warren-blackwood rural strategy - department of … · peter tille,agriculture western australia....

Prepared by

Department for Planningand Infrastructure

Published by

August 2004

1

ii Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

© State of Western Australia

Published by the

Western Australian Planning Commission

Albert Facey House

469 Wellington Street

Perth,Western Australia 6000

Published August 2004

ISBN 0 7309 9570 8

Internet: http://www.planning.wa.gov.au

email: [email protected]

Tel: (08) 9264 7777

Fax: (08) 9264 7566

TTY: (08) 9264 7535

Infoline:1800 626 477

Copies of this document are available in alternative formats on application to the Disability Services Co-ordinator

Western Australian Planning Commission owns all photography in this document unless otherwise stated.

Disclaimer

This document has been prepared by the Western Australian Planning Commission. Any representation, statement,opinion or advice expressed or implied in this publication is made in good faith and on the basis that the Government, its

employees and agents are not liable for any damage or loss whatsoever which may occur as a result of action taken ornot taken (as the case may be) in respect of any representation, statement, opinion or advice referred to herein.Professional advice should be obtained before applying the information contained in this document to particular

circumstances.

Cover photos courtesy:1. Western Australian Planning Commission.2. Western Australian Planning Commission.3. Water and Rivers Commission.4. Nicci Tsernjavski, CALM.5. Western Australian Planning Commission.

Graphic divider photos courtesy:page 1. Peter Tille, Agriculture Western Australia.page 27. Richard Moore, CALM.page 95. Caroline Hatherly, Agriculture Western Australia.page 99. Roger Hearn, CALM.page 109. Peter Tille, Agriculture Western Australia.

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iiiWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

MINISTER’S FOREWORD

The Warren-Blackwood Region is a rich and diverse area; in many ways it is aregional icon of the State. It is renowned for its high karri forests, diversity ofvegetation, the remote south coast, and its topography and landscape variety. Thearea is highly productive in terms of agriculture, forestry and mining and has been amain contributor to the development of the State’s economy. These natural assets andits close proximity to the Perth metropolitan area have also made it a popular tourismand recreation destination, with it being increasingly recognised as a desirable placeto live.

The natural and developed advantages of the region need to be conserved andenhanced to maximise the opportunities for current and future generations. There isa wide range of land and water management issues confronting the region. Althoughno particular issue alone is regarded as critical at this stage, it is important thatresources are managed carefully to arrest and reverse any trends of degradation.

This Strategy is one of the first regional planning documents to embrace the principles of sustainability at itsfoundation. It aims to provide the best balance between social, environmental and economic factors. Inparticular, it has brought together the natural resources themes of land, water and biodiversity, emphasisingtheir interdependence and the need to consider each in relation to development and land use outcomes. Thefourth theme of the coast is also integrated in the Strategy framework.

The Strategy has been developed with a detailed level of ongoing public consultation and community input.Specific consultation exercises on the main issues and draft strategy were successful with the outcomesmodified to represent a position supported by the community. The level of community ownership that hasresulted is the key to its sustainability.

The Strategy introduces new concepts of natural resources management into rural land use planning andprovides opportunities for sustainable development in accordance with community-established targets and bestmanagement practices. It promotes a concept of responsible land management above regulation and land usecontrol, a system that can continue to evolve with changes in agriculture and environmental targets.

In releasing this Strategy, I would like to acknowledge and thank the study management group members fortheir efforts and dedication over the three years of its development, and the technical advisory group whichprovided essential support. Most importantly, I thank the community for its valuable contribution ofknowledge and ideas to the Strategy which is a tribute to the efforts of all parties.

I commend this Strategy to the community of the Warren-Blackwood Region and look forward to yourcontinued involvement in its implementation for your benefit.

Alannah MacTiernan MLAMinister for Planning and Infrastructure

iv Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

MINISTER’S FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiSUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiSUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

PART 1 - BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1 The Warren-Blackwood Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Warren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.3 Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.4 Study Process and Public Consultation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.5 Study Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.6 Responsibilities with the Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.0 PLANNING CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.1 Government Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.2 State Sustainability Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.3 State Planning Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.4 Regional Development Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.5 Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.6 Natural Resources Management Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.7 Natural Heritage Trust Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.8 South West Catchments Council Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.9 State Salinity Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.10 Blackwood Basin Group Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.11 Other Resource-Protection Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.12 Local Planning Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.0 EXISTING RESOURCES AND IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.1 Physical Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.2 Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.3 Urban Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.4 Regional Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.5 Land Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.6 Water Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.7 Biodiversity Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213.8 Coastal Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223.9 Land Tenure and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233.10 Transport Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

PART 2 - THE RURAL STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274.0 VISION AND PRINCIPLES OF THE STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.1 A Rural Vision for the Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.2 Objective of the Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.3 Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.4 Natural Resources Management Principles and Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.5 Other Natural Resources Management Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.6 Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.7 Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.8 Environmental Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.9 Social Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.10 Diversification/Intensification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.11 Protecting Productive Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.12 Efficiency and Effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.13 Fairness and Equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.14 Community Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314.15 Education and Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324.16 Ongoing Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

CONTENTS

vWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

5.0 PRINCIPAL ISSUES AND STRATEGIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.1 Land Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345.2 Water Resource Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375.3 Environmental Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405.4 Land Use Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425.5 Coastal Management and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445.6 Agroforestry vs Tree Plantations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465.7 Rural Subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485.8 Rural-Residential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525.9 Rural Smallholdings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545.10 Tourism Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565.11 Regional Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585.12 Land Valuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

6.0 REGIONAL ZONINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636.1 Resource Assessment Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636.2 Conceptual Rural Zonings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636.3 Zone Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636.4 Other Rural Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

7.0 PLANNING UNITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677.1 Planning Unit Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677.2 Planning Unit Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

BR1 - SCOTT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68BR2 - BLACKWOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70BR3 - TWEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72CR1 - COLLIE SOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74DR1 - DONNELLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76DR2 - UPPER DONNELLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78WR1 - WARREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80WR2 - PERUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82WR3 - TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84SC1 - SHANNON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86SC2 - MUIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88FR1 - FRANKLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90FR2 - UPPER FRANKLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

PART 3 - IMPLEMENTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958.0 IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

8.1 Functions of the Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978.2 Process of Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978.3 Relationship to Other Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978.4 Relationship to Local Planning Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978.5 Flexibility and Refinement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 978.6 Major Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988.7 Natural Resources Management Targets and Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988.8 Strategy Monitoring and Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 Study Management Group and Technical Working Group Memberships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

2 List of Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

3 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

4 Land Use and Conflict Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

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SUPPORTING REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Areas of Agricultural Significance — Warren-Blackwood Rural StrategyAgricultural Economic Potential of the Warren-Blackwood Region

LIST OF MAPS1 Locality Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 4

2 Warren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy – Land Use Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 4

3 Physiography and Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 14

4 Land Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 18

5 River Basins and Sub-Catchments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 18

6 Proposed Additional Areas for Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 22

7 Generalised Land Tenure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 22

8 Identified Areas of State/Regional Significance for Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 62

9 Conceptual Rural Zonings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 62

10 Natural Resources Management Planning Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . follows 66

LIST OF TABLESTable 1 Geology and Mineral Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Table 2 Population by Local Government Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Table 3 Rural Lot Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

viiWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

SUMMARY

Background

Preparation of the Warren-Blackwood RuralStrategy was one of the principal recommendationsof the Warren-Blackwood Regional PlanningStrategy. Its purpose is to provide a planningframework to address the rural land use, landmanagement, agricultural productivity,environmental protection and resourcerehabilitation issues that were unable to be resolvedin the regional planning strategy.

The Warren-Blackwood Region is probably therichest agricultural region in the State and hassignificant potential for further development. It hasa diverse economic base and there is a wide rangeof landcare issues to be addressed. The Strategy setsout the Government’s broad planning policies andstrategies for the region and presents a frameworkfor the planning strategies of the four localgovernments in the study area. Working in closepartnership with those shires, the local planningstrategies have been prepared concurrently withthis Strategy.

Objectives

The main objective of the Strategy has been tointroduce the principles of sustainability andnatural resources management into the planningsystem and to attain an appropriate balancebetween enhancing productive capacity, protectingthe environment and maximising communityopportunity. It has focused on implementing therelevant recommendations and requirements of theState Planning Strategy, Statement of PlanningPolicy No. 2.5 Agricultural and Rural Land UsePlanning Policy and Environment and NaturalResources Management Statement of PlanningPolicy No. 2. In addition, it has provided a link toother key natural resources management basedinitiatives relevant to the region. These include theState Sustainability Strategy, Regional WesternAustralia - A Better Place to Live, the South WestRegional Strategy for Natural ResourceManagement, the Blackwood Basin Group’svarious strategies and business plans, the StateSalinity Strategy and catchment recovery strategies,and Landcare, Rivercare, Bushcare and Coastcare.

Process

The agricultural land assessment process involvedcombining high-capability land and wateravailability data to identify those areas having thegreatest potential for diversified and intensifiedagricultural production. These assessments were

carried out for the various sub-catchments locatedwithin each river basin. High-capability land wastaken as areas with greater than 70 per cent of thatland identified as Class 1, 2 or 3 for annual and/orperennial horticulture. To determine the wateravailability, the assumed environmental flowrequirements for each stream were deducted fromthe mean annual flow rates to give a conservativesustainable yield figure for that stream. Bydeducting the current yield within the sub-catchment, the amount of water available fordivertible usage was indicated. Using a typicalannual irrigation rate for the area, this showed upthe amount of additional high-capability land thatcould be irrigated sustainably in each sub-catchment. Where there was a significantagglomeration of existing intensive agricultural usesand/or potentials within a catchment, that area wasrecognised as an agricultural area of State orregional significance. The Agricultural EconomicPotential study also supplied valuable informationon the potential of each shire in terms of producinghigher-value agricultural commodities for thelucrative export markets.

Zonings

From the agricultural land assessment process,three conceptual rural zonings — Agriculture,Priority Agriculture and Rural LandscapeProtection — were identified. The objective of theAgriculture zone is to protect the productivecapacity of the land and allow for limited low-key,non-rural developments where they will notcompromise that productive capacity. Within thePriority Agriculture zone, the primary objective isto provide a higher level of protection to theproductive capacity of the land and the key landand water resources that underpin it. The RuralLandscape Protection zone is intended to protectand enhance the intrinsic landscape, environmentalor cultural values of the area, while allowing forongoing rural uses that are compatible with thatlevel of protection.

Natural Resources Management

The basic natural resources management data usedfor the Strategy was the South West RegionalStrategy for Natural Resource Management and thefour technical reports which underpinned it. Twoof those documents, namely Waterways andWetlands in the South West and Bush andBiodiversity in the South West, have maderecommendations and observations in terms of theconservation values of various waterways,

viii Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

wetlands, riparian environments, vegetationassociations, threatened ecological communitiesand declared rare flora. However, there is currentlyinsufficient data available to identify clearly thoseareas spatially on or adjacent to freehold land. TheStrategy has set out a process for the relevantagencies to confirm the respective scientific andcommunity values of those identifiedconservation-quality areas and determine theirrelative priority for conservation, includingassessing the most appropriate methods ofprotection, most suitable funding options andspecial incentives, and the best methods ofmanagement and maintenance of the areas.

Principles

The primary goal of the Strategy is to facilitateongoing rural development within the region on thebasis of sustainability in terms of economic, socialand environmental parameters, in a manner whichis consistent with the opportunities and constraintsof the region’s natural resources. The mainprinciples are:

• Sustainability being the concept whichunderpins the Strategy and the application ofnatural resources management actions;

• Regional and local planning strategiesincorporating or linking into, whereappropriate, the strategies and actions of othernatural resources management initiatives;

• Gaining the best balance between economic,environmental and social objectives;

• Promoting sustainable diversification andintensification of agricultural production;

• Protecting the productive capacity ofagricultural land;

• Promoting a planning system that isoperationally efficient and environmentallyeffective;

• Promoting fairness and equity in landmanagement;

• Promoting community ownership of theStrategy;

• Facilitating ongoing education and awareness ofthe key issues; and

• Pursuing ongoing refinement of the Strategy andactions.

Strategies

Flowing on from the trends and implicationsidentified in respect to the existing resources inChapter 3, 12 separate issues and strategies havebeen developed:

LAND MANAGEMENT — Use land managementprinciples, accepted best management practices andagreed targets rather than tight land use controls tofacilitate sustainable agricultural production andland uses in rural areas.

WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT —Processes have been set out to identify wateravailability, protecting water quality andrationalising water usage in supporting agriculturalexpansion, diversification and intensification.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION — TheWaterways and Wetlands in the South West andBush and Biodiversity in the South West technicalreports have provided the broad framework forfuture conservation objectives, but further detail isrequired to identify specific areas, priorities andprotection levels. The process to achieve thatoutcome is outlined.

LAND USE CONFLICTS — Guidelines have beendeveloped to assist local governments to avoid ordeal with land use conflicts and nuisance issuesbetween adjoining uses in rural areas.

COASTAL MANAGEMENT ANDDEVELOPMENT — Coastal assessment strategyand management proposals are outlined.

AGROFORESTRY vs TREE PLANTATIONS — Inrecognition of the significant advantages to theenvironment and the community of agroforestryover tree plantations, options for addressing theeconomic and tax incentive imbalances have beenoutlined.

RURAL SUBDIVISION — Established that theprimary principle in considering rural subdivisionsis the protection of the productive capacity ofagricultural land, and criteria and guidelines havebeen established for use in the local planningstrategies to guide this process.

RURAL-RESIDENTIAL — Outlined therequirement for zoning or policy area recognitionin the local planning strategy/town planningscheme, focusing on consolidation of settlementsaround existing townsites (i.e. within fivekilometres). Also required is the preparation of astructure plan, addressing issues includingenvironmental design, accessibility, road layout,service provision and buffering. Guidelines forpreferred design criteria which recognise the speciallandscape, topographical or environmentalcharacteristics of the parent lot, are also set out.

RURAL SMALLHOLDINGS — Set out therequirement for identifying an appropriate area/s inproximity to a town/urban area (i.e. within fivekilometres). Also required is the preparation of a

ixWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

structure plan addressing issues including roadlayout, service provision and vegetation andlandscape protection.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENTS — Support theprovision of low-key tourism development inAgriculture and Rural Landscape Protection Zones,subject to local government approval and satisfyingspecific requirements.

REGIONAL TRANSPORT — Diversification andintensification of agricultural production will havetransport implications, which need to be reassessedat a regional level. Encourage downstreamprocessing and regional transport, which maximisesroad-rail combinations.

LAND VALUATIONS — Guidelines for landvaluations and rating to reflect clearly the zoning,permitted uses and conservation measures for ruralland.

Planning Units

For the purpose of analysis and presentation of theStrategy, the region has been divided into 13planning units based on the Natural Resourceszones developed by the then Department ofEnvironmental Protection and Agriculture WesternAustralia in 1992. This has allowed the naturalresources data to be analysed, synthesised andtranslated to broad planning policies and strategiesat the regional level. The local planning strategiesfor the four local governments have then usedplanning precincts based on identifiable groupingsof land developments and uses to draw the broadregional guidelines into detailed and precise localzonings, policies, strategies and provisions.

In Chapter 7, each planning unit is presented witha natural flow from base data through to strategyunder the following headings:

Planning Unit Location

• Planning Unit Description

• Natural Resources Description

• Land Capability and Water Availability

• Major Issues

Conceptual Rural Zoning

• Natural Resources Management Objectives

• Planning Objectives

• Land Use Categories

• Subdivision Criteria

Partnership

The Strategy has been carried out in closepartnership with the four local governments andkey State government agencies. By agreement, thelocal governments each have prepared their localplanning strategies concurrently with this Strategy.A funding grant from the Natural Heritage Trustenabled them to appoint a common planningconsultant to co-ordinate with the Strategy. Theresult is four local planning strategies thatincorporate natural resources managementprinciples and the objectives of the NaturalHeritage Trust. They are also consistent with andcomplementary to the Strategy in principle and inbasic data, but with variations to suit localcircumstances.

Public Consultation

There has been a significant degree of publicconsultation associated with the Strategy. Ratherthan start with the usual public workshops whichask broad questions on local issues and communityaspirations, a number of previous consultationexercises and their outcomes were analysed andsynthesised into an Warren-Blackwood Rural

Blackwood Valley, grazing. Karri Valley Resort.

x Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

Strategy Issues Discussion Paper covering 10 mainissues. Each issue was then discussed in terms ofbackground, opportunities and constraints, optionsand potential actions. The Issues Discussion Paperwas made available to all rural landholders andthey were invited to comment on its content andproposals, with 41 submissions received. The draftstrategy incorporated many of the valuableconcepts put forward in those submissions and wasadvertised for three months as the second majorcomponent of the public consultation. A further 17submissions were received on the draft strategy,and these formed the basis of further amendmentand refinement to produce the final Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy.

Implementation

The Strategy has provided the framework andguidelines for the preparation of the four localplanning strategies. At the same time, it becomesWestern Australian Planning Commission policy forthe Warren-Blackwood Region and provides a basisfor planning decisions in the region. It will beincorporated within and implemented underStatement of Planning Policy No. 1 State PlanningFramework.

xiWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGSAND RECOMMENDATIONS

The principal outcomes of the Strategy aresummarised below:

Principles:

• The concept of sustainability underpins theoverall Strategy and all sub-strategies.

