The two-hour forum headed by eight politicians and scientific experts failed to bring clarity to the governments draft strategic land use policy, according to chair of the Bellata/Gurley Coal Seam Gas Action group Penny Blatchford.
Mrs Blatchford attended the forum and questioned the mapping of strategic agricultural land in our area.
“Mr Hazzard has mapped out 9.6 per cent of the New England area as prime agricultural land,” Mrs Blatchford said.
“We know in the real world there is more strategic agricultural land than that. Our shire is recognised as having one of the highest agricultural outputs in Australia,” Mrs Blatchford added.
NSW Planning and Infrastructure Minister Brad Hazzard noted the plans were a first for the government and were turning out to be a “challenging process”. “We want to have the process honest and transparent and have no more dirty business deals behind dirty doors,” he said.
The draft plans were launched on March 6 and aim to identify certain areas as priority agricultural land.
However, those lands are not excluded from mining practices and are subjected to a “gateway” process, to be judged by a scientific committee.
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Moree Champion
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