Land modification awareness program

Environmental management, land modification and land clearing is a complex issue and it is believed that the mitigation measures required to curb this problem need a change in the current practice and a coordinated approach to investigating breaches. With the increasing number of land modification incidents occurring within the rural area of the Shire it was recognised that a Compliance Policy and a Rural Land Modification Awareness Program were needed. Both the Compliance Policy and the Rural Land Modification Awareness Program allow for a consistent approach to be taken in environmental matters.

Rural Land Modification Awareness Program

Illegal activities involving rural land modification and land clearing are the largest compliance issue facing the Environment Division at present. These land modification activities include:

• importing and depositing of soil
• cut and fill activities
• illegal excavations for buildings, dams and fire trails
• tree removal and bushland clearing

The carrying out of these types of land modification activities on rural land without the proper care and control has already led to the degradation in the condition of the environment and natural resources of the Shire. Some of the environmental issues already be felt from illegal land modification activities are soil erosion, sedimentation of waterways, wind erosion, water pollution, weed invasion, destruction of native flora and fauna habitats, vegetation dieback and the introduction of contaminated soils. At present a significant amount of time and money is being expended by council in investigating land modification incidents and much hardship and cost is being imposed on land owners when legal proceedings are instigated for carrying out these land modifications without consent.

The Rural Land Modification Awareness Program aims to address the above issues and prevent environmental degradation caused by land modifications in the rural area of the Shire. In achieving this goal the project will focus on carrying out environmental education and public awareness raising strategies targeted at all rural land holders, real estate agents, industry associations and businesses such as earth moving contractors, arborists and landscapers that work within the Shire.

All workshops for the Rural Land Modification Awareness Program have been postponed and may be held later in the year.

Advise brochure - Avoiding the dangers of accepting illegal fill on your land

 Click here for Avoiding the dangers of accepting illegal fill on your land (168kb)

Tree Preservation Order

Click here for information on Tree Preservation Order.

FACT SHEETS:

 Compliance Policy (3.65Mb)

Rural Landholder's Guide to Environmental Law in NSW'. The Environmental Defenders Office recently released a publication, the Rural Landholders’ Guide to Environmental Law.

The purpose of this guide is to help you understand your legal rights and obligations as a landholder and to manage your land in accordance with environmental and natural resource management law.

The topics covered in this guide include:

• vegetation management
• protected plants and animals
• bushfire management
• water management
• development consent
• pollution
• agricultural chemicals
• crops and stock
• mining and quarrying
• heritage protection
• voluntary conservation.