• The Strategy focuses on the natural resourcesmanagement themes of land, water, biodiversityand the coast.

• The Strategy provides a link to the other naturalresources management initiatives developed forthe region and translates the relevantcomponents into the regional and local planningstrategies.

• The Strategy promotes an appropriate balancebetween economic development, environmentalprotection and social opportunity.

• The Strategy promotes sustainable expansion,diversification and intensification of agriculturalproduction throughout the region.

• The Strategy provides for the protection of theproductive capacity of agricultural landthroughout the region.

• The Strategy establishes a planning systemframework that is operationally efficient andenvironmentally effective.

• The Strategy promotes fairness and equity insharing the costs and responsibilities associatedwith addressing natural resources managementissues.

• The key to success in natural resourcesmanagement is to develop communityownership through full consultation with alllandholders and other key stakeholders in theregion.

• The ongoing success of the Strategy depends oncontinuous research, education and awarenessof the issues.

Process:

• Land capability and water availability — Thecapacity to increase the sustainable productivecapacity of agricultural land is more dependenton the availability of adequate supplies ofgood-quality water than it is on the existence ofhigh-capability soils. The Strategy has assessedthe environmental flow requirements of streamsin various sub-catchments, along with theirexisting yields, to determine the amount ofwater available for additional irrigation usage.By intersecting the land capability and water

availability in each sub-catchment, additionaldevelopment potential was demonstrated, andthis was a major determinant in identifyingPriority Agriculture areas in the region.

• Water resources — The Strategy has linked theland use planning system into water resourcemanagement by using preliminaryenvironmental flow requirements to identifysub-catchments where the current yield may beapproaching the sustainable yield level. Thishighlights sub-catchments where more detailedstudy to refine the environmental flowrequirements is appropriate and where efforts toimprove efficiency of water usage can help toavoid future restrictions on water supply.

• Waterways, wetlands and biodiversityconservation — Current information on thespecial conservation values of the waterways,wetlands and biodiversity areas of the regionhas allowed those significant areas to beidentified in a broad sense, but there is as yetinsufficient data to enable it to be reflected fullyin the Strategy and local planning strategies. Aprocess has been devised to enable those areasto be identified in relation to private freeholdland, confirm community values and prioritiesand to consider the most appropriate means ofconservation.

• Best management practice/code of practice —An efficient and effective rural landmanagement system will require bestmanagement practice/code of practice guidelinesfor the various land use types, locations and/orcircumstances. Many such guidelines havealready been prepared and are in use, but moreare required. These will be developed by theinvolved community and industry, withgovernment agency support. Key issues ofplanning relevance will need to be drawn out ofthose guidelines and translated into townplanning scheme provisions as a backup tocommunity implementation.

• Target setting and monitoring — Utilisation ofbest management practice/code of practiceguidelines go hand in hand with target settingand monitoring in the various sub-catchments.These values will be established and the actionscarried out by the Department of Environmentand the local catchment management groups, inconjunction with the local communities.

• Agricultural economics — Traditionally, ruralplanning has been based on current productionstatistics. The Agricultural Economic Potential

xii Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

Assessment allowed future projections andproduction scenarios to be developed, takinginto account value-adding ratios, gross valueand gross margin, as well as market trends,international export markets and otherinfluences. The future scenario potentials foreach local government area could then be usedfor concept planning in regard to population,employment, transport, infrastructure andfacilities.

• Socioeconomic impacts — Rural decline ormarginal rural population growth can beresolved sustainably only by actions that willprovide ongoing economic, environmental andsocial returns. These deteriorating ruralcircumstances have been in evidence for at least30 years, but have been exacerbated to someextent in recent years by large-scale treeplantation developments and currently by theeffects of the Forest Management Plan2004-2013. This may be partly or fully offset bypromoting and supporting sustainableexpansion, intensification and diversification ofagricultural production, including facilitatingbroadscale agroforestry in lieu of largeplantations.

Strategies:

Land management:• Promote sustainable agricultural production.

• Provide an emphasis on land managementpractice rather than tight land use control.

• Use best management practice/code of practicein conjunction with catchment target setting andmonitoring to guide land management.

• Incorporate backup provisions into planningstrategies and schemes.

Water resource protection:• Ensure expansion, intensification and

diversification of agricultural production iswithin the sustainable yield limits of the sub-catchment.

• Review the environmental flow estimates forthose catchments where sustainable yield hasbeen or is close to being reached.

• Support the preparation of community-basedwater allocation management plans andincorporate the outcomes as a refinement of thesub-catchment assessments and planning.

• Promote greater efficiency of use andmanagement of water resources, especiallywhere sustainable yield has been reached.

• Promote the concept of comprehensivesub-catchment management strategies to addressa range of environmental and resource issues.

Environmental protection:• Identify, prioritise and implement conservation

values established.

• Implement policies on waterways protection andforeshore management.

• Promote the concept of comprehensivesub-catchment management strategies to addressa range of environmental and resource issues.

Land use conflicts:• Agriculture is to be considered the pre-eminent

rural use, with all others being of secondaryimportance.

• The dividing boundary should be taken as thecritical point to consider setbacks in each case.

• Houses, tourism developments and othernon-rural uses to require formal localgovernment planning approval in each case.

• Consider current and potential future uses inassessing appropriate setbacks.

• Assess setbacks in relation to existingdevelopments on the basis of individual merit.

Coastal management:• Prepare a regional coastal planning strategy for

Augusta to Walpole.

• Prepare a coastal management plan for coastalstrip adjacent to freehold lots west of BlackPoint.

• Assess and co-ordinate road construction andservicing requirements to the private freeholdlots prior to any increase in development.

Agroforestry vs tree plantations:• Ensure tree plantations remain an as-of-right

crop in Agriculture zone.

• Recognise agroforestry as having betterenvironmental, social and landcareopportunities than large plantations.

• Address and pursue issues of tax incentives tobalance economic discrepancies betweenagroforestry and tree plantations.

• Promote agroforestry as an integral componentof co-ordinated farm and catchment planning.

Rural subdivision:• Overriding principle is to protect the productive

capacity of agricultural land.

• Subdivision proposals to demonstrateagricultural productivity benefits.

• Support for farm rationalisations that improvethe productive capacity, environmental

xiiiWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

rehabilitation or resource management of theland.

• General criteria for assessing subdivisionproposals established.

Rural-residential:• Rural-residential estates to be identified as

policy areas in local planning strategy orscheme, in response to a demonstrated need.

• Subdivision and development not permitteduntil land rezoned and structure plan preparedand approved.

• Rural-residential estates to be located in closeproximity to an urban centre, but not in oradjoining significant agricultural areas.

• Estate design to show flexibility to protect andenhance significant landscape andenvironmental features.

Rural smallholdings:• Rural smallholding estates to be identified as

policy areas in local planning strategy orscheme, in response to a demonstrated need.

• Subdivision and development not permitteduntil land rezoned and subdivision guide planprepared and approved.

• Rural smallholding estates to be located inreasonable proximity to an urban centre, butnot supported on land that would otherwise bePriority Agriculture zone.

Tourism development:• Up to five chalets may be acceptable within a

Rural zone, but greater tourism development torequire specific rezoning.

• Formal planning approval required for alltourism developments in rural areas.

• Identify specific tourism precincts where tourismdevelopment has significant potential.

• Tourism developments and uses not to constrainnormal agricultural usage on adjoining ruralland.

• Tourism developments not to conflict with themanagement objectives on any adjoining CALMestate.

Regional transport:• Assess all agricultural and rural uses in

reviewing the regional transport network.

• Emphasise road-rail combination in regionaltransport network.

• Identify sub-regional scale industrial estate siteadjacent to the road-rail corridor.

• Promote downstream processing of regionalproduce within the region.

• Utilise existing log-haul roads for heavy vehicletransport routes wherever possible.

Land valuations:• New land valuations to acknowledge and

incorporate scheme zonings, developmentrestrictions, conservation measures, etc.

• Pursue tax/rate concessions for endorsedconservation measures (e.g. covenants) on ruralland.

Warren Beach.Broadacre grazing.

xiv Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

PART 1BACKGROUND

2 Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

3Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy

Introduction

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Warren-Blackwood Region

The Warren-Blackwood Region, comprising theShires of Manjimup, Bridgetown-Greenbushes,Boyup Brook and Nannup (see Map 1), is an areaof wide physical contrast, great natural beauty andhigh economic productivity. With a total area ofapproximately 1,412,000ha and a 2001 censuspopulation of 16,706, it contains 58.9 per cent ofthe total South-West land area and has 13 per centof the population.

Extending from the south coast and the ScottCoastal Plain, over the southern end of the DarlingScarp and into the plateau of the westernagricultural areas, the region is dissected by the twomajor river basins, which give the region its name.The Blackwood River passes through the Shires ofBoyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes andNannup, whereas the Warren River basin iscontained almost totally within the Shire ofManjimup. The CALM estate accounts for 64.6 percent of the regional area, but this is greater in theManjimup Shire (79.5 per cent) and Nannup Shire(78.8 per cent). The remaining land has beengenerally cleared for agricultural uses, with only avery small proportion being urban orrural-residential land.

The Warren-Blackwood Region has traditionallybeen an area of high productivity and greateconomic importance. On the limited freehold landavailable, the gross value of agricultural productionfor the region in 2000 was $187 million, anincrease of 14.7 per cent since 1996. Withhigh-capability soils, relatively good supplies ofhigh-quality water and considerable exportopportunities, there is significant potential forintensification and diversification of production.

The region is also subject to considerableuncertainty now as the timber industry is beingaffected by the rationalisation and cutback ofnative forest timber harvesting and the Forest

Management Plan 2004-2013 and is undergoing aprocess of readjustment. Government agriculturalservices have been rationalised in recent years andagricultural producers are affected by fluctuatingcommodity prices and rural economic change. Inaddition, the region is affected by a wide range ofland degradation factors, which potentiallythreaten future productivity, viability and ecologicalsustainability.

Although the population is relatively small andcurrent growth rates relatively low, the region isbecoming increasingly attractive as a lifestylealternative to city living and the rapidly developingcoastal areas to the north and west. Tourism, whichhas always been a significant industry in the area,is also growing rapidly. With the wide variety ofnatural attractions and the ambience of the region,its appeal in this regard will almost certainlycontinue to grow.

It is clear that the Warren-Blackwood Region is ofState economic significance, as well as being ofgreat environmental and social/cultural value. It isimperative that careful planning to protect thenatural resources be undertaken in line with theaspirations of the local community.

1.2 Warren-Blackwood RegionalPlanning Strategy

The final Warren-Blackwood Regional PlanningStrategy presented a comprehensive planningframework for the region for a 20 to 25-year timehorizon. The strategy was supported by fivespecific planning strategies, covering:

• Urban and infrastructure

• Rural land use

• Resource development

• Conservation

• Coastal

Chapter 1

The Warren-Blackwood Region features a wide variety of productive agricultural landuses, surrounded by large areas of State forest and national park.

The Warren-Blackwood RegionalPlanning Strategy made strongrecommendations about thepreparation of this Strategy andhighlighted many of the issues tobe addressed.


Introduction

The land use strategy of the Warren-BlackwoodRegional Planning Strategy is shown on Map 2.

Within the rural land use strategy component anumber of sub-strategies and recommended actionswere set out under the following headings:

• Protection of productive capacity

• Land and water degradation

• Sustainability of agricultural systems andpractices

• Balancing water resource allocation

• Tree plantations and agroforestry

• Accommodation of other rural land uses

• Strategies for specific areas

During the assessment and preparation of theWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy,vital information from (then) Agriculture WA andCALM on land capability and remnant vegetationwas not available. As a result, the agriculturalsignificance of each area could not be assessedadequately, nor appropriate strategies proposed.Accordingly, the recommended actions under therural land use strategy included one principalaction, which stated:

“Prepare a regional rural strategy to address, ata regional scale, the issues raised in this ruralland use strategy and to set the framework forlocal rural strategies”

This was supported by a number of otherrecommended actions on associated details.

This Strategy fulfils that requirement.

1.3 Warren-Blackwood RuralStrategy

The delay in finalising the Strategy is unfortunate,but this has also presented some positive outcomes.Along with the additional land capability andremnant vegetation data, valuable water resource,waterways and wetlands and vegetation andbiodiversity data, has also become available. Thishas enabled a much more comprehensiveassessment of the natural resources of the region tobe undertaken.

One primary objective of the Strategy is tointroduce natural resources management principlesand activities into the planning system at the localand regional level. The Warren-BlackwoodRegional Planning Strategy clearly demonstratedthe strong interdependence of land and waterresources and the close links with vegetation andbiodiversity. It is therefore important to incorporatethe natural resources themes of land, water andbiodiversity. Coastal environs, as a theme, has also

been included because there is clear overlappingand interlinking in that area. At this stage, theother resource areas of minerals, marine andatmosphere have not been included.

A second primary objective is to ensure that theprinciple of sustainability is paramount in allconsiderations. This has been developed as abalance between economic, environmental andsocial needs.

The third primary objective is to incorporate theinitiatives being undertaken by other agencies andgroups using natural resources managementprinciples. This includes the State PlanningStrategy, the Regional Western Australia - a BetterPlace to Live, Natural Heritage Trust objectives,the South West Regional Strategy for NaturalResource Management, the State Salinity Strategy,the Blackwood Basin Group’s zone action plansand business plans, and others.

The outcome of the Strategy will set out the State’srural planning objectives for the region and will bea framework for assisting the four localgovernments in the development of their individuallocal planning strategies. The Strategy focusesprimarily on freehold land, in acceptance of thefact that CALM has administrative andmanagement responsibility for its own estate underseparate legislation. However, the influence andinteraction of the resources between the CALMestate and freehold land is fully acknowledged assignificant given the extent of the CALMlandholding. CALM has also made a significantcontribution by way of the extensive knowledgebase for biodiversity conservation and landscapeassessment in respect of private freehold land.

1.4 Study Process and PublicConsultation

Throughout the Warren-Blackwood RegionalPlanning Strategy and this Strategy, the emphasishas been on ensuring effective public consultation.It is most important that the Strategy identifies keycommunity issues and develops responses andactions in conjunction with the key stakeholders,including local landholders and the localcommunity generally. This will maximise publicsupport and ownership of the Strategy and ensureits effective implementation.

There have been extensive public workshops andconsultation programs in the region on a widevariety of topics in recent years, including forseveral phases of the Warren-Blackwood RegionalPlanning Strategy. These have produced a wealthof valuable base data on local issues, communityconcerns and suggested solutions. However, it was

Chapter 1


Introduction

clear that the local community was tired ofattending endless workshops to discuss the samebroad concepts, make the same general proposalsand see little or no practical results. There was anopportunity, instead, to work with the issues andthe potential solutions already identified, to takethe consultation exercise to the next level.

Ten principal planning and resource use issues wereidentified and formed the basis of theWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy IssuesDiscussion Paper. Each issue had a general

introduction/explanation, followed by a summaryof associated opportunities and constraints, andsuggested a range of options and future actions toresolve the issue. This paper was widely distributedamong rural landholders in the region in August2001 and submissions were invited. The 41submissions received provided a wealth of insightsand gave a much clearer picture of the community’sconcerns and aspirations. The outcomes of thesubmissions received were then brought togetherwith the natural resources data to produce the draftWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy.

The draft strategy was released for a three-monthpublic advertising period on 22 March 2003 andcommunity presentations and discussions were heldin each of the shires, with 17 submissions received.They were generally supportive of its concepts, butidentified a number of specific issues or suggestedchanges. There was no major issue of concern,although predictably rural subdivision was raisedseveral times. These submissions have now beenfully analysed and evaluated and the draft strategyhas been reviewed to incorporate relevantmodifications. The final Strategy represents theplanning vision of the State Government, theWestern Australian Planning Commission (WAPC)and the community for the Warren-BlackwoodRegion.

1.5 Study Management

The Strategy has been project managed by theDepartment for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI)on behalf of the WAPC. A key component of theprocess has been the establishment of the studymanagement group which comprisedrepresentatives of each of the four localgovernments as well as the Department ofEnvironment (DoE), the Department of Agriculture(DoAg), the Department of Conservation and LandManagement (CALM) and DPI. The role of themanagement group, which has met on a regularbasis throughout the process, has been to representState and local interests, contribute its varied rangeof knowledge and expertise, debate the issues andoptions and present to the WAPC a draft and finalStrategy for consideration. A wider TechnicalWorking Group covering State and localgovernment and various community groups wasconsulted for general and specific advice asrequired and met on an occasional basis forconsultation and updating on the progress anddirection of the Strategy.

The development of the four local government localplanning strategies concurrent with the Strategywas also assisted by a Natural Heritage Trust grantfor the purpose of achieving the integration ofnatural resources management principles into thedeveloped rural planning framework.

By working as a close partnership involving Stateand local government and communityrepresentatives and developing the Strategy andlocal planning strategies concurrently, a range ofimportant objectives and benefits have beenachieved, including:

• issues being identified more easily and resolvedby consensus;

• greater consistency of principles betweenregional and local levels;

• simplicity of ensuring that the appropriate levelof detail of strategies, actions and provisionsappears in the appropriate level of document;

• greater compatibility of implementation acrossadministrative boundaries through using thesame database and principles, but varyingpolicies and provisions to suit localcircumstances;

• greater ability to attract external funding orincentives through a co-ordinated regionalapproach; and

• simplifying subsequent modification and review.

