Planning principles for the control of rural residential development in Queensland

Abstract

Rural residential development involves the utilisation of ruralnland for residential or agricultural purposes. It is located in anrural setting, usually on the rural-urban fringe, or urban periphery,nof major metropolitan centres. It is developed at a density belownthat of normal suburban residential development and above that of anprimary producing holding. Rural-residential development has beenncriticised for causing problems in rural areas of Australia innrelation to loss of important resources, disruption to ruralncommunities and conflicts with other land uses. Often, these havenresulted because of inadequate planning control. The role of planningnis important to ensure these problems are minimised.nA regional approach to the problems of rural-residentialndevelopment is desirable. In this way, consistency of policiesnbetween local authorities of adjoining areas can be achieved. Thisnapproach has been undertaken by the Geelong Regional Commission,nVictoria. The Commission plans rural-residential development inndetail by a rural-residential strategy. This contains many usefulnprinciples and detailed criteria for subdivision and rezoning of landnto rural-residential uses. The land use requirements of the wholenregion are taken into account. Consequently, this approach minimisesnmany problems associated with rural-residential development.In Queensland, planning of rural-residential development isnlargely the responsibility of local authorities. No regional planningnof rural-residential development exists to ensure consistency ofnpolicies between adjacent areas. Rural-residential development isnmainly controlled by statutory means. Only a minority of localnauthorities have adopted strategic controls. Often as a result,nrural-residential is not planned in enough detail. Additionally,nlittle consideration is given to the future requirements of other landnuses. In these respects, the Queensland approach to the problems ofnrural-residential development is inadequate.nThe purpose of this study is to suggest how the nplanning ofnrural-residential development in Queensland may be improved. This isndone by outlining the problems attributed to rural-residential ndevelopment in literature first, and then formulating an qidealq setnof principles to minimise these problems. These principles have been nderived from Geelong Regional Commission policies and other sources.nThey are used to form the basis of the qmodelq, or mechanism forncomparison. It is against the principles in the model, that the neffectiveness of principles used in practice, may be measured. The nmodel is then tested on a case study. The control of ruralresidentialndevelopment in this case study is found to be inadequatenin many ways, and improvements have been suggested to rectify thisnsituation.nThe model is tested on the Shire of Beaudesert. This local nauthority has been chosen as the case study because it is a popularnarea of rural-residential development where many problems have nresulted. These problems have resulted largely because of inadequatenplanning control. Rural-residential development is not planned in nenough detail by the Shire and with no regard to aspects such asnsiting and design of housing and landscaping. No criteria are set for nsubdivisions and rezoning of land to rural-residential uses.nAdditionally, little attempt has been made by the Shire to monitorndemand and supply of rural-residential lots. To rectify thesenproblems, improvements suggested include: the preparation of andevelopment control plan; more extensive use of subdivision of landnby-laws and biennial monitoring of demand and supply.nIt was found that the principles in the model can be implemented nthrough the mechanisms of the Queensland statutory planning system. nBy thoroughly testing the model on this case study, it wasndemonstrated that these principles can improve planning of ruralresidential ndevelopment in Queensland. This is because the modelnprinciples were found to be applicable to the problems of ruralresidential ndevelopment in Beaudesert Shire. Realising that thencircumstances in Beaudesert shire may not be typical of all local nauthorities, the model would need to be tested in other circumstances nto assess its more general applicability. Furthermore, it hasndemonstrated that a regional approach to the problems of ruralresidential ndevelopment is desirable, and would be of great benefit tonplanning of rural-residential development in Queensland.n