Bold black text reading "Rural Exception Sites Planning flexibility for affordability" sits in the foreground over a background of light blue and grey geometric hexagons, with three organizational logos at the bottom.

Grounded Community Land Trust Advocacy

LXCL:Let's dig into it!

General Admission

It&#39;s time for regional planning flexibility. On Friday 30 October, &nbsp;<a fr-original-style="" href="https://macll.org.au/" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">MACLL</a> and <a fr-original-style="" href="https://grounded.org.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Grounded</a> are convening a working session in Castlemaine on Rural Exception Sites, with the <a fr-original-style="" href="https://ci.org.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Castlemaine Institute</a>. England has run this mechanism for thirty years. The Rural Exception Zone sees a small parcel beside an existing town released for affordable housing only, on land that would never be released for market housing. Because it can only ever be affordable housing, the land never picks up hope value, so a landholder can sell near existing use value. Victoria has no equivalent. Mount Alexander holds more than thirty years of residential land supply, twice what the state expects. Between 2015 and 2021 the share of homes sold at an affordable price fell from 45 per cent to 12. More land has produced dearer houses. Subdivision in the Farming Zone starts at 40 hectares, so the realistic paths are a master planned estate or another lifestyle block. Council&#39;s Rural Land Use Strategy goes to exhibition later this year, which makes this the moment to test whether a fourth, tightly conditioned exception could work here. Three hours of work, then time for discussion over a long lunch. Twenty people chosen for their ability to find the flaws: planners with rural experience, a municipal engineer, a wastewater specialist, former councillors, housing providers and farming landholders.&nbsp; Pat Fensham, national President of the Planning Institute of Australia, opens the day. We leave with a short options paper setting out the mechanism, the conditions it would need to satisfy, and the technical sign-offs obtained or outstanding. That paper goes to Council as a submission and to the Department as a briefing. <a fr-original-style="" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16iXGgUVlKQhJ1roQwPe3qCqZA5KqQ-ct/view?usp=sharing" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Read the briefing paper.</a> Confirmed attendees receive a shorter paper two weeks out with the focus questions, and a poll so the room decides which conditions get the most time. We look forward to a lively discussion where a new pathway between Rural Living Zones and mass subdivision offers the long term affordability many towns urgently require.&nbsp;

It's time for regional planning flexibility. On Friday 30 October,  <a href="https://macll.org.au/" target="_blank">MACLL</a> and <a href="https://grounded.org.au/" target="_blank">Grounded</a> are convening a working session in Castlemaine on Rural Exception Sites, with the <a href="https://ci.org.au/" target="_blank">Castlemaine Institute</a>. England has run this mechanism for thirty years. The Rural Exception Zone sees a small parcel beside an existing town released for affordable housing only, on land that would never be released for market housing. Because it can only ever be affordable housing, the land never picks up hope value, so a landholder can sell near existing use value. Victoria has no equivalent. Mount Alexander holds more than thirty years of residential land supply, twice what the state expects. Between 2015 and 2021 the share of homes sold at an affordable price fell from 45 per cent to 12. More land has produced dearer houses. Subdivision in the Farming Zone starts at 40 hectares, so the realistic paths are a master planned estate or another lifestyle block. Council's Rural Land Use Strategy goes to exhibition later this year, which makes this the moment to test whether a fourth, tightly conditioned exception could work here. Three hours of work, then time for discussion over a long lunch. Twenty people chosen for their ability to find the flaws: planners with rural experience, a municipal engineer, a wastewater specialist, former councillors, housing providers and farming landholders.  Pat Fensham, national President of the Planning Institute of Australia, opens the day. We leave with a short options paper setting out the mechanism, the conditions it would need to satisfy, and the technical sign-offs obtained or outstanding. That paper goes to Council as a submission and to the Department as a briefing. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16iXGgUVlKQhJ1roQwPe3qCqZA5KqQ-ct/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Read the briefing paper.</a> Confirmed attendees receive a shorter paper two weeks out with the focus questions, and a poll so the room decides which conditions get the most time. We look forward to a lively discussion where a new pathway between Rural Living Zones and mass subdivision offers the long term affordability many towns urgently require.

Grounded Community Land Trust Advocacy

Rural Exception Sites

30 Templeton St

General Admission

Free