Chapter 1

The Warren-Blackwood RuralStrategy Issues Discussion Paperwas widely distributed throughoutthe region in mid-2001. It resultedin a wide range of responses andprovided valuable informationwhich formed a foundation for theStrategy.


1.6 Responsibilities with theStrategy

The Strategy was drawn together from a widevariety of sources, with special input from variousagencies, local governments, strategies, policies,community groups and general communityparticipation. In conjunction with the developmentof the Strategy, the four local governmentsprepared the respective rural components of theirlocal planning strategies. From this base:

• The WAPC retains responsibility primarily formaintaining subdivision control, carrying outstrategic and regional planning and advising theMinister for Planning and Infrastructure inregard to town planning schemes and generalplanning matters. It has adopted the Strategy asits planning policy for the region and will use itto guide its decision-making for the region.

• The local governments have responsibility foradministering their respective local planningstrategies and town planning schemes, carryingout local planning and exercising developmentcontrol within their district. They will use theStrategy as a framework and guideline for theirplanning administration.

• Other agencies will continue to administer theirown respective areas of responsibility, but willuse the Strategy to define their interrelationshipwith the planning system.

• Other community groups will continue theirexisting role and responsibilities, but will usethe Strategy as a framework and guideline toassist their activities.

• The community will share the cost ofconservation measures where it shares in thebenefits.

IntroductionChapter 1


Chapter 2Planning Context

2.0 PLANNING CONTEXT

2.1 Government Policies

A number of established government policies arerelevant to the important regional issues, or need tobe taken into account in addressing those issues.There is a need to identify the relevant policies andhighlight where they may complement the regionalissues and desired outcomes, and to indicate wherethere may be a potential conflict. It is the role ofthe Strategy to assess the apparent conflicts and todraw out a specific strategy that best resolves thematter without compromising the intent orobjectives of the policy.

2.2 State Sustainability Strategy

After exhaustive public consultation, the StateGovernment released its concept for sustainabilityin September 2003. Hope for the Future: TheWestern Australian State Sustainability Strategy”defined sustainability as:

“ . . . . . meeting the needs of current and futuregenerations through an integration ofenvironmental protection, social advancementand economic prosperity”.

The sustainability framework consists of:

• seven foundation principles and four processprinciples that reflect the core values ofsustainability;

• six visions for Western Australia’s sustainability;and

• six goals for government and 42 priority areasfor action.

The six goal are:

• Sustainability and governance

• Contributing to global sustainability

• Sustainable use of natural resources

• Sustainability and settlements

• Sustainability and community

• Sustainability and business

Some of the priority areas for action relevant tothis Strategy include:

• Maintaining our biodiversity

• Sustainable agriculture

• Sustainable forestry and plantations

• Sustainable tourism

• Sustainable coastal and marine environments

2.3 State Planning Strategy

WAPC developed the State Planning Strategy inaccordance with the following vision:

“The State Planning Strategy will significantlycontribute to the quality of life of all WesternAustralians in the years to 2029, by using theland use planning system to facilitate andcontribute to regional wealth; the conservationand enhancement of the environment; and thebuilding of dynamic and safe communitieswhich nurture human activity.”

Under the broad objective of Securing a HighQuality Environment, the following four keystrategies are underpinned by a number ofsupporting actions for implementation:

• Prevent further loss in biodiversity;

• Ensure that water resources are conserved andtheir quality protected;

• Ensure that land and soil are safeguarded andthat degradation does not occur; and

• Promote planning, management and protectionof resources.

More specifically for the South-West Region, thereis a range of supporting actions for the followingfour key strategies:

• Protect natural resources from incompatibledevelopment;

• Implement landcare programs such as IntegratedCatchment Management to reduce soil and riversalinity and pollution of water resources;

• Protect sensitive environmental areas andcultural heritage; and

• Promote opportunities for economic growth.

The Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy draws upon and links in with a number ofother State-level strategies affecting the region.



2.4 Regional Development Policy

The regional policy statement for Western AustraliaRegional Western Australia - A Better Place to Livecomplements the State Planning Strategy. Its visionis:

“Western Australian regional communities willbe healthy, safe and enjoyable places to live andwork, offering expanded and improvededucational and employment opportunities fortheir residents and a high standard of services.

Regions will have robust, vibrant economiesbased on the sustainable use of economic, socialand environmental resources and a strongpartnership approach within and betweenregional communities, industry andGovernment.”

It lists the following four regional developmentpolicy goals, which are supported by a range ofstrategies and targets:

• Governance — Understanding, partnering anddelivering better outcomes for regions;

• Economic — Growing a diversified economy;

• Social — Educated, healthy, safe and supportivecommunities; and

• Environment — Valuing and protecting theenvironment.

2.5 Statement of Planning PolicyNo. 2.5

As a result of increasing concern about planning,development and land management pressures inrural areas, the Government reviewed its pastpolicies and produced a new policy (Statement ofPlanning Policy No. 2.5 — Agricultural and RuralLand Use Planning) under Section 5AA of theTown Planning and Development Act 1928. TheAct requires that local government must have dueregard to this policy in the preparation oramendment of town planning schemes, strategiesand policies and when providing comment andadvice on planning applications that deal with ruralland. In conjunction with Statement of PlanningPolicy No. 2.5 — Agricultural and Rural Land UsePlanning, WAPC’s Development Control Policy No.DC 3.4 — Subdivision of Rural Land was alsoreviewed and upgraded to provide the frameworkfor the subdivision of rural land to achieve the fourkey objectives of the statement of planning policy.

In its background and purpose section, it makes thefollowing statement:

“The Western Australian Government considersthat productive agricultural land is a finitenational and State resource that must beconserved and managed for the longer term.

As a general objective, the exercise of planningpowers should be used to protect such land fromthose developments, activities or influences thatlead to its alienation or diminished productivity,while always accepting the need for land forexpanding urban areas and other uses of Statesignificance.”

Under policy objectives, it states:

The four key objectives of the policy are-

1. Protect agricultural land resources whereverpossible by-

a. discouraging land uses unrelated toagriculture from locating on agriculturalland;

b. minimising the ad hoc fragmentation ofrural land; and

c. improving resource and investment securityfor agricultural and allied industryproduction.

2. Plan and provide for rural settlement where itcan-

a. benefit and support existing communities;and

b. have access to appropriate communityservices and infrastructure.

3. Minimise the potential for land use conflict by-

a. providing adequate separation distancebetween potential conflicting land uses;

b. introducing management requirements thatprotect existing agricultural land uses;

c. identify areas that are suitable and capablefor intensive agricultural pursuits asagricultural priority areas; and

d. avoid locating new rural settlements in areasthat are likely to create conflict withestablished or proposed agricultural priorityareas.

4. Carefully manage natural resources by-

a. discouraging development and/orsubdivision that may result in land orenvironmental degradation;

b. integrating land, catchment and waterresource management requirements withland use planning controls;

c. assisting in the wise use of resourcesincluding energy, minerals and basic rawmaterials;

d. preventing land and environmentaldegradation during the extraction ofminerals and basic raw materials; and

e. incorporating land management standardsand sequential land use change in the landuse planning and development process.



2.6 Natural Resources ManagementPolicy

WAPC has prepared Statement of Planning PolicyNo. 2 Environment and Natural Resources (SPP 2),which has as its three objectives, to:

• integrate environment and natural resourcesmanagement with broader land use planningand decision-making;

• protect, conserve and enhance the naturalenvironment; and

• promote and assist in the wise and sustainableuse and management of natural resources.

Policy measures that should be included orconsidered in planning strategies, schemes anddecision-making are set out under 10 specificheadings, including:

• Water resources

• Soil and land quality

• Biodiversity

• Agricultural land and rangelands

• Landscapes

2.7 Natural Heritage TrustObjectives

The Natural Heritage Trust was set up by theCommonwealth Government in 1997 “to helprestore and conserve Australia’s environment andnatural resources”. In 2001, the Governmentannounced additional funding which extended theproject for five years.

The Natural Heritage Trust areas of activity are:

• protecting and restoring the habitat ofthreatened species, threatened ecologicalcommunities and migratory birds;

• reversing the long-term decline in the extent andquality of Australia’s native vegetation;

• protecting and restoring significant freshwater,marine and estuarine ecosystems;

• preventing or controlling the introduction andspread of feral animals, aquatic pests, weedsand other biological threats to biodiversity;

• establishing and effectively managing acomprehensive, adequate and representativesystem of protected areas;

Community groups and landholders can contribute greatly to environmental rehabilitation using resources and guidelines such as this poster, produced by the Water and RiversCommission with support from the Natural Heritage Trust.(By courtesy Water and Rivers Commission)



• improving the condition of natural resourcesthat underpins the sustainability andproductivity of resource based industries;

• securing access to natural resources forproductive purposes;

• encouraging the development of sustainable andprofitable management systems for applicationby landholders and other natural resourcesmanagers and users;

• providing land-holders, community groups andother natural resources managers withunderstanding and skills to contribute tobiodiversity conservation and sustainablenatural resources management; and

• establishing institutional and organisationalframeworks that promote conservation andecologically sustainable use and management ofnatural resources.

As a part of this project, application was made forNatural Heritage Trust funding to assist with thepreparation of the four local planning strategies toincorporate and implement the principles andstrategies of the Strategy, especially in regard tonatural resources management and the objectives ofthe Natural Heritage Trust. A total of $50,000 wasgranted, which has been be used solely by the fourlocal governments for the preparation of the ruralcomponent of their local planning strategies.

2.8 South West Catchments CouncilStrategy

The South West Catchments Council has preparedthe South West Regional Strategy for NaturalResource Management as the first phase of aproject to provide strategic direction and co-ordination of natural resources management withinthe regional catchments and assist in fundingapplications to the Natural Heritage Trust. Thestrategy was prepared on the basis of input fromcatchment and community groups and was co-ordinated by the South West Catchments Council.The second phase will be to develop business plansthat identify priorities for implementationaccording to available resources, partners andopportunities.

That strategy focused on five general goals, each ofwhich is supported by a range of objectives,strategies and actions:

• Conservation of natural resources

• Sustainable use of natural resources

• Integrated planning and management

• Research and monitoring

• Community development

That strategy was underpinned by four technicalreports on:

• Waterways and Wetlands in the South West

• Bush and Biodiversity in the South West

• Profile of NRM Issues in the South West

• Coastal Environs in the South West

Each of those technical reports has providedextensive information and data on the state of therespective resources and their needs forconservation. Along with the strategy, they formthe basis of the natural resources managementcomponent of this Strategy.

2.9 State Salinity Strategy

The State Salinity Council prepared the StateSalinity Strategy to address the rapid expansion ofsalinity in agricultural areas of the State and itspotentially devastating environmental, economicand social effects. A key statement in the strategysays:

“The community needs to consider where itwould be possible and/or economic to controlsalinity in the longer term, and for any givenarea whether we should try to reverse salinity(recovery), stop it from getting worse(containment), or learn to live with and manageit (adaptation)”.

Its goals are:

• to reduce the rate of degradation of agriculturaland public land, and where practical recover,rehabilitate or manage salt-affected land;

• to protect and restore key water resources toensure salinity levels are kept to a level thatpermits safe, potable water supplies inperpetuity;

• to protect and restore high value wetlands andnatural vegetation, and maintain natural(biological and physical) diversity within thesouth-west region of Western Australia;

• to provide communities with the capacity toaddress salinity issues and to manage thechanges brought about by salinity; and

• to protect infrastructure affected by salinity.

Further chapters in the report outline strategicapproach to addressing salinity, tools to managesalinity, community action to address salinity andmonitoring and evaluation.


2.10 Blackwood Basin GroupStrategies

The Blackwood Basin Group, and its predecessorthe Blackwood Catchment Co-ordinating Group,have produced several documents addressingnatural resources management and landcare in theBlackwood Basin, including Strategic Directions forLand Conservation in the Blackwood Catchment,and Business Plan — 2000 and Beyond.

The group has as a mission statement:

“To inspire the sustainable communitymanagement of the Blackwood Basin’s resourcesfor the benefit of current and future generationsthrough coordination and education”.

Its purpose and activities are described as:

“ . . . . . a community operated organisation thatdelivers assistance to achieve sustainable landmanagement across the Blackwood Basin. Thegroup specialises in accelerating on-groundaction through coordination of natural resourcesmanagement and education”.

The Blackwood community has identified thefollowing priority issues:

• Rising water tables and salinity

• Loss of remnant vegetation and biodiversity

• Degraded streams and eutrophication

• Waterlogging, inundation and flooding

• Water and wind erosion

• Spread of environmental weeds

• Increasing soil acidity

The basin has been divided into nine Landcarezones, three of which cover the basin area withinthe Warren-Blackwood Region. Zone action plansare in various stages of preparation andimplementation for those three zones.

2.11 Other Resource-ProtectionInitiatives

Apart from the Blackwood Basin, theWarren-Blackwood Region also contains a largeportion of the Warren Basin and a small portion ofthe Leschenault (Collie) Basin. Both areas havedeveloping catchment management groups, whichwill take on a similar role to the Blackwood BasinGroup. In addition, there is a number of LandConservation District Committees (LCDCs),Landcare groups, environmental groups andcommunity groups which undertake variousnatural resources management initiatives thatdeserve due acknowledgement and support in thisStrategy and local planning strategies.

2.12 Local Planning Strategies

Local planning strategies are now a requiredcomponent of a town planning scheme, replacingthe former scheme report. Their purpose is toprofile the district, set the future direction andoutline the rationale for the scheme zonings andprovisions. In many cases, especially with naturalresources management, the strategies and actionsfor implementation are best carried out voluntarilythrough community or stakeholder co-operation.However, in some instances, the local governmentmay determine that there is a need for somelegislative backing to carry out the strategies andactions necessary to achieve natural resourcesmanagement objectives, in which case, formalscheme provisions would be required. Achievingthe appropriate balance between this, thecommunity position and State policy requirementsis the role of the respective local government inpreparing its scheme documents.



Chapter 3Existing Resources and Implications

3.0 EXISTING RESOURCES ANDIMPLICATIONS

3.1 Physical Description

Geology and Prospectivity

The underlying geology and the geological historyduring the past 3,500,000,000 years of the earth’sdevelopment are the major controlling factors ofthe:

• physiography

• natural surface drainage development andevolution

• groundwater resources

• soils

• actual and potential mineral and petroleumresources

Because rock is the source material for the soils, itis a very significant factor in the development ofthe natural vegetation.

Table 1 contains a generalised description of thegeology, mineral resources and prospectivity of theregion.

Physiography and Landscape

The Warren-Blackwood Region is divided intothree physiographic/landscape areas (see Map 3).

The Scott Coastal Plain — generally a low-lying,swampy plain featuring windswept parabolicdunes. In the east, limestone and granite headlandsprotect sandy beaches, which are punctuated byrivers and estuaries. In the west, long beaches withsteep reflective faces are backed by parabolicHolocene dunes and some mobile Holocenesandsheets. Inland in the west, much of the flatswampy plain has been cleared for agriculture.Remnants of sub-coastal dunes occur inland as dogranite outcrops, which appear as large domesoften dominating the surrounding landscape.Vegetation generally consists of eucalypts,peppermints and wattles on the slopes, and heathand sedge in the lower areas. Soils are basicallysandy, generally deep dry sands with winterwaterlogged sandy duplex soils near the ScottRiver. Some sand deposits contain economicconcentrations of titanium minerals.

The Darling Plateau — an undulating, dissectedpeneplain with gravelly, pale orange soils cloakedby extensive areas of tall forest. Deep, steeply sidedvalleys occur throughout this area, occasionallypunctuated by impressive dome-shaped graniteoutcrops. In the west, the landscape becomes moredistinctly undulating with granite boulders andsteep-sided valleys and is substantially influenced

GEOLOGICAL UNIT OR GROUPING (ROCK TYPES)

LOCATIONMINERALS OR

ROCKEXTRACTED

POSSIBLE ADDITIONALMINERALS OR ROCKS OR

ADDITIONAL OCCURRENCESPLANNING UNITS

Yilgarn Craton.(Granite, gneiss, doleritemetasediment)

East of Darling Fault, north ofPemberton.

Greenbushespegmatite.(Tin, tantalum,lithium).

Gold, mica, pegmatite minerals, crushedrock, monumental stone.

BR2, BR3, CR1, DR2,WR1, WR2, WR3, SC2

Albany-Frazer Orogen.(Granite, gneiss)

East of Darling Fault, south ofPemberton.

— Crushed rock, monumental stone. WR1, SC1, FR1, FR2

Perth Basin.(Sandstone, shale, siltstone,coal)

West of Darling Fault, isolatedpatches near Boyup Brook.

Gravel, sand. Gravel, sand, coal, oil, gas. BR2, CR1, DR1

Coastal sediments.(Sand, clay, lime sand,limestone)

Within 10km of coast. Titanium minerals,limestone.

Titanium minerals, limestone, limesand,sand.

BR1, DR1, WR1, SC1

Regolith.(Ironstone, clay, weatheredrock)

Veneer over whole surfaceexcept coastal sediments.

Ironstone gravel,kaolin clay.

