threatened to impose the tough restrictions on visitor numbers on farms, enforcing the little-known planning rules which had quietly came into effect despite protests from small farms.

The council sent compliance letters to farms which allow people to come and pick their own fruit, warning that they could be in breach of tough statewide guidelines by having too many visitors at any one time.

A draft new planning policy would, if enacted, cap the number of visitors to farm gate shops at just 100 people.

Farmers said the rules would destroy family businesses which have operated for hundreds of years.

Under the new rules, farm businesses allowing people to come and pick their own fruit would be limited to hosting only 100 visitors at a time unless they sought special development approval.

Nicky Alexander of Fords Farm in Laughtondale, in the Lower Hawkesbury, wants the new rules changed to allow more people to pick their own fruit. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Businesses hosting weddings, tours, and other functions would be limited to just 50 guests at a time before needing to get development permission.

Farms that had previously offered these services with no restrictions said it could cripple their operation.

Grower Mark Watkins, whose family has operated the Watkins Family Farm since 1867, said it would be “disastrous”.

His farm in Laughtondale, along the Hawkesbury River, allows members of the public to come and pick their own citrus for a fee.

Thousands of visitors come through Mark Watkins’ farm to pick fruit every year. Max Mason-Hubers

“I don’t know how we’ll survive,” Mr Watkins said.

Mr Watkins said a 100-visitor limit would also risk fruit being left rotting on trees.

“I’ve got about 2500 trees; if we get 100 people at a time, we’d be lucky to get a quarter of the crop off,” he said.

Ford’s Farm, also in Laughtondale, has already imposed its own visitor caps in a bid to cut down on traffic.

“We want to restrict the number of people we have, but we want to do it in a way that we can make a living,” Ford’s Farm’s Nicky Alexander said.

Berowra MP Julian Leeser wants Hornsby Council to scrap the new rules. Picture: Ben Symons

Hornsby Mayor Philip Ruddock blamed the previous state government for the punitive measures. Picture: Jason Edwards

“We have this income once a year and the rest of the year we have nothing,” she said.

Hornsby Mayor Philip Ruddock blamed the previous state government for the restrictions.

He said farms impacted should put in development applications so they can keep operating.

Local Liberal MP Julian Leeser slammed the move as “unneeded red-tape”.

“I want kids in Sydney to know that fruit and vegies come from farms and not the supermarket,” he said.

“We should be encouraging these farms rather than weighing them down with unwanted and unneeded red-tape.”