The Victorian Coalition Government is supporting East Gippsland Shire’s development of a new rural land use strategy to secure the future of farming and associated industries in East Gippsland.

Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, said the Victorian Government funding towards the $120,000 East Gippsland Rural Land Use Strategy Project would be provided through the Regional Growth Fund to East Gippsland Shire Council, which would contribute $30,000.

“The aim of the strategy will be to provide clear direction for agriculture and farming in East Gippsland, and to identify opportunities to develop new industries in the region.

“The $173 million agrifood sector is of vital importance for East Gippsland, with food manufacturing and food production fundamental drivers of the local economy.

“But East Gippsland’s agricultural and farming land is under increasing pressure from subdivision and encroachment of incompatible uses, which threaten the viability and productivity of this important industry sector.”

“It is essential to properly understand the value of the different types of rural land in East Gippsland and determine the right course of action to ensure its ongoing productivity.”

Mr Bull said this new strategy recognised the importance of agriculture to the economy, and the need to support efficient agricultural production and protect the sustainable productivity of soils in East Gippsland.

The project outcomes will:

• establish the existing conditions of rural land and changing trends in agriculture in the area;
• determine whether any land may need to be reclassified;
• recommend how existing zone controls can be strengthened;
• determine the relationship between subdivision and development of agricultural land;
• clarify the purpose of each of the rural land zones; and
• recommend which zone land should sit within.

“The process will involve thorough research and consultation on changing trends in agriculture, population and settlement, and environment and landscape in the region to fully understand the function, values and prospects for our rural land,” Mr Bull said.

Mayor of the East Gippsland Shire Council, Cr Mark Reeves, said the project is included in the Council Plan and will assist to deliver certainty around land use and opportunities in the region’s important rural areas.

The East Gippsland Rural Land Use Strategy project is expected to be complete by December 2015.