Ironstone gravel, kaolin clay, bauxite. BR2, BR3, CR1, DR1,DR2, WR1, WR2, WR3,SC1, SC2, FR1, FR2

Table 1 — Geology and Mineral Resources



by the winding course of the Blackwood River.Soils are predominantly gravels with occasionalblock laterite outcrops and some elevated areas ofsands and sandy loams. In the deeper valleys, the

soils are heavier alluvials. AroundManjimup-Pemberton, there are considerable areasof heavy red loams, or karri loams, which are ofsignificant horticultural value. The WheatbeltPlateau displays a wide, open landscape of longviews that are dominated by agricultural use.Extensive clearing has been undertaken whichaccentuates the level to gently undulatingtopography. Scattered vegetation occurs on thefringes of broad fields or is clustered in groupsaround the granite outcrops that occur. Thedominant vegetation type is tall jarrah/marri forestswith banksia and blackboy understorey. On thePemberton slopes, high karri forest with jarrah andmarri dominates, interrupted by low, broadswampy valleys and granite domes.

The Blackwood Plateau — gently undulating witha low, hilly relief, and has broad depressions withswamps, but is at a lower elevation than theDarling Plateau. Soils are characterised by laterite,gravels and grey sand on upper areas and sandy,yellow soils on slopes and river terraces.

A regional-scale landscape assessment for the wholeof the State was published in Reading the Remote— Landscape Characters of Western Australia. Thereport addressed the Warren-Blackwood Region,identifying landscape character types, visual qualityclassification and provided an aesthetic charactersummary, which have been used in the Strategy.

Climate

The climate of the Warren-Blackwood Region is awarm temperate Mediterranean type with distinctseasons characterised by cool, wet winters andwarm to hot, dry summers. Average temperaturesin the region are moderate and generally higher inthe north-east of the region and becomeprogressively cooler towards the southern coastline.

Boyup Brook temperatures range from a minimumof 4.3°C in winter to more than 30°C duringsummer, whereas in Manjimup, it ranges from5.8°C during winter to 26.6°C in summer.

Rainfall is generally high in the winter months. Thesouthern portion of the region receives morerainfall and generally has a longer wet season thanthe northern portion. It ranges from 1,250mm perannum in the Northcliffe-Walpole area to 550mmper annum in the East Boyup Brook area.

The Darling Plateau dominates the landscape of theWarren-Blackwood Region, and greatly influenceslocalised climatic conditions, particularly rainfall,and vegetation communities.

Trends and Implications

• The predicted greenhouse impacts are likely tosee a reduction in annual rainfall, temperaturerises and other climatic changes, with asignificant rainfall decline already apparent overthe past 30 years. This could have seriousimplications for agriculture in the region, withreduced run-off, significantly less wateravailability and a likely further deterioration instream water quality.

• Tall forests, especially karri, are landscapecharacter icons of the State worthy of speciallandscape protection. Freehold propertiesadjoining national parks and State forests, andin particular those which occur as isolatedpockets within the national parks or Stateforests can, however, have significant impactson the visual quality, conservation values andmanagement of those areas.

• The deep and steeply sided Blackwood Valley isalso a landscape character icon with its longvalley views and intermix of farming andvegetated areas, especially along the tourismdrive from Nannup towards Balingup and in thevicinity of Bridgetown.

• The coastal fringe has special landscapecharacteristics (e.g. the dramatic landforms andthe diversity of the heath and scrub) which arevery fragile and exposed to the forces of theSouthern Ocean storms and winds, requiringspecial protection for the freehold land in thatarea.

• Tree plantations can add variety to the colours,textures and vistas in the rural landscape, butthey can also detract from the experience wherethey enclose a previously attractive, openlandscape or where they block views tosignificant landscape features.

The steep-sided Blackwood Valley provides contrasting landscapes and views.



3.2 Demographics

The 2001 census figures indicate a mixture ofoutcomes for the four local government areas. Asshown in Table 2, the total Warren-BlackwoodRegion population has declined marginally over thepast five years, in comparison to a longer-termtrend of small to moderate growth. There has beena small decrease in urban population, but this hasbeen mostly offset by continued rural populationgrowth. However, those trends have not beenconsistent across the region.

In the Manjimup Shire, there was a slight overallpopulation decline after a previous moderategrowth rate, with the rural areas maintainingpopulation growth. Manjimup town’s growthslowed considerably, but the other three townsdropped in population, significantly so inNorthcliffe. Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire overallhad a reduced growth rate, but the rural growthrate actually increased in that period. In contrast,the large growth rates of the towns of Bridgetownand Greenbushes actually became small populationlosses. The Nannup Shire has maintained its smallgrowth rate in the rural and urban areas. Likewise

the Boyup Brook Shire has maintained a smallpopulation decline, but the rate of loss in the townhas slowed.


• The population decline in the Boyup BrookShire has been in evidence for about 40 years, isthe result of a number of socioeconomic factorsand is a trend typical of most Wheatbelt localgovernment areas.

• The social changes brought about by the ForestManagement Plan 2004-2013 /restrictions onnative forest logging will have a significanteffect on population levels, especially in theShire of Manjimup and, to a lesser extent, in theShire of Nannup. Some of those effects are nowbecoming apparent, but the full impacts will notbe known for several years.

• Various government initiatives have beenpromoted to offset those impacts, but their fullextent and possible population implications arenot known either, so it is difficult to make anyaccurate medium to longer-term projections.

• Apart from the changes in total populationnumbers arising from these actions, there also

LGA/LOCALITYCENSUS

1976CENSUS

1996AAGR*

1976-1996%

CENSUS2001

AAGR1996-2001

%

Manjimup (LGA)Shire RuralManjimup (Urban Centre)Pemberton (Locality)Northcliffe (Locality)Walpole (Locality)

8,6703,6943,893

810NA**273

10,0934,1334,390

994239337

0.820.550.641.13

—1.17

10,0304,2194,402

948150311

-0.120.410.05

-0.92-7.45-1.54

Bridgetown-Greenbushes (LGA)Shire RuralBridgetown (Urban Centre)Greenbushes (Locality)

2,8901,2601,386

244

3,9041,3782,123

403

1.750.472.663.26

3,9351,4612,094

380

0.151.20

-0.27-1.14

Nannup (LGA)Shire RuralNannup (Locality)

1,020509511

1,144623521

0.611.120.10

1,183652531

0.680.930.38

Boyup Brook (LGA)Shire RuralBoyup Brook (Locality)

1,9201,278

642

1,6041,051

553

-0.82-0.89-0.69

1,5581,010

548

-0.57-0.78-0.18

Warren-Blackwood Region TotalRuralUrban

14,5006,7417,759

16,7457,1859,560

0.770.331.16

16,7067,3429,364

-0.050.43

-0.41

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1983, 1998 and 2002

* Annual average growth rate (%)** Northcliffe included in Manjimup Shire Rural for 1976

Table 2 — Population by Local Government Area



may be significant age group, occupation,industry and socioeconomic implications arisingfrom any population replacement.

• The concept of new jobs in the plantationtimber industry replacing those of native foresttimber workers may have significantimplications due to the different location of thetwo resources, which could require a substantialpopulation relocation.

• Changes in rural economics, such as fallingcommodity prices, rising production costs, risinglabour costs, technology changes andinternational trade agreements and subsidies,have influenced a rural downturn andpopulation loss over the past 25 years inbroadacre grazing and cropping areas. Thereappears little prospect of change in thiscategory.

• A greater concentration on diversification andintensification of rural production may help tooffset the changes in the timber industry and thedecline in the broadacre farming sector.

• Unforeseen major project developments canhave a substantial impact on the localpopulation, not only from the additionalworkforce, but also from the families of the newworkforce and the flow-on effects throughoutthe community.

• Although it is hard to predict numerically, thereis likely to be continued interest in the lifestyleopportunities afforded by the region as analternative to city living or the highly popularCape to Cape Region.

3.3 Urban Development

This aspect of regional planning and developmentwas covered in the Warren-Blackwood RegionalPlanning Strategy and it is not intended that it bereaddressed in this Strategy. However, some of theimpacts of urban development have implicationsfor rural areas, which need to be considered here.The Warren-Blackwood Land Release Plan 2001 to2005 was prepared “to advise government on landuse planning and the co-ordination of services andinfrastructure provision” requirements in theregion.


• The general lack of reticulated seweragefacilities in many of the towns and the relativelyhigh cost of servicing (relative to the ultimatemarket value of the resultant lot) cause manydevelopers and lot purchasers to preferrural-residential developments over thetraditional residential lots.

• Expanding non-rural areas, especiallyrural-residential subdivisions, encroach onsurrounding prime agricultural lands (especiallynear Manjimup) and affect attractive rural andnatural landscapes (especially near Bridgetown).

3.4 Regional Economy

There is a diverse regional economy, withsignificant contributions from four broad productareas — agriculture, forestry, mining and tourism.

Agriculture

Out of the total of 1.4 million hectares in theregion, the CALM estate and other reserves cover67 per cent, leaving approximately 345,000 ha inagricultural holdings. Boyup Brook is the only localgovernment area with less than 50 per cent of itsland area in reserves. From the land in agriculturalproduction, the gross value of agricultural productsfor the region in 2000 was $187 million, anincrease of 14.7 per cent since 1996. As acomparison, the total State gross value ofagricultural production for 2000 was$4,736,549,904.

Each of the four local government areas in theregion has a different complexion in its agriculturaleconomic base, with annual and perennialhorticulture representing more than half the grossvalue of agricultural production in ManjimupShire, Bridgetown-Greenbushes beingpredominantly beef production, Boyup Brookhaving mostly wool and sheepmeat, and Nannupfocusing more on beef and potato production.

Forestry

Native forest timber production has always been amajor component of the local economy andemployment base. Agreed production levels underthe Forest Management Plan 2004-2013 have beenset at 54,000 cubic metres per annum of first andsecond-grade karri logs and 131,000 cubic metresper annum of first and second-grade jarrah logs,for the next 10 years. The majority of the timberproduced in this State, particularly karri, comesfrom the Warren-Blackwood Region.

As the native forest production is reduced, greateremphasis is likely to be focused on plantationtimber production. It is difficult to get accuratecurrent forecasts on the plantation industry, butpreviously it had been suggested that there wouldbe hardwood plantings of 200,000ha across theSouth-West/Great Southern Regions by 2008.Associated with this, it was estimated that 1,250direct permanent jobs and 1,500 indirect positions



would be created, with an economic benefit ofabout $570 million per annum. Hardwoodharvesting is likely to average about 20,000ha perannum for woodchip production. The ForestProducts Commission has about 10,000ha ofsoftwood plantations, with private plantationscovering a further 15,000 to 20,000ha. The ForestProducts Commission is replanting its plantationsat a rate of about 350ha per annum, but privatesoftwood plantations are not being replanted. Thisis leading to a decline in softwood production.Softwood plantations currently produce about150,000 cubic metres per annum of sawlogs and asimilar volume of woodchips.

Mining

Mining activity is restricted mostly to two productgroups and two mining areas. Production andprocessing development saw the Greenbushes minesproduce tantalite, spodumene and tin worth $304million in the two years to 2002. Heavy mineralsands worth approximately $20 million were minedat Jangardup in 2002. As this source is depleted, a

new mine west of Lake Jasper is due to bedeveloped, with production worth about $300million over the life of the operation. Furtherproven mineral sands deposits exist across parts ofthe Scott Coastal Plain agricultural area and theseare likely to be mined in the future.

Minor deposits of kaolin (Bridgetown-GreenbushesShire) and lime sands (Manjimup Shire) have beenmined but production has now been cut back.There are known deposits of coal and bauxite inthe Wilga Basin north of Boyup Brook, but thereare no plans for these to be mined at this stage.

Tourism

The Warren-Blackwood Region is one of the State’sprimary tourism zones due to its varied topographyand landscapes, extensive forests, remote coastline,mild climate, and cultural attractions. Theprovision of farm stays and chalets in rural areashas become one of the largest tourism growthindustries in Australia. However, it has proveddifficult to get accurate data on the scale of thelocal rural tourism industry in terms of number ofunits, growth rate, employment or economic value.


• Agricultural production is continuallyexpanding, and the availability of furtherquality soils and water supplies indicatesconsiderable future opportunities in agriculture.

• Opportunities for expansion of the localhorticultural market is only marginal, but theexport market potential, especially in South-EastAsia, is significant.

• The extensive areas of broadacre cropping andgrazing offer opportunities for intensification ofland uses and diversification of production,providing greater economic security for theproducer and employment opportunities for thecommunity.

• Protection of the productive capacity of theagricultural land against inappropriatesubdivision, zoning, development and uses iscritical.

• Protection and management of the land andwater resources are also critical.

• Horticultural developments pose a moresignificant environmental threat to adjacentwaterways and wetlands, with the increased soildisturbance and greater fertiliser and chemicaluse leading to potentially greater erosion,sedimentation and nutrient transport, but thefar greater level of returns providesopportunities for achieving more sophisticatedlevels of land management and environmentalprotection.

• The inevitable socioeconomic impacts of thecutbacks on native forest logging can only bepartially offset by expansion of plantationforestry and the horticultural industry, due tothe different skills required, generally differentlocation, different employers, disruption tocommunity structure, and differentinfrastructure needs.

• The increased production and diversificationoffer greater opportunities for downstreamprocessing and value-adding in the region.

Mineral sand mining provides an opportunity for sequential land uses, whereby land isrehabilitated to its original state or a condition suitable for subsequent productive useafter the valuable mineral deposits have been recovered.

(Photo by courtesy Cable Sands)



• Tree plantations present various economic,environmental and employment opportunities,but agroforestry appears to offer far greatersustainable benefits for the region and thecommunity.

• Current and future mining activity atGreenbushes is unlikely to have significantimpact on freehold agricultural land or theenvironment, subject to appropriaterehabilitation.

• Possible future sandmining on agricultural landon Scott Coastal Plain offers opportunities forsequential land uses, with mining beingfollowed by rehabilitation of the land to itsprevious ecological status or to a state suitablefor ongoing agricultural production, or acombination of the two.

• Access to the limited deposits of lime sands inthe region is of great importance to sustainableagricultural production, land management andlandcare.

• Low-key, farm-based tourism facilities offer thebenefits of diversified economic andemployment opportunities for the region andthe landholders, but great care must be taken toavoid conflicts with productive agriculturalactivities.

3.5 Land Resources

Out of a regional land area of 1,412,000 ha, thetotal area of private freehold land is approximately434,000 ha, or just over 30 per cent. Theremainder of the land is within the CALM estate orother reserved land or Crown land. By LocalGovernment area, Boyup Brook has 68.3 per centprivate freehold land, Bridgetown-Greenbushes47.0 per cent, Manjimup 17.3 per cent andNannup 16.7 per cent.

The land resource has been assessed in terms ofland capability, with particular attention tocapability for annual and general horticulture. Thisassessment identified those land areas where morethan 70 per cent of the land was either Class 1, 2or 3 for annual and/or perennial horticulture. Map4 indicates that there is a very high concentrationof such soil capabilities around Manjimup andPemberton, with moderate to high concentrationsaround Boyup Brook, Bridgetown, Greenbushes,Nannup and Northcliffe. The Scott Coastal Plainshowed up poorly in this regard due to winterwaterlogging, but when assessed in terms ofsummertime only horticulture, there was a veryhigh concentration of high capability. The mainconstraints to land capability in the region include

salinity, steep slopes, erosion potential, nutrientexport potential, waterlogging, acidification andclimate.

The Blackwood Basin Group has identified thepriority landcare issues within the LowerBlackwood as being eutrophication, siltation, riverforeshore protection, weeds in native forests, andlandscape scenic values. In the Middle Blackwood,the priority issues are listed as dryland salinity,wind and water erosion, siltation andeutrophication, remnant vegetation decline, stream

degradation, and waterlogging. On the ScottCoastal Plain, general soil degradation potential isseen as a major issue.

For the Warren area (i.e. Donnelly, Warren,Shannon and coastal basins), the principal landcare issues include soil salinity, waterlogging,erosion, fire risk and water quality and quantity, aswell as protection of prime agricultural land, soilstructure decline and soil acidification.

Another significant emerging issue is theintroduction of genetically modified organisms andthe potential for them to spread to adjoining cropsand threaten local and export markets. Littleinformation on this topic is currently available andit is difficult to address it rationally in the planningcontext at this stage.


• It is obvious that past land managementpractices contributed to large-scale landdegradation and a continuation on that pathwould have led to the demise of much of theproductive land in the region, and along with itthe waterways and wetlands, biodiversity and,ultimately, the livelihoods of the majority of thecommunity. Much of this was the result ofignorance, and responsibility must be accepted

Increasing salinity levels in streams pose threats to existing farm dams, potential farmwater supplies, agricultural productivity generally and adjacent biodiversity values.



by all sectors of the community — rural andurban, country and city.

• Land management practices and actions have adirect impact on the surrounding vegetation andbiodiversity values and the downstreamwaterways and wetlands.

• The majority of agricultural producers recognisethe importance of sustainability and theprotection of their environment and are makingstrong efforts to reverse the trends ofdegradation.

• The regional community is generally veryunderstanding and supportive and activelyinvolved in reversing the trends of the past.

• Information, education, incentives, equity andsupport are key ingredients to a partnership inlandcare.

• Agricultural productivity depends even more onavailability of sufficient quantities ofgood-quality water than it does on havinggood-quality soils available.

