Council Opens State Land Reserves Talks

The Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy (DNRME) recently requested talks with Whitsunday Regional Council regarding the future of 181 state reserves that Council is currently trustee of.
Director of Planning and Development Service Neil McGaffin said DNRME requested the talks as part of the major amendment to the Whitsunday Planning Scheme.
Mr McGaffin stressed the identified lots are not currently owned by Council and are not Council’s to sell.
“Council is purely trustee of these lots and the discussions were to explore better uses for these land parcels,” he said.
“We are also aware that some of the state reserves listed do have assets on them that were not installed by Council,” he said
“Council was asked to review the zoning of these lots, with particular reference to 50 that were identified as not appropriately zoned.
“Of those 50 there are a couple needing further negotiations with DNRME.
“Council’s resolution as per the Council report on August 28 enabled these negotiations with DNRME to commence,” Mr McGaffin said.
“At no stage did Councillors discuss the sale of any land as we are only the trustees, so any sale call would be a DNRME decision.
“Council’s planning team simply started talks to discuss options of state reserves being rezoned to a more appropriate zone or for Council to remove itself as a Trustee.
“All adjoining landowners will be notified well in advance if Council is recommending a zoning change,” Mr McGaffin said.
Anyone seeking further information can read the Council report of August 28 on Council’s website or contact the Strategic Planning team on 4945 0263.

Source: Whitsunday Regional Council.