Wollondilly Shire Council says it wants to make it easier for locals to undertake farming activities on their properties.
It has introduced fast-tracked planning approval pathways.
At its February meeting, council voted to progress this process and will now send it to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Industry for approval.
“Wollondilly has a fantastic rural sector, so it makes sense for us to pave the way to support and expand our existing horticulture industry into the future, given the increasing cost of agricultural land in our Shire,’’ says Mayor Matt Gould.
“We are in close proximity to Sydney and the new Western Sydney Airport, making our local small-scale producers uniquely placed to cultivate fresh, high quality food for the region and beyond.”
“However we know that to do that in a commercially viable way our farmers need to be able to easily leverage more intensive forms of horticulture such as market gardens and hydroponic operations and these changes seek to not only enable that but remove unnecessary red tape so our farmers can just focus on farming.,’’ he said.
“I’m really proud that this council is committed to supporting our farmers and rural industries. This is a big priority for this council, and it is fantastic to see some real changes being delivered that will make an on the ground impact for our horticultural producers.
“I’d like to thank council’s Agricultural and Rural Industries Advisory Group who were key drivers of these changes and provided great input into its development which was prepared in response to recommendations within the Wollondilly Rural Lands Strategy 2021.
“Thanks also to the staff who worked so hard on this.”