• Sustainable agricultural productivity is essentialfor the regional economy and communitysustainability.

• Changes and intensification of rural land usesrender the necessary changes in landmanagement practices more feasible andaffordable for landholders.

3.6 Water Resources

The region has been divided into six river basinsfor resource evaluation and management purposes.These basins are the Blackwood, Donnelly, Warren,Frankland, Collie, and a south coast grouping of anumber of medium to small rivers, including theShannon, Deep and Gardner. Each basin has thenbeen divided into a series of sub-catchments formore detailed evaluation purposes. Those basinsand sub-catchments are shown on Map 5.

The Blackwood Basin is the largest in thesouth-west of the State, stretching from east ofKukerin to the coast at Augusta, and covering thevast majority of the Shires of Nannup,Bridgetown-Greenbushes and Boyup Brook. Withthe majority of the middle to upper basin havingbeen cleared and used for agriculture over a longperiod, waterway salinity levels have becomebrackish to saline in this area, but the water qualitydoes improve as the river passes down through themore forested areas, where it is diluted by theinflow of fresher side streams (including theYarragadee Aquifer). Much of the riparianenvironment is also degraded (moderately toseverely) in the middle to upper basin.

Similarly, the Warren Basin is largely cleared andsuffers from riparian degradation in the uppersections and this is reflected in the rising salinitylevels and other water-quality decline. In the middleto lower sections, the riparian zone and adjacentarea are mostly forested, which has a favourableimpact on the quality of the water in the river. Theeastern portion of the basin extends into adjoiningparts of the Great Southern Region and theremainder is within the Shire of Manjimup.

The Frankland Basin also arises in the GreatSouthern Region and in its lower section forms theborder between the Shires of Manjimup andDenmark. The riparian environment on the westernbank is mostly in good condition. Water in bothrivers is marginal to saline in the upper, clearedareas, but improves to marginal with the freshstream inflows further downstream.

The Donnelly Basin is within the CALM estate,with the exception of the very upper section, whichlargely has been cleared for grazing, and theManjimup Brook tributary, which has also beenextensively cleared for horticultural and grazingactivity. Water quality in the Donnelly River isfresh, but Manjimup Brook is marginal.

The Collie Basin extends into the northern portionof the Boyup Brook Shire. Although there areconsiderable concerns with rising salinity levels inthe basin, and large sections of the Collie RiverSouth branch catchment have been cleared foragriculture, the water quality remains fresh.

In the South Coast Basin, the Deep River is one ofthe very few rivers in the State that remains inalmost pristine condition. Similarly, the ShannonRiver catchment is almost entirely within nationalpark and maintains fresh quality. The GardnerRiver is partially cleared in the upper section, butalso remains fresh.

Each of the basins in the region has been brokendown into sub-catchments representing significanttributary rivers and streams. Those sub-catchmentshave then been assessed in terms of water quality,mean annual flow, current yield and estimatedenvironmental flow requirements to give anindication of the amount of water that may still beavailable for capture for agricultural use ordiverted for other purposes. The DoE is responsiblefor water allocation and water resourcemanagement and will facilitate a program ofcommunity-based water allocation managementplanning to ensure fair and equitable allocation ofavailable water and maximise the sustainableproductive opportunities from that resource.



The only significant groundwater area in the regionunderlies the Scott Coastal Plain and BlackwoodPlateau, to the west of the Darling Scarp. There is acomplex of shallow and deep aquifers, dominatedby the Yarragadee. It has been assumed by manythat there are vast quantities of high-quality wateravailable for extraction, but little research has beencarried out into factors such as the hydrogeologicalstructure and extent, recharge and discharge pointsand volumes, environmental requirements orsustainable yield. However, it is known that anumber of groundwater-dependent environmentsrely on discharge from these aquifers, including theLeederville and Yarragadee (e.g. the BlackwoodRiver receives high-quality fresh water from theYarragadee and St John’s Brook receives dischargefrom the Leederville). A number of locallandowners on the Scott Coastal Plain have carriedout various irrigated agricultural developmentsusing licences to draw large quantities of highquality water from these aquifers, and there isscope for expansion with significant economicreturns if further water supplies can be madeavailable. As part of an assessment aimed atsecuring future water supply needs for the State,DoE is evaluating a number of factors in regard tothese aquifers, including their extent, recharge anddischarge rates, environmental requirements andpotential sustainable yield.

There are extensive wetland suites in the region,with most having a reasonable degree of protectionfrom inappropriate land uses and land managementpractices due to their location within the CALMestate. Two that are of special significance, butwhich have freehold land in close proximity are theGingilup Swamp (national significance) on theScott Coastal Plain and the Lake Muir-Unicup suite(Ramsar listed) in the far east of the ManjimupShire. The current status, known condition andother relevant details of all wetlands in the region

are summarised in Waterways and Wetlands in theSouth West. Considerable research has beenundertaken and base data made available to assistin future decision-making.

The most significant issues associated withwaterways, wetlands and water resources in theregion are stream salinisation, nutrient transportand eutrophication, erosion and siltation, pollution(chemical, biological and litter), degradation of theriparian environment, weeds in waterways, landdrainage, water quality and water availability.

Salinity is now being addressed seriously,particularly in the Collie and Warren Basins, whichhave been declared as recovery catchments. TheDoE has worked together with community-basedrecovery teams to prepare strategic action plans forsalinity management in each basin. These planshave established as targets a reduction in riversalinity levels back to 500 milligrams per litre totaldissolved salts by 2015 for the Collie and 2030 forthe Warren. These plans have envisaged varyingcombinations of managing groundwater rechargethrough strategic planting of deep-rootedperennials and engineering options involvingdrainage and pumping of groundwater, accordingto the particular circumstances. The plans havestressed that these actions will not be forced onlandholders, but rather will be carried out inpartnership and through incentives and sharedresponsibilities.

As a result of recent changes in water law (Rightsin Water and Irrigation Act 1914), property rightsin water have been established in the Warren andDonnelly river systems. This means there is now aseparation of water property rights from the landtitle, with a clear specification in terms ofownership, volume, reliability and tradability.However, this property right is expressed only as alicence to take water, from the DOE. Clearlyspecified on the licence is the annual waterentitlement in kilolitres per annum. A portion ofthe annual water entitlement, or the licence itself,can be traded separately from the land title.

In using the Strategy to guide rural planning, it isimportant to realise the bearing this has on creatingopportunities of buying in water to securedevelopment or the restrictions that may result inproperties not having water tied to land title. Alicence to take water is by proclamation andcontrol of watercourses. As indicated, only theWarren and Donnelly river systems have beenproclaimed.

Many of the river basins and stream catchments have been partially cleared,particularly in the upper sections, but the Deep River remains in near pristinecondition throughout its catchment.

(Photo by courtesy Nicci Tsernjavski, CALM)




• Appropriate land management is the mostimportant factor in maintaining water quality inwaterways and wetlands.

• Declining water quality adversely affects a widerange of community values and opportunities,including agricultural production, riparianvegetation, visual landscape, communityfacilities and infrastructure and tourism.

• Given the apparent scale of the identifiedaquifer systems, it is appropriate that there is anearly full assessment of their potential as a Statewater resource, where that resource can be used,and how it can be shared among competingneeds.

• The full extent of the environmental dependencyon discharge from these aquifers must beconsidered and until that is known, anyestimated sustainable yield from the systemsshould be assessed conservatively.

• The Scott Coastal Plain appears to havesignificant potential for agricultural expansionin a range of product areas based on irrigationwaters drawn from these aquifers, and anyaccess to the water resource should take intoaccount the potential economic, social andecological implications for the region and theState.

• The riparian environment plays a vital role inmaintaining a waterway’s functions andqualities and as a filter to the adjacent landuses, as well as playing a recreational andeducational role for the community.

• The regional community is generally verysupportive and strongly committed towaterways and wetlands care.

• Information, education, incentives, equity andsupport are key ingredients for a partnership inriver care.

• The waterways and wetlands conservationvalues identified now need to be prioritised andcommunity management requirementsestablished.

• Community water allocation managementplanning needs to be acknowledged through theplanning system and translated to regional andlocal strategic plans.

• The practice of tradable water rights alreadyexists in the Warren and Donnelly River basinsand there is a likelihood the concept will extendto other river basins or catchments in the future.

3.7 Biodiversity Resources

The vegetation types, vegetation associations,threatened ecological communities, reservationstatus, rare and priority flora and fauna aresummarised in Bush and Biodiversity in the SouthWest. That report describes the South WestBotanical Province of Western Australia as a centreof mega-diversity on a global scale due to theexceptionally high number of species and high rateof endemism of its flora and some aspects of its

fauna. The report provides a great deal of valuablebase data to assist with future decision-making, butis not yet in a form whereby it can be used to effectthe required conservation outcomes through theplanning system.

Fortunately, much of the significant biodiversityvalues in need of protection are located withinState forest or the conservation estate, which offersa moderate or high level of protection opportunity.The areas of most concern are those on or adjacentto freehold land. This is the land over whichplanning strategies have greater influence andwhere various actions and incentives to achieveconservation outcomes can be effected.

Some of the remnant vegetation remaining onfreehold land has been degrading as a result offactors such as poor management, overgrazing,weed infestation and rising water tables andsalinity levels.

The Forest Management Plan 2004-2013 hasproposed major changes and extensions to theconservation estate in order to protect old growthforests and other special ecological values. Theextent of those changes is shown on Map 6.

Land use activities on freehold landcan have adverse effects onthreatened species in remnantvegetation areas or within theadjacent conservation estate, as inthe case of this Wurmbea Sp., nearLake Muir.

(Photo by courtesy Roger Hearn,CALM)




• The biodiversity conservation values identifiedin the Bush and Biodiversity in the South WestTechnical Report need to be prioritised andcommunity management requirementsestablished.

• Establishment of conservation lots or wildlifecorridors or the like need to be considered inconjunction with incentives and sharing thecosts and responsibilities equitably across thewhole community.

• The proposed changes to the conservation estateresulting from the Forest Management Plan2004-2013 are likely to address many of theconservation issues raised in Technical Report#2, within the CALM managed lands.

3.8 Coastal Resources

The South Coast is a high-energy coastline due tothe south-westerly to south-easterly onshore windsand the strong and persistent south-westerly swell.The Donnelly, Warren and Gardner Rivers emptyto the Southern Ocean through seasonally openlong, narrow estuaries, whereas the Shannon Riverflows into a lagoonal estuary at Broke Inlet and theDeep, Walpole and Frankland Rivers feed into thetwin lagoonal estuaries of Walpole and NornalupInlets. This is described more comprehensively inCoastal Environs in the South West NaturalResource Management Region.

The South Coast is mostly remote and relativelyinaccessible. The semi-wilderness landscape andenvironment is the identity of this area which ismost prized by the local community and those whovisit the area. To the west of Black Point, the beachis backed by a continuous line of large freeholdlots, with no formal public access being available tothe beach. From Black Point to Nornalup Inlet, the

land adjoining the coast is contained within theD’Entrecasteaux and Walpole-Nornalup NationalParks. The only private holdings within this areaare three freehold lots and a pastoral lease betweenBlack Point and the Donnelly River mouth and twofreehold lots to the west of Point D’Entrecasteaux.The Windy Harbour settlement accommodatesabout 210 leasehold cottages on a Shire ofManjimup lease to the east of PointD’Entrecasteaux. There is no other settlement oraccommodation facility along the rest of that200km coastline from Augusta eastwards toPeaceful Bay (Walpole is located on the WalpoleInlet, with no vehicular access to the coast and verylimited boat access to the ocean). Approximately60 shacks were constructed in the past on theshores of the Donnelly River estuary and areallowed to remain by CALM on the basis oflifetime lease only. Several similar shacks exist inother parts of the D’Entrecasteaux National Parkand are tolerated by CALM on the basis that theyare open for public use.

The Northcliffe to Windy Harbour Road providesthe only sealed road access to the coast for 200km(Augusta to Peaceful Bay). An unsealedtwo-wheel-drive road leads from Windy Harbourthree kilometres to Salmon Beach, a similareight-kilometer road provides access from theSouth Western Highway to Mandalay Beach, 20kmwest of Walpole and another unsealed road givesaccess to Conspicuous Cliff, east of Walpole(outside the study area). All other coastal access tothat 200km coastal strip is restricted to a fewinformal four-wheel-drive sand tracks through thenational parks. The Keep Our Coasts Open grouphas lobbied hard over the years to retain theinformal four-wheel-drive access tracks to the coastwithin the national parks and has carried outvarious works to upgrade those tracks to preventundue erosion of the dunes. The five freehold lotsand the pastoral lease also are accessible only viasimilar sand tracks.

Effective management of the coastline adjoining thenational parks is afforded by the national parkmanagement plans, albeit the foreshore is notformally part of the national parks. However, thecoastal strip adjoining the freehold lots to the westof Black Point is unvested Crown land. TheWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy andthe Coastal Environs in the South West NaturalResource Management Region acknowledged theneed for:

• a regional coastal strategy to be prepared forthe coast between Walpole and Augustafocusing on access, recreation, tourism,accommodation and management principles;

Black Point is an isolated basalt outcrop within a long stretch of sandy coastline.Private landholdings to the west have many outstanding landscape features, but havean extreme wind erosion potential.



• a district coastal management plan for the coastabutting the freehold land to the west of BlackPoint and addressing vesting and managementresponsibilities; and

• detailed management plans for specificproperties or development nodes.

DPI on behalf of the WAPC has commenced workon the regional coastal strategy.


• There is likely to be increasing pressure on theSouth Coast for access, recreation, tourism andaccommodation as the population in thesouth-west of the State increases and other westand south coastal locations become more highlydeveloped.

• The coastal freehold lots to the west of BlackPoint are coming under increasing pressure forsubdivision and further low-key development.

• Further development of those freehold lots isbeing restricted by the unresolved coastal stripvesting and management issues.

• Development of the freehold lots also raisesquestions over the adequacy of the existing

“road” access, provision of services and firemanagement strategies, all of which are bestaddressed comprehensively rather thanindividually.

• Equitable options need to be considered fordealing with the freehold land enclaves withinthe national parks.

3.9 Land Tenure and Land Use

Map 7 indicates the dominance of the CALMestate in the land tenure of the region, particularlyin the central, southern and western parts. There isa wide range of rural lot sizes existing across theregion at this stage, as shown in Table 3, whichincludes all freehold land parcels within each localgovernment area that are greater than one hectare.If a lot is severed it has been counted as twoparcels.

In Nannup, a large majority of the land parcels are<40ha in area, but in percentage terms of totalarea, the vast majority of land area is in parcels>80ha. In comparison, in Boyup Brook a largemajority of parcels are >40ha in area and the vastmajority of the land area is in parcels >80ha. Bycontrast, in Bridgetown-Greenbushes, a large

SHIREAREA CLASS

(HA)No. OF

RURAL LOTS% OF TOTALRURAL LOTS

TOTAL AREA(HA)

% OF TOTALRURAL AREA

AVERAGELOT SIZE

(HA)

Manjimup 1-44-4040-80>80TOTAL

33.735.920.69.8100.0

1,477.612,420.322,436.226,125.762,459.8

2.419.935.941.8100.0

2.217.053.8131.330.8

6641,2041,0072393,114

21.338.732.37.7100.0

1,496.423,657.253,512.733,594.1112,260.4

1.321.147.729.9100.0

2.319.653.1140.636.1

Bridgetown -Greenbushes

1-44-4040-80>80TOTAL

6847294171992,029

Boyup Brook 1-44-4040-80>80TOTAL

1364998247672,226

6.122.437.034.5100.0

352.49,902.945,954.8136,647.1192,857.2

0.25.123.870.9100.0

2.619.855.8178.286.6

Nannup 1-44-4040-80>80TOTAL

277337165104883

31.438.218.711.8100.0

710.75,795.09,122.632,889.348,517.6

1.511.918.867.8100.0

2.617.255.3316.254.9

TOTAL 1-44-4040-80>80TOTAL

1,7612,7692,4131,3098,252

21.333.629.215.9100.0

4,037.151,775.4131,026.3229,256.2416,095.0

1.012.431.555.1100.0

2.318.754.3175.150.4

Table 3 — Rural Lot Sizes



majority of land parcels are <40ha (evenly spreadbetween one and four hectares and four to 40ha),but the vast majority of land area is in lots >40ha(roughly evenly split 40-80ha and >80ha).Manjimup has only a small number of >80haparcels (mostly lots are evenly split between four to40ha and 40-80ha) and almost half of the freeholdland area is in lots of 40-80ha.

For Nannup, the figures are somewhat distorted bythe very large lots on the Scott Coastal Plain, whichaccount for half of the freehold land area. Here,the land is predominantly used for tree plantations,annual horticulture (under large centre pivotirrigators), dairying and cattle grazing. Elsewhere,it is mostly tree plantations or grazing. BoyupBrook is mostly broadacre cropping and grazing,but with substantial areas of tree plantations,which is indicative of the larger land parcel sizes.Lot sizes in Bridgetown-Greenbushes wereprobably influenced by the past land uses ofperennial horticulture and dairying, but the area isnow mostly grazing and some tree plantations.Around Manjimup and Pemberton, there is a mixof annual and perennial horticulture and somedairying and grazing. Northcliffe has a mixture ofannual horticulture, dairying, grazing and treeplantations, but the Walpole area is predominantlygrazing. The smaller land parcels reflect the moreintensive land uses.

