Farmer land value loss: VFF divided on losing 40ha building right

Losing the right to build a home on 40ha or more without a permit will add $20,000 to the cost of gaining council approval. But there’s a reason farmers are divided on the proposal.

Farmers face being stripped of the right to build one house on 40ha or more, while Planning Minister Richard Wynne signs off on 7229 houses being built on prime rural land at Pakenham (Artist’s impression of LendLease's Averley estate masterplan)

VICTORIA’S peak farmer lobby is struggling to form a united position on an Andrews Government proposal to strip landholders within 100km of Melbourne of their right to build a dwelling on 40ha or more.

The Victorian Farmers Federation must lodge its submission on this and other proposed planning reforms with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning by Friday. But members of its Land Management Committee are still at loggerheads on the 40ha rule.

Committee member and Bulla farmer Alan McKenzie said stripping landholders of their dwelling rights would cause a massive drop in land values, allowing “local council and government officers, all of whom lack farming knowledge or empathy, to impose all sorts of restrictions on the farming community”.

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But Red Hill beef producer David Gibb, who also sits on the VFF committee, said he supported the Government’s proposal, given “the greatest threat to continuing agriculture is the threat of rural residential”, making it “harder for farmers to expand their operations” and pushing up rates and land values.

The 40ha rule, which is the default across most of Victoria, has helped underpin land values and is perceived by many landholders as a valuable right they can exercise upon retirement, succession or for investment back into their businesses.

Planners are warning the loss of building rights will not only undermine land values, but add major administrative costs in trying to gain a permit, with potential delays.

Requiring a planning permit opens the door for neighbours to object and take the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

What lies 100km from Melbourne.

Planners contacted by The Weekly Times said Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s proposal would add $20,000 or more to the cost of building a home on 40ha or more.

One planner said councils could demand land capability assessments or refer the matter to external bodies, such as water or catchment management authorities, who could then demand landholders employ hydrologists, ecologists or traditional owners to report back on the impact of building a dwelling.

“You could tick all the boxes and meet their decision guidelines, but it (the decision) could still end up being political,” one planner said.

McKenzie said that while Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne and his bureaucrats were trying to strip farmers of their development rights, it was happy to carve up more farmland for urban subdivisions.

“While the Victorian Government is trying to control the construction of houses on farms, which in some cases are less than marginal, they are going gangbusters on (the subdivision) of market-garden-quality land southeast of Melbourne,” Mr McKenzie said.

Last week the Government signed off on the Pakenham East Precinct Structure Plan, which allows 630ha of prime agricultural land at Nar Nar Goon to be carved up into 7229 house blocks.