A DECISION to relax the rules allowing landholders to develop small blocks in the Mildura Older Irrigated Area (MOIA) is expected to be made by the end of the month.
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper said Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s office informed her on Thursday his decision was imminent.
The Victorian Government stopped all housing development in the MOIA in 2009 to try and protect horticultural land being lost to residential expansion.
Mr Wynne signed off on Amendment C89 in 2016, which restricted developing MOIA lots between 0.2-2ha.
“The original intent to protect horticultural land in the Mildura district had merit, and in relation to bigger blocks, it still does. However, the restrictions on smaller blocks has resulted in too many blocks sitting idle,” Ms Cupper said.
Ms Cupper has been a lead advocate for affected landholders and lobbied the Victorian Government to allow development of blocks between 0.2-1.2 hectares which was not viable horticulture land.
“We have a situation where landholders have blocks that are just too small to use for anything other than houses,” she said.
“And they are just sitting there not being used.
“This process has taken a long time and I appreciate the community’s patience. As with all planning matters, there are many technical aspects to be considered, and that takes time.
“But I am very grateful to Minister Wynne for hearing our case and we are hopeful for a favourable outcome.”
Mr Wynne visited Mildura in August last year at the request of Ms Cupper and met with landholders who were being impacted by the restrictions.
As well as allowing landholders to develop small blocks and, in some cases, build their “dream homes”, Ms Cupper said a change to the rules would help kickstart the Mildura economy in its post-COVID-19 revival.
“Anything we can do to encourage and allow development is going to be crucial to our COVID-19 recovery,” she said.
“Allowing the affected landholders to build houses on these small blocks will potentially be a huge boost to the construction industry in the short to medium term, boost jobs and help drive our economy.”