Over the past 20-40 years, there have beensignificant changes in land uses, and more changesare likely in the future. In the Boyup Brook Shire,perennial horticulture (orchards) in the westernsector has all but disappeared and the rich sheepstud and wool-producing properties in the easthave been hard hit by the wool crisis over the past10-15 years. With these major changes, technologyadvances, high labour costs, fluctuating commodityprices and a diminishing interest by youngergenerations in taking over the family farm, therehas been a steady decline in the rural populationgenerally across the broadacre agricultural regionof the State for more than 20 years. Over the past10 years, higher land prices being offered by treeplantation companies have seen a large number oftraditional farmers opt to sell up and retire. Manyhave left the district, exacerbating the pastpopulation downturn and posing socialimplications for the town and throughout thedistrict.

In Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire, the socialimpacts of the significant changes over the past20-40 years (outlined above) appear to have beenoffset largely by a growing interest in the area forrural lifestyle living. Around Manjimup andPemberton, intensification of land uses has brought

with it greater economic growth and hasunderpinned population increases. This is likely tocontinue, but the impacts of the Regional ForestAgreement and the Forest Management Plan2004-2013 may not be apparent for some time.The most significant change in Nannup is theintensification of uses and production on the ScottCoastal Plain. Horticultural development, dairyingand tree plantations replacing broadacre agriculturehas brought significantly greater employmentopportunities and local economic activity, but thisdoes not appear to have had a significant impacton the local population at this stage.


• Many of the changes occurring in the ruraleconomy are beyond the scope of the planningsystem to resolve, such as commodity pricefluctuations, changing demands, losinginter-generational continuity of farming families,and economic pressures.

• Broadacre rural farming areas have been losingpopulation for many years. Tree plantations arenot the initial cause of this, they are merely asymptom, but may facilitate populationmovement and compound the problem ofpopulation loss.

• Each of the four local government areas has afull range of rural lot sizes, as appropriate forthe land uses. Further subdivision of the existinglots should be based on full justification todemonstrate agricultural benefit.

• There needs to be sufficient flexibility in thesystem to accommodate the needs of intensifiedagricultural production.

3.10 Transport Network

Transport in the region has traditionally focused onfour product groups — timber, agriculturalproducts, basic raw materials and general cargo. Inthe early years, there were three rail lines throughthe region, extending from Kojonup through BoyupBrook and on to Donnybrook, from Northcliffethrough Manjimup and on to the port of Bunbury,and from Nannup to Busselton. The Nannup toBusselton line and the Kojonup to Donnybrook linehave been closed and dismantled and the line fromNorthcliffe to Lambert Siding (south of Manjimup)is now used only occasionally and in part as atourist tramway. The only operational freightrailway in the region is from Lambert Siding toBunbury, which is used solely by WA PlantationResources to haul woodchips from the DiamondChipmill to the port, generally on four trains perday, each hauling 19 wagons. There have been no

Road transport is required to cart agricultural product from the farm, but there are anumber of opportunities to transfer to rail en route to port.

Loaded woodchip train en route from Lambert Siding to the port of Bunbury.

passenger rail services in the region for many years,although there have been recent calls to reopen thepassenger service between Bunbury and Manjimup.

The road network focuses on South WesternHighway as the regional trunk route, extendinggenerally parallel to the South Western Rail linefrom Bunbury to Manjimup and on to Walpole andAlbany. To the west, the Vasse Highway connectsBusselton through Nannup to Pemberton andhooks back towards Manjimup. On the easternside of the region, the Donnybrook-Boyup BrookRoad connects those two towns and extends toKojonup. The two main east-west trunk routes arethe Brockman Highway, linking Augusta-Nannup-Bridgetown-Boyup Brook and further eastwards,and further south the Muir Highway connectsManjimup to Mount Barker in the Great SouthernRegion. Although it is outside theWarren-Blackwood Region, Sues Road is animportant link road to the north and serving thewestern end of the region.

The other major roads in the regional transportnetwork are shown in Figure 6 of theWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy.Figure 8 in that shows the regional road strategyand is accompanied by a series of recommendedactions to address the major transport issues in theregion.


• The trend away from rail transport to roadcartage is causing an increase in the number oflarge trucks using a road network that also hasbeen forced to accommodate a rapid increase inthe light domestic and tourism traffic.

• Native forest timbers were mostly carted onlog-haul roads constructed within the Stateforests, whereas plantation timbers aretransported along the public road system, andthe impact of this is being magnified by thesubstantial shift from native forest harvesting tohardwood and softwood plantations.

• Lack of available funding for road construction,maintenance and repairs has seen a decline inthe standard of the network of State and localroads in recent years.

• The viability of the South Western Rail line isthreatened by the fact that it is used by only oneoperator and it falls short of modern freight railstandards.

• There is mounting community opposition to theincrease in heavy haulage transport on theregional roads, the deteriorating standard of theroad network and the perceived threat to thesafety of local and tourism traffic.



PART 2THE RURAL STRATEGY


4.0 VISION AND PRINCIPLESOF THE STRATEGY

4.1 A Rural Vision for the Region

A community vision can help to unite the variousindividual and group aspirations and focus thewhole community on the direction and needs fortheir future. It is essential that the vision bedeveloped by all the members of that communityand represent an agreed conglomeration ofdisparate views. Above all, the community musthave ownership of and commitment to that vision.

For the purpose of the Strategy, a vision for theregion has been developed by the studymanagement group based upon local knowledge,previously developed visions associated with otherplanning studies, and public participation exercises.This has assisted in gaining a focus for the Strategy,but should be seen only as a starting point. Thechallenge for the community is to modify thatvision or develop a new one to reflect accuratelytheir aspirations and make it their own.

A long-term vision for the Warren-Blackwoodcommunity (as suggested by the study managementgroup) could be:

“A rural community pursuing sustainabledevelopment of the region’s unique

resources, maintaining a balance betweeneconomic, social and environmental

objectives.”

4.2 Objective of the Strategy

The primary objective of the Strategy is to facilitateongoing rural development within the region on thebasis of sustainability in terms of economic, socialand environmental parameters and consistent withthe opportunities and constraints of the region’snatural resources.

The Warren-Blackwood Region is well endowedwith a wide range of natural resources andattractions. It is one of the richest regions of theState in terms of gross value of agriculturalproduction and in the diversity of current andpotential commodities. In addition, it is alsosubjected to the impacts of most of the rural issuesand environmental degradation factors experiencedin other areas. It has been subjected to enormouspressures for rural structural adjustment because ofradical changes in the timber industry and thenation wide rural economic transition. This

Strategy endeavours to maximise the opportunitiesand minimise the adverse impacts under thesecircumstances.

To achieve that objective, there has been a closeworking partnership between local governmentrepresentatives and State government agencies. TheStrategy will set the framework and guidelines forimplementation at the local government level, andat the same time will provide guidance forregional/State-level decisions. The four localgovernments involved have developed their ownlocal planning strategies concurrently with theregional exercise to ensure maximum co-ordinationbetween the two levels of government.

4.3 Sustainability

Within this Strategy, the concept of sustainabilityunderpins all other principles, policies, strategiesand actions. The issues and principles set out in theWestern Australian State Sustainability Strategyhave been adopted as the basis for the developmentof this Strategy, and the four associated localplanning strategies. The official global strategy forsustainability, Agenda 21, provides the overallfocus and universal goals for sustainability. Thisstrategy provides a framework for all proposals forzoning, subdivision, development and use of landwithin the region to be measured againstsustainability parameters.

4.4 Natural Resources ManagementPrinciples and Planning

Natural resources management is a relatively newconcept and has not figured prominently in paststrategic, regional or local planning exercises. TheStrategy has been carried out using naturalresources management principles and has translatedthe processes and outcomes associated with naturalresources management through to the regional andlocal planning strategies. As a result, the planningprocess will become much more responsive toresource and environmental issues.

Traditionally, planning processes have beenorientated towards urban development and issuesand how to control them. With the more recentextension of planning processes to ruraldevelopment and issues, there has been a tendencyto apply similar urban-type principles and controlconcepts to the rural sector. This is proving to belargely inappropriate. A natural resourcesmanagement approach will allow the planningsystem to be used efficiently and effectively and tomake a positive contribution to rural land issues.

Chapter 4Vision and Principles of the Strategy


Of the seven recognised themes of natural resourcesmanagement, the Strategy deals directly with thefour of primary relevance to it — land, water,biodiversity and coast. The first three have suchclose interdependence, they cannot reasonably bedealt with in isolation. Each also closely interactswith the coast. The other three main themes ofnatural resources management — atmosphere,marine and mineral — have been dealt with in amore general way in this Strategy. As theknowledge and experience of natural resourcesmanagement concepts spread, it will become morefeasible to extend the planning process to covernatural resources management morecomprehensively.

4.5 Other Natural ResourcesManagement Initiatives

The Strategy has linked into the strategies andactions recommended in other natural resourcesmanagement and land rehabilitation initiatives tomaximise co-ordination and consistency. Theseinclude:

• South West Catchments Council, which hasprovided good access to a natural resourcesmanagement database through its South WestRegional Strategy for Natural ResourceManagement;

• Blackwood Basin Group, which is the longestexisting catchment group and most advanced interms of developing its own strategies andimplementation proposals;

• State Salinity Council, which has prepared andis implementing the State Salinity Strategy toaddress this major environmental and economicthreat;

• LCDCs and other voluntary land rehabilitationgroups, which make a significant contributionto these objectives;

• Natural Heritage Trust, which provides thefunding necessary to support the nationalLandcare, Rivercare, Bushcare and Coastcareactivities as well as South West CatchmentsCouncil, Blackwood Basin Group, State SalinityCouncil and others; and

• Other sustainability concepts, such as the KyotoProtocol, Agenda 21 and carbon sequestration.

4.6 Balance

Strategic planning focuses on three main objectives— economic development, environmentalprotection and social opportunity (this is known as“the triple bottom line”). Successfulimplementation of the Strategy depends on gaining

the best balance between these objectives. There isa clear interdependence between each. Anoveremphasis on one aspect will be to thedetriment of the other two and ultimately to thedetriment of the community. The key aspect is tounderstand the nature of the interdependence ineach particular situation and its relationship to theoverall vision and Strategy. It also must beremembered that although economic andenvironmental factors are of vital importance, thecommunity’s long-term interests must always be thegoverning consideration.

4.7 Economic Development

The Strategy acknowledges that primaryproduction (agriculture, forestry and mining)traditionally have been the foundation of the localeconomy and that this will almost certainly remainthe greatest economic opportunity for the regionwell into the future. It promotes and facilitates thedevelopment of a broadly based, strong andresilient regional economy. Extending from thetraditional timber and agricultural base, it isrecognised that there is a wide variety of futureopportunities from such a rich and diverselandscape. The local market can expand onlymarginally, but the export market, particularly toSouth-East Asia, is significant. The economicreturns quite rightly accrue to the national andState economies, but the primary focus will be onthe local economic benefits. With primaryproduction remaining the basis of local economicopportunity, local returns will be maximisedthrough downstream processing and value-addingprior to export from the region.

This Strategy contributes to the economicdevelopment of the region by ensuring efficient useof rural land and natural resources, minimisingland use conflicts, assessing an appropriate regionaltransport system and service infrastructure and bymaking available suitable industrial land fordownstream processing and manufacturing.

4.8 Environmental Protection

The Strategy seeks to protect and maintain ahealthy and resilient natural environment to ensurethat while the current community prospers, there issimilar opportunity for all future generations aswell. In a global sense, the region is still relativelyunpolluted and this can be a great advantage to thelocal community in marketing its product. It is alsoa major lifestyle attraction.



It focuses on sustainable development, effectivemanagement of land resources and appropriatelevels of protection of waterways and wetlands,bush and biodiversity and coastal environs. Wherecurrent knowledge or data is insufficient to specifythe full concept of protection, a process to addressthat situation has been established. Understandingthe environment is a constantly evolving processfor all and ongoing education and awareness areessential. These aspects of planning should becommunity driven, but government agencies canplay a vital role as a data and information resourcebase.

4.9 Social Opportunity

Rural communities are constantly being subjectedto the vagaries of climatic cycles, internationalmarkets, developing technologies and changingcommunity aspirations and expectations. Strategicplanning needs to consider these. Whereappropriate, they may be modified or manipulatedto the community’s advantage, but in other cases itis necessary to accept the facts and plan withinthose constraints. Life is forever evolving andplanning must stay ahead if it is to be effective. It isrecognised that there is significant social benefit ina community being in control of its own destiny,able to exert influence over external factors andtaking responsibility for its actions andconsequences.

The Strategy focuses on maximising the regionalemployment opportunities associated with futuredevelopment and minimising the communitystresses caused by dwindling rural populations. Italso sets out to maintain and improve the qualityand range of services and facilities available.Overall, the key social planning objective is toimprove the quality of life of the community.

4.10 Diversification/Intensification

Much of the existing rural economy has been builton production from broadacre cropping andgrazing. While none of the recommendations oractions outlined in the Strategy will prevent ordiscourage their continuation, it clearly willfacilitate and promote the sustainablediversification and intensification of productiveagricultural land. This will foster a strong andresilient economy, maximise the returns achievablefrom land, extend a farmer’s income streams,increase local employment opportunities, facilitateregional downstream processing and value-addingand help stabilise or invigorate rural communities.In addition, as the land uses change and greater

returns are achieved from the land, there is moreopportunity to introduce better land managementtechniques and land rehabilitation activities.

4.11 Protecting Productive Capacity

The high-capability land, good water availabilityand relatively low levels of land and waterdegradation make this region vital to the State’seconomy. In addition, agricultural production is thecornerstone of the local economy and has thecapacity to remain the dominant economic factorwell into the future. For this reason, protecting andmaximising the productive capacity of agriculturalland will remain the primary objective inconsidering zoning, subdivision and developmentissues in rural areas. Other uses and subdivisionproposals should be considered, but not to theextent that they would compromise that primaryobjective.

4.12 Efficiency and Effectiveness

Protecting the productive capacity of agriculturalland and environmental values are primaryplanning objectives, but the traditional system ofland use control is not the most appropriatemechanism for achieving those objectives in ruralareas. The Strategy promotes a new system that isefficient for rural landholders and localgovernment, while at the same time being effectivefor the regional community and the environment.

4.13 Fairness and Equity

The majority of land and water degradation in theregion has been caused by inappropriate landmanagement practices on private and public ruralland. However, those practices on private freeholdland were often required by conditions of landrelease or were an outcome of recommendations bygovernment agencies at the time. The economicbenefits of those farming practices accrued to thewhole State and the degradation which hasoccurred as a result affects the whole State. It istherefore appropriate that the costs andresponsibility for rehabilitation are shared fairlyand equitably by the whole community, not left tothe landholder. The Strategy addresses this issueand promotes a range of options.

4.14 Community Ownership

Past planning experience has shown that regionalcommunities are somewhat cynical towardsplanning initiatives prepared in distant places withlittle or no local consultation or input. Those



strategies, which may have some good, strongrecommendations and suggested actions, often havelittle effectiveness because the local communitydoesn’t recognise or accept them. Without localsupport and participation, those strategies havelittle chance of successful implementation.

Regulation, controls and penalties have a backuprole in achieving good land management,environmental protection or other planningobjectives. However, willingness of landowners andlocal communities to implement natural resourcesmanagement practices is the preferred approach.This was confirmed by the public responses to theWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy IssuesDiscussion Paper. These submissions indicated thatthe local community has a good understanding ofthe key natural resources management issues in theregion. They are looking for support in addressingthe issues, but have fears of over-regulation or“bureaucratic interference”. However, manyrespondents called on government agencies forresource support.

As a part of the community consultationcomponent of the study, careful note has beenmade of the issues raised at previous communityworkshops. Opportunities and constraintsassociated with those issues and a range of optionsto address them were raised in theWarren-Blackwood Rural Strategy IssuesDiscussion Paper. The Strategy sets out a landuseconcept based on those public responses.

Effective public consultation relies on achieving abalance between two conflicting demands — thereis never adequate consultation at a local level onthe one hand and rural producers don’t have timefor endless meetings and workshops on the other. Ajudgment has to be made about getting on with theproject and producing a workable outcome withina reasonable time. No process will ever be perfectand all stakeholders must work on a system ofcontinuous improvement.

Clearly, the most effective planning strategies willbe those where there has been strong communityinput to addressing the issues and there iscommunity ownership of the outcomes and acommitment to full implementation. Governmentagencies would still have a vital role to play as aresource for information, data and advice, as wellas research and demonstration and fundingsupplementation. As far as possible, this Strategyhas been developed along those lines.

4.15 Education and Awareness

Hand in hand with community consultation goes aneed for continuing research and understanding ofthe issues to ensure that the community has acomprehensive appreciation of all aspects of theirliving environment. This will ensure that logicaland well-balanced objectives are set, informeddecisions are made and practical strategies areimplemented. Such understanding is a necessity forall rural landholders and for all members of thewider community, including those living in thePerth metropolitan area. This Strategyacknowledges that need and strongly supports asystem of ongoing education and awareness ofissues, opportunities and constraints throughoutthe whole community.

4.16 Ongoing Refinement

In all planning strategies, it must always be realisedthat there will never be a situation where allinformation required is available, all issues have anideal solution and all people are fully supportive ofthe recommendations. That is not practical, even ifit was possible. However, the major issues facingthe community will not wait while we seekperfection. Land will continue to degrade, waterresources will continue to deteriorate andbiodiversity will continue towards extinction unlessurgent changes are made. For practical reasons, it isnecessary to “get on with it” and develop the bestpossible strategies on the basis of knowninformation. These strategies and the groupsformulating them need to be flexible enough toallow for ongoing refinement as the need formodification becomes apparent.

With the Strategy, a conscious decision had to bemade to recognise this dilemma and “have a go” atfinding the best solutions. The process adopted hasbeen to raise the issue, assess the opportunities andconstraints, canvas the options, assess theresponses, propose the most logical solution andapply it as a strategy rather than regulation wherepossible. This process will also require that theoutcomes are analysed and the Strategy continuallyrefined.



5.0 PRINCIPAL ISSUES ANDSTRATEGIES

As a progression from the resources andimplications covered in Chapter 3 and the visionand principles in Chapter 4, this chapter developsthe principal issues and strategies of the Strategy.The rationale for each is developed from the basicissue to implementation under the followingheadings:

• Issue

• Background

• Opportunities

• Constraints

• Community consultation responses

• Policy/strategy

• Implementation

These planning policies/strategies should be read inconjunction with the regional zonings set out inChapter 6 and the area-specific objectives andcriteria outlined for the individual planning units inChapter 7.

The 12 planning/natural resources issues covered inthis section are:

• Land management

• Water resource management

• Environmental protection

• Land use conflicts

• Coastal management and development

• Agroforestry vs tree plantations

• Rural subdivision

• Rural-residential

• Rural smallholdings

• Tourism development

• Regional transport

• Land valuations

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Chapter 5Principal Issues and Strategies



5.1 Land Management

Issue

With significant change, diversification andintensification now taking place in rural land useactivity, there is an increasing need for developmentof a system of land management/planning controlthat is efficient and effective.

Background

• Traditionally, the planning system dealt withurban-type land uses and developments by wayof assessing development applications andachieved a degree of planning control byimposing conditions on approvals. In ruralareas, productive agricultural uses weregenerally considered an “as-of-right” use notrequiring planning approval.

• As new crops and more intensive uses emergedand the environmental issues and land useconflicts arose, some councils began requiringplanning approvals for some agricultural usesbut not others. This resulted in a number ofinconsistencies and a degree of confusion forlandowners and developers.

• With rotational cropping now being a keycomponent of management of intensiveagricultural uses, it could technically have beennecessary for a new application to be lodged foreach change or rotation, i.e. maybe four or fiveseparate applications per year. This would beimpractical — inefficient for landowners andthe local governments and ineffective in terms ofenvironmental management.

• The challenge now facing the planning processis to devise a system that addressessustainability of rural land uses and agriculturalproduction in an economically efficient,environmentally effective and socially acceptablemanner.

Opportunities

• There is increasing knowledge of landmanagement issues, pressures and practices, andgreater community understanding of landdegradation and support for land rehabilitation.

• Changing land uses and increasing productdiversity present opportunities for improvedland management practices and greaterproductivity and sustainability.

• Best management practice/code of practiceguidelines now being prepared will assist allstakeholders in dealing with sustainableagricultural productivity.

• The plantation timber industry has developedthe Code of Practice for Timber Plantation inWestern Australia to guide growers and localgovernments in the sustainable management oftree plantations.

• Natural Heritage Trust requires South WestCatchments Council and the basin managementgroups to develop biophysical and biologicalresource and management targets.

• Basin or catchment targets which are specific,measurable, achievable, realistic and and whichhave identified indicators and a program ofmonitoring will complement best managementpractice/code of practice activities.

• Full community involvement in the developmentof these guidelines ensures greater communityownership of and support for the outcomes.

Constraints

• There has been a tendency to “control” ratherthan “manage” new agricultural concepts orland use types, but traditional land uses havenot been addressed.

• A requirement for formal approval applicationsfor all new or changing rural uses could be verycostly and time consuming for all parties.

• There is limited resources in local governmentto deal with an increase in applications.

• The traditional planning approval processallows for a “one opportunity only” system,with minimal ongoing powers to deal withissues.

• Generally, there has been no framework toguide proponents or local governments in how

New land management techniques, including surface water management andrevegetating with deep-rooted perennials, can arrest and reverse existing landdegradation.



to deal with new land managementrequirements.

• An inefficient and ineffective approval systempresents economic, environmental and socialconsequences.

• Agricultural pests and weeds need bettermanagement.

Community Consultation Responses

• The community strongly rejected the concept oftight land use controls that would result fromextending the present urban planning system torural uses.

• At the same time, there was strong support for ajoint community/government agency effort todevelop best management practice/code ofpractice guidelines and to use them to adviseand educate rural landowners and agriculturalproducers about sustainable land managementpractices.

• Rural landowners supported all agriculturalcrops and uses being treated equally withlandowners free to determine land uses on theirland provided they comply with the guidelinesset.

• The preferred option was “Use landmanagement techniques to achieve sustainableoutcomes in most rural areas but identifyspecific circumstances, zones, locations or useswhere specific approval may be required”.

Policy/Strategy

• Use land management principles rather thantight land use control to facilitate sustainableagricultural production and land uses in ruralareas.

• Generally, all intensive and extensiveagricultural uses should be permitted uses (notrequiring formal planning approval) in theAgriculture and Priority Agriculture zones. Theexceptions to this are feedlots, intensive animalhusbandry, piggeries, poultry farms, ruralindustry and extractive industry in both zones,and tree plantations in the Priority Agriculturezone, each of which should be discretionary usesrequiring formal planning approval from thelocal government. In the Rural LandscapeProtection and the Rural Smallholdings zones,all productive agricultural uses should bediscretionary uses requiring formal localgovernment approval.

• In conjunction with the local community,landholders and agencies, develop appropriatebest management practice/code of practice

guidelines for the relevant crop types, zones orcircumstances.

• The local governments may choose to reflect thekey planning issues and requirements from thebest management practice/code of practicedocuments in their respective town planningschemes by cross-reference to give them thenecessary head of power to require ongoingcompliance with those provisions.

• Other relevant agencies to adopt and administerthe key issues from best managementpractice/code of practice guidelines specific totheir scope of responsibilities for existing andproposed developments/uses throughimplementation of or amendment to theirlegislation or regulations.

• Require all agricultural land use proposals notin compliance with the relevant schemerequirements to be the subject of a formalplanning application.

• Establish criteria for assessing and determiningthose applications where planning approval isrequired due to the specific circumstances,zones, locations or uses of the development.

• In conjunction with the local community,landholders and agencies, develop relevantnatural resources management targets (e.g.salinity and nutrient levels) for key land, waterand biodiversity areas as a basis for preparingbest management practice and code of practicedocuments, and for assessing the sustainabilityof land uses and land management practices.

• The local governments may choose to refer tothese target levels in their respective townplanning schemes by cross-reference to providethe necessary head of power to require ongoingcompliance with those levels.

• Establish a process and a regime for monitoringthe relevant areas or developments/uses todetermine the degree of success in achieving thetarget levels set.

• Determine the actions that may be required torectify any deficiencies in achieving those targetlevels, and identify what support (if any) may berequired to ensure fairness and equity.

• Landholders and developers should acceptresponsibility for maintaining and managingtheir land uses and developments in accordancewith the objectives of the best managementpractice/code of practice documents and thenatural resources management targets set.

• Use established basin and catchment targets as abasis for developing and refining bestmanagement practice/code of practice proposals.


• Reflect basin and catchment targets in strategicplanning, land management anddecision-making.

• Regularly review best management practice/codeof practice and basin and catchment targets toensure full relevance and effectiveness.

• Strengthen the role of government as a supportresource to community initiatives, especially inrespect of research and marketing.

• Maintain agricultural pest and weedmanagement in land management activities.

Implementation

• WAPC/DPI to continue to assist with thedevelopment and refinement of bestmanagement practice/code of practicedocuments.

• Local government to incorporate the relevantaspects of the best management practice/code ofpractice documents into their local planningstrategies/town planning schemes bycross-reference and to develop relevant criteriafor the specific circumstances, zones, locationsor uses.

• Government agencies and local government tocontinue to work with the rural community andrural industry groups to develop and refine therange and detail of best managementpractice/code of practice documents.

• South West Catchments Council and basinmanagement groups to develop and monitorresource and management targets for theSouth-West Region and the respective basinsand catchments.




5.2 Water Resource Management

Issue

Agricultural production is heavily dependent uponhaving reliable access to a sufficient quantity ofgood-quality water to match soil capability, butwater is a limited resource.

Background

• Traditionally, farmers have been relativelyunconstrained in their right to capture and drawwhatever sources of water were physicallyavailable to them for productive agriculturalpurposes.

• With the expansion, intensification anddiversification of land uses, there is increasingpressure on the water resource available andcompetition between users.

• In various parts of the Eastern States, riversystems and aquifers have been harnessedbeyond their sustainable capacity, causingenvironmental degradation downstream andrequiring restriction on existing and future landuses to rectify the situation.

• Water availability can significantly influence thecapacity of the land to produce sustainably toits soil capability and therefore has majorplanning implications for current and futureland uses and infrastructure.

• The presence of aquifer systems, such as theYarragadee, Leederville, Parmelia, Lesueur, SueCoal and Cockleshell Gully, which underlie theScott Coastal Plain and the Blackwood Plateau,to the west of the Darling Scarp, have beenknown for a number of years, but research hasonly recently commenced to ascertain their fullextent, sustainable yield or environmentalrequirements.

Opportunities

• At this stage, it appears that there are no watercatchments or aquifers within the region thatare being harnessed unsustainably and requiringharsh remedial measures.

• The flows required to maintain the ecologicalvalues of a waterway can be determined,allowing an assessment of the water yield thatcan be drawn sustainably from that system.

• DoE has prepared preliminary estimates forsub-catchments throughout the region as acomponent of the National Land and WaterAudit undertaken as an initiative of the NaturalHeritage Trust.

• The sustainable yield estimates are calculatedconservatively and allow for revision andrefinement as that level of draw is neared orreached and further research is undertaken.

• The parameters and criteria for watermanagement can be determined by the localcommunity to ensure that local needs andcircumstances are recognised and protected.

• Rationalising water resource use, waterharvesting and distribution infrastructure can beachieved through the development andimplementation of sub-catchment strategies.

• The concept of tradable water rights can assistgreatly in ensuring fair and equitable access towater for all landowners, in encouraging moreefficient use of water resources and infacilitating sustainable diversification andintensification of agricultural production.

• Observance of best management practice/codeof practice and other water-saving techniquescan ensure the more efficient use of the currentwater resources and increase the developmentand production opportunities in eachsub-catchment.

• Co-operatives could be established to managesharing of water for irrigation crops.

• A number of water supply dams for urbansupply purposes have been constructed in theregion and some groundwater areas have alsobeen tapped. Others are proposed for futuresupply purposes.

• Water availability is currently only a factor inthe land valuation process to the extent that itinfluences market demand, but this may changeif allocations of water become restricted due tosustainable yield limits being reached.

• A number of landowners on the Scott CoastalPlain have carried out various irrigatedagricultural developments using licences to drawlarge quantities of high-quality water from theseaquifer systems, and there is scope for

Retention and protection of riparian vegetation is a vital component of maintainingthe environmental values of our waterways.

(Photo by courtesy Dr Luke Pen,WRC)


expansion with economic returns if furtherwater supplies can be made available.

• Community groups, such as the Whicher WaterResource Management Committee, the ScottRiver-Lower Blackwood Water Users’ Group,provide local input into water resourceopportunities associated with these aquifersystems.

• Replanting of cleared farmland to trees, eitherin plantations, belts, groves or otherconfigurations, assists with maintaining waterquality by controlling groundwater recharge andwaterlogging, preventing erosion and siltationand reducing salinity and nutrient levels.

Constraints

• Over-exploitation of any water resource canlead to ongoing environmental damage anddeterioration of water quality and may requirefuture cutbacks on usage, at significantly highersocial and economic cost, to rectify thesituation.

• There are some inefficiencies in the currentusage of water resources.

• The ecological needs of each waterway are notfully understood at this stage, and so only aconservative preliminary estimate ofenvironmental flow requirements has been madeinitially.

• Refinement of the sustainable yield figures for asub-catchment when the actual yield approachesthat sustainable level requires considerablygreater resources than the preliminary estimate.

• Catchments have been assessed andmanagement levels proposed to minimisepotential risks from local activities and landuses, and to maintain a high level of publichealth and amenity.

• The community is always concerned with theprospect of limitations on the use of existingresources.

• A number of groundwater-dependentenvironments rely upon these aquifers (e.g. theYarragadee and Leederville Aquifers dischargeto the Blackwood River and St John’s Brook).

• As part of an assessment aimed at securingfuture water supply needs for the State, DoE isevaluating a number of factors in regard tothose aquifers, including their extent, rechargeand discharge rates, and social, economic andecological values.

• Tree plantations can have an adverse impact onwater availability for agricultural purposes bylimiting surface water run-off and reducingsuperficial aquifer water levels.


• The community agreed that management of thelimited water resource is of paramountimportance.

• There is a need for careful planning to protectthe water resource, but caution is needed toavoid over-regulation.

• There could be greater efficiencies in the currentusage of water.

• Farmers’ rights to the use of water should notbe infringed.

• Water from the region should not be allocatedto Perth at the expense of the local farmingcommunity.

Policy/Strategy

• Plan for the expansion, intensification anddiversification of agricultural production withinthe limitations of the current preliminaryestimates of the sustainable yield for eachsub-catchment.

• Highlight those sub-catchments where futuredevelopment may be restricted by thesustainable yield preliminary estimates andrequest DoE to devote sufficient resources toreassess and refine the environmental flowrequirements to clarify the actual sustainableyield and any environmental constraint onfuture development.

• Assist the community and DoE in theassessment and preparation of a waterallocation management plan for eachsub-catchment, ensuring local “ownership” ofthose plans.

• Promote the identification, assessment andpreparation of sub-catchment managementstrategies that address landcare, environmentalrehabilitation, natural resources management,agricultural productivity and sustainability.

• Promote the concept of tradable water rights asan opportunity to ensure fair and equitableaccess to water for all landowners, to encouragemore efficient use of water resources andfacilitate sustainable diversification andintensification of agricultural production.

• Planning agencies and the local community needto be aware that tradable water rights mayresult in some properties not having waterentitlements tied to land title.

• Assist the community with the development ofstrategies to improve efficiency in water usage,gain better returns from this resource andaddress and reverse the deteriorating waterquality in some sub-catchments.



• Develop and implement appropriate bestmanagement practice/code of practice guidelinesto prevent nutrient transport, eutrophication,siltation and other waterway degradationfactors.

• Manage and protect the water resources indeclared Public Drinking Water Source Areas inaccordance with the priority classifications setout in the respective water source protectionplans.

• Undertake an assessment of the impacts of treeplantations on surface water run-off andsuperficial aquifer water levels.

• Minimise restrictions on existing land uses anddevelopments.

• All land uses and developments requiringcapture of surface water should consider theenvironmental flow requirements of thewaterway.

• Complete the current assessment of theYarragadee Aquifer in terms of its role in thefuture water supply needs for the State.

• Maintain ongoing research, monitoring andactive management to identify the sustainableyield of all aquifers and to implementappropriate sharing strategies.

• Ensure a close working relationship betweenDoE and local and regional community groupsin the identification of “reasonable regionalwater resource needs”.

Implementation

• DPI and local government to facilitate andsupport agricultural development within thelimitations of the preliminary sustainable yieldestimates and to highlight those sub-catchmentswhere more detailed assessment and refinementof that sustainable yield may be required.

• DoE to carry out more detailed assessments ofthe environmental flow requirements for thosesub-catchments where the current yield hasreached the preliminary sustainable yieldestimate, to refine the sustainable yield for thosesub-catchments and to ensure an adequatelegislative framework exists to preventover-exploitation of the resource.

• DoE and Water Corporation to complete thedevelopment of water source protection plansfor the declared Public Drinking Water SourceAreas in the region.

• Local governments to reflect the various priorityclassification levels for Public Drinking WaterSource Areas through their respective localplanning strategies/town planning schemes.

• DoE to assess the impact of tree plantations onsub-catchment water resources.

• Await the outcome of studies currently beingundertaken by the DoE into various aspects ofthe feasibility of the extraction of water fromthe aquifer systems in the Blackwoodgroundwater area for use, including takingwater to the integrated water supply system.

• Local community to work with DoE and otherrelevant agencies to assess the water resourcesand to develop a water allocation managementplan for each sub-catchment.


Farm dams provide an ideal source of water for agricultural production in non-sandyareas. Future dam establishment may need to be regulated to maintainenvironmental flows.


5.3 Environmental Protection

Issue

Various key environmental values have beenidentified and require further assessment forrelative significance, prioritising and options forprotection.

Background

• Currently, the system of identifying andprotecting significant environmental valuesthrough the planning system is rather haphazardand there is little consistency in the process.

• As a component of the preparation of the SouthWest Regional Strategy for Natural ResourceManagement, the South West CatchmentsCouncil had prepared Waterways and Wetlandsin the South West and Bush and Biodiversity inthe South West to assess and identify those keyenvironmental values for the South-Westcatchments.

• That technical information, although highlysignificant, is not yet in a form whereby it canbe clearly identified spatially and interpreted bythe key stakeholders, such as local government,the local community and landholders.

• The State Government has produced theWetlands Conservation Policy for WesternAustralia, Foreshore Policy: Identifying theForeshore Area and Waterways WA: A Policyfor Statewide Management of Waterways inWestern Australia.

• The Environmental Protection Amendment Act2003 has introduced a new land clearing permitsystem and penalties for non-compliance, givinglandowners a revised approval process intendedto provide a more equitable system.

• The Environment Protection and BiodiversityConservation Act 1999, introduces measures toprotect threatened species and ecologicalcommunities and to provide for recoveryplanning.

• The Forest Management Plan 2004-2013, setout the parameters for sustainable forestmanagement, the reduced levels of timberharvesting and the additional areas to bededicated as national park or other conservationreserves (see Map 6).

Opportunities

• The Waterways and Wetlands in the South Westand Bush and Biodiversity in the South Westhave set out a wealth of data and conservationvalues which will provide an excellent basis for

more detailed and focused assessment andevaluation.

• There is a range of options or a combination ofoptions that could be used to ensure theappropriate level of protection of environmentalvalues relevant to the particular circumstances,including total or partial acquisition, total orpartial reservation under the district planningscheme, conservation covenants, voluntaryprotection by the landowner, community groupprotection, etc.

• There is also a range of funding options tosupport environmental protection proposals,including full or partial compensation payments,specific grants, tax incentives or tax breaks, rateconcessions, revaluations, dollar-for-dollarsubsidies, voluntary community effort or alandowner’s personal commitment.

• Significant environmental rehabilitation andbiodiversity conservation benefits can beachieved through the development andimplementation of sub-catchment strategies.

• DoE has established a “needs assessment” to setmanagement priorities for the State’s waterwaysand will set up “expert panels” to use existinginformation and local knowledge in thosedeterminations.

• Existing and proposed State Governmentpolicies on protection of wetlands andwaterways and management of foreshoresestablish principles, objectives and policies toguide the conservation and management ofthose environmental resources.

• There is significant benefit in maximisingcommunity involvement and ensuringcommunity ownership of assessment, planningand implementing of environmental protectionproposals.

• Combining conservation and protection of theenvironment with opportunities for recreationcan facilitate education and awareness of theenvironmental values and the benefits of theirprotection.

Constraints

• At this stage, the data used to identify regionalnatural resources management objectives isgenerally not specific enough to identifyspatially and set relevant priorities for specificenvironmental protection needs.

• Priorities for protection need to be establishedto ensure that the limited funding opportunities(and community support) are dedicated togaining the best return for the input andinvestment.



• The current data is not in a form whereby it canbe easily understood and interpreted for use bylocal governments and the local community forthe benefit of conservation and landscapeprotection.

• Conservation objectives can impose significantconstraint on an agricultural enterprise.

• There needs to be a balance betweenconservation objectives and a landowner’scapacity to generate a sustainable return fromthe land.

• Within the Shires of Manjimup and Nannup,approximately 80 per cent of the total land areais contained within uncleared Crown land.

• There is a general lack of funding or awarenessof available funding for conservation objectives.


• The community expressed great concern aboutthe potential for over-regulation and the overallnegative impacts associated with that.

• There needs to be a measure of fairness andequity for landowners in the quest forenvironmental conservation, with the widercommunity being prepared to contribute to thecost of protecting community values.

• There needs to be a balance betweenenvironmental needs and social impacts.

Policy/Strategy

• Progress the exercise of identifying theimportant conservation values set out inWaterways and Wetlands in the South West andthe Bush and Biodiversity in the South West toenable those conservation values to be givenappropriate recognition in the planning system,by adopting the following process:• Identify spatially the location of water or

vegetation ecological values (from the SouthWest Regional Strategy for Natural ResourceManagement) in relation to freehold land (onor adjacent) and confirm their relativeconservation values.

• Confirm their respective scientific andcommunity values and determine their relativepriority for conservation.

• Assess the most appropriate methods ofprotection, including tenure types and vesting.

• Assess the most suitable options forimplementing the selected form or forms ofprotection.

• Investigate the opportunities for specialincentives to support community andlandowner involvement.

• Determine the most suitable methods formanagement and maintenance of theprotection area.

• Translate the outcomes into suitablestatements in the local planning strategy andprovisions in the district planning scheme.

• Promote the identification, assessment, andpreparation of sub-catchment managementstrategies that address landcare, environmentalrehabilitation, natural resources management,agricultural productivity and sustainability.

• Within the Shires of Manjimup and Nannup(where approximately 80 per cent of the totalland area is contained within uncleared Crownland) a less stringent limitation on land clearingcan be considered, provided that the areasproposed for clearing do not compromise thecriteria and values set out in the EnvironmentalProtection Amendment Act 2003.

Implementation

• DoE, CALM, DPI and other agencies toco-operate to progress the data contained inWaterways and Wetlands in the South West andBush and Biodiversity in the South West toenable local government and local communityassessment and determination of relativepriorities, protection levels and options.

• DoE, CALM, DPI and other agencies toco-operate on implementation of State thepolicy on waterways protection and foreshoremanagement.

• Local government to adapt the outcomes intosuitable statements and provisions for the localplanning strategy and district planning scheme.

• Local community to participate fully in theassessment of conservation values and setting ofcommunity priorities.



5.4 Land Use Conflicts

Issue

Non-agricultural developments and uses in ruralareas can create conflicts with adjoining land usesand can constrain productive agricultural activities.

Background

• The gradual introduction of non-agriculturaluses, such as tourism, recreation, rural lifestyle,rural-residential, urban fringe and evenfarmhouses, into rural areas has brought aboutconflicts due to the impacts of some bona fideagricultural activities, such as noise, dust, smellsand spray drifts.

• Settlement of the conflict usually results in therural activity being restricted or curtailed infavour of the newer or higher-valuedevelopment (This has been a standardapproach of authorities in the past).

• Where the non-agricultural developmentpredates the offending rural activity, thisrestriction is understandable and may even beacceptable, but it is neither fair nor equitablewhere the non-agricultural development isintroduced into a longstanding productive ruralarea.

• There is also a future restriction implicit wherea non-agricultural development occurs adjacentto rural land, which is currently not being usedproductively or is being used below itssustainable capacity.

• Other conflicts can occur between oneproductive agricultural use and another onadjoining properties, e.g. the spraying of 2,4Don pastures can have a devastating effect onvineyards up to five kilometres away.

• These conflicts are often not considered whennew development in rural areas is beingconsidered.

• These restrictions on the current andprospective productivity of rural land can havesignificant implications for local, district andeven regional economies.

• In a high-value agricultural region such as theWarren-Blackwood, this issue is even morecritical.

Opportunities

• It is feasible to accommodate mostnon-agricultural uses in rural areas withoutrestricting or conflicting with adjacentproductive agricultural uses simply by applying

appropriate standards and setbacks to thoseuses and implementing best managementpractice/code of practice for the agriculturaluses.

• Acceptable standards of cross-boundary“nuisance” can be developed to addressconflicting agricultural activities.

• Various notifications can be registered on landtitles requiring landowners to acknowledge thatthey are living or developing in an agriculturalarea where bona fide farming activities mayimpinge on their quality of lifestyle andenjoyment in that area, but this action is oftenonly partially successful.

• Planning controls can be developed to dealspecifically with non-agricultural uses or usesrequiring buffers.

Constraints

• Setback requirements can create a lot of wastedland in rural areas.

• Creation of small rural lots can complicate theability to provide adequate separation ofconflicting uses on adjoining lots, due toinsufficient lot dimension/depth for house, etc.construction on the smaller lots.

• Setback requirements and other conflictamelioration measures also can compromiseagricultural productivity and the capacity tomanage the farm effectively on the land wherethe non-rural development is proposed.

• The enforcement of environmental regulationsthat protect residential amenity can significantlyaffect on rural activities on surrounding land.

• Many conflict situations already exist and willbe difficult to resolve by new policies orstandards.


• Rural community members were stronglyopposed to inappropriate subdivision ordevelopment, which impinged on their right tofarm on their land.

• There was concern at the prospect ofover-regulation restricting private enterprise andcreativity.

• Conflicting uses need to be avoided or carefullymanaged.

• Rural-residential developments should not beallowed to impinge on prime agricultural land.



Policy/Strategy

• The primary policy associated with this issue isto recognise that agricultural production is thepredominant use in the Agriculture zone andmost particularly in the Priority Agriculturezone. All other uses must be considered assecondary uses only and should not impinge onor restrict the primary use.

• The boundary line between adjoining rural lotsshould be taken as the critical point or line fordetermining all “nuisance” or “pollution”conflict issues in rural areas.

• Establish criteria for acceptable levels of thevarious types of agricultural “nuisance” or“pollution” at a boundary in the Agricultureand Priority Agriculture zones (as a part of thebest management practice/code of practicepreparation process).

• Where a proposed use or development willcreate “nuisance” or “pollution” levels in excessof the acceptable boundary standard, it shouldbe set back sufficiently from the boundary ortake other acceptable amelioration steps toachieve that standard.

• Where a proposed use or development requiresa higher standard or a lower level of “nuisance”or “pollution” impact than the acceptableboundary standard, it should be set back fromits own boundary, or other amelioration stepsshould be taken on that land to achieve therequired result, e.g. certified organic farms andaquaculture developments.

• These criteria for dealing with “nuisance” or“pollution” conflicts between adjoining rurallots should be incorporated into the bestmanagement practice/code of practice guidelinesfor the various agricultural uses.

• Setback criteria or policies on “nuisance” or“pollution” amelioration measures should beprepared by local governments to address thevarious circumstances for non-agricultural usesin rural areas.

• All non-agricultural uses, including houses,tourism developments and recreational facilities,should require formal planning approval andthe local governments should apply theseprinciples to determine appropriate siting,buffers and setbacks for those uses.

• Where rural-residential or urban fringesubdivisions and developments are approvedthere should be a requirement that the“nuisance” or “pollution” setbacks oramelioration measures take place on thesubdivided land or at the expense of the newdevelopment.

• Where smaller or narrow lots or otherpeculiarities of subdivision are proposed, thesecriteria should be considered in determining theminimum acceptable sizes or dimensions.

• In assessing any of these situations, theadjoining rural land should always beconsidered according to its highest sustainableagricultural use, regardless of whether it iscurrently unused or under-utilised.

• All existing conflicts of this nature should betreated on their individual merits, but with thesecriteria being considered as desirable objectives.

• Ensure that the land uses and land managementon properties abutting national parks, Stateforest, nature reserves and other conservationvalue areas are consistent with the conservationobjectives for those areas and that actions aretaken in respect of the freehold land to minimiseany adverse impact on the visual quality,conservation values and management of thoseconservation areas.

NOTE: See guideline diagrams in Appendix 4.

Implementation

• WAPC to take these principles and any endorsedcriteria into account in determining allrural-type subdivisions.

• Local government to formulate relevant criteriato address these issues and apply them to allland use and development applicationssubmitted for rural areas.

• Rural community, local government andgovernment agencies to address these issues inthe formulation of best managementpractice/code of practice guidelines.



5.5 Coastal Management andDevelopment

Issue

The coastal strip from Augusta to Walpole has longbeen a remote and largely inaccessible section, butgrowing pressure from an expanding Statepopulation with greater mobility is puttingincreasing pressure on the fragile environment andthe remote, semi-wilderness landscape.

Background

• National parks extend along the entire coastalstrip from Nornalup Inlet to just west of BlackPoint (except for Windy Harbour Reserve andseveral isolated private lots) and the remainderof the coastline westwards to Hardy Inlet isbacked by large freehold rural lots.

• Bitumen road access is available to WindyHarbour, with unsealed two-wheel-drive roadsleading to Salmon Beach and Mandalay Beach.No formal public access to the coast is availablethrough the freehold lots, and the only otherpassage to that coastline is by way of severalfour-wheel-drive tracks through the nationalparks.

• The foreshore strip along the entire coastalsection is unvested vacant Crown land, whichrequires management resolution where it abutsfreehold land.

• Very limited accommodation, tourist andpermanent, is available being restricted toWindy Harbour and the freehold lots to thewest of Black Point.

Opportunities

• CALM’s review of the management plans forthe two coastal national parks will address theconservation and land management issues forthe section of the coast covered by those parks.

• The private lots fronting the coast to the west ofBlack Point preclude direct public access andafford a degree of protection to that section ofthe coast at this time.

• There are many opportunities for enjoying a“wilderness” type experience in large sections ofthe national parks.

• There is considerable potential for low-key,nature-based tourism developments on thefreehold coastal land to the west of Black Point.

• There are options for trading land anddevelopment rights for the isolated freehold lotsto consolidate the national park.

Constraints

• There is increasing pressure for access,recreation and accommodation that needs to beassessed and addressed within a coastal strategyfor the whole of the coastal strip from Augustato Walpole (and on to Albany).

• Issues of vesting and coastal management forthe foreshore strip adjoining the freehold lots tothe west of Black Point need to be addressed.

• There is little technical data available on coastalprocesses along that section of the State’scoastline.

• The soft sandy coastline and fragile dunesystems are exposed to frequent severe SouthernOcean storms.

• Tourism development on the freehold land tothe west of Black Point is constrained by theissues of foreshore vesting, lack of amanagement plan or planning framework, andsubstandard road access and service provision.


• There is strong public opposition to the closureof any access tracks to the coast.

• The community acknowledges the need toprotect the fragile coastal environment.


The Windy Harbour settlement, with approximately 210 cottages,provides the only accommodation node and bitumen road access onthe coast between Augusta and Walpole.



Policy/Strategy

• Assess the entire coastline in terms of coastalprocesses, tourism and recreational demands,access, development and settlement options,development trade-off and land swap options,tourist and recreational facilities andconservation and vesting, and develop anappropriate strategy (an Augusta-WalpoleCoastal Strategy is in progress with estimatedcompletion in late 2004).

• Assess the coastal strip abutting the freeholdland to the west of Black Point in terms ofpublic access, vehicle and pedestrianmanagement, public facilities, beach and dunemanagement, conservation requirements, visuallandscape values and site management planguidelines, and develop an appropriatemanagement plan.

• Assess the road access and servicingrequirements constraining future low-keytourism development on the freehold land to thewest of Black Point and prepare a strategy toaddress those issues.

• Zone the whole dunal component of thefreehold land between Scott River and the coastto the west of Black Point as Rural LandscapeProtection zone, where agricultural land usesmay be permitted provided they do notcompromise the landscape and conservationvalues of the area.

Implementation

• WAPC/DPI is undertaking a coastal strategy forthe section of coast from Augusta to Walpoleand will then assist the Shire of Nannup todevelop a coastal management plan for thecoastal area abutting the freehold land to thewest of Black Point.

• Nannup Shire Council to develop a strategy forthe road and servicing constraints for low-keytourism development for the freehold land tothe west of Black Point.

Point D’Entrecasteaux.

(Photo by courtesy Nicci Tsernjavski, CALM)


5.6 Agroforestry vs Tree Plantations

Issue

Broadscale tree plantations, driven by generous taxconcessions, can provide economic, environmentaland social benefits to the region. Agroforestry at asimilar scale could provide significantly greaterbenefits, but is constrained by economic disparityand lack of appropriate incentives.

Background

• Although pine plantations have been establishedon existing farmlands for most of last century,hardwood plantations began to emerge as acrop only in the late 1980s and offered analternative to the use of native forests as asource of woodchips.

• Changing rural economics, a decline in returnsfrom broadacre cropping and grazing and risingrural land prices have encouraged many farmersto turn to tree plantations as an economicalternative.

• There has been considerable interest in theability of deep-rooted vegetation to have abeneficial impact on rising water tables, levels ofsalinity and other forms of land degradation.

• The DPI, in conjunction with key stakeholders,has developed a draft Farm Forestry Policy thatproposes standard approval requirements andconditions for inclusion in town planningschemes.

Opportunities

• There are significant economic, social andenvironmental benefits from farm forestry in thelonger term.

• The greater flexibility of agroforestry allows fordesigning and placement of trees in thelandscape to maximise the environmental andfarm productivity benefits.

• Agroforestry provides greater opportunities foron-site employment and retention of the existingrural populations, thereby contributing greaterpopulation stability in rural and town areas.

• Agroforestry provides the potential for dual andincreased returns from the one plot of land, i.e.timber and grazing incomes from the same pieceof land, with the combined return beingsignificantly greater than either of the singleproduct returns.

• By introducing the ethos of tree planting andlandcare as an integral component of farmplanning, farmers will be rewarded by greater

sustainability of the farm environment andgreater economic strength from a diversifiedproduct base.

• Agroforestry is more likely to be stable andproductive in the longer term and lessdependent on macro-economic influences.

• Agroforestry is more compatible with theplanning and implementation of catchmentmanagement plans than are commercialplantations.

• Interim environmental incentives can assistfarmers until the first harvesting of product,where the form of planting conforms tocatchment environmental objectives.

• Current efforts by CALM, in conjunction withother government agencies, have provided muchof the information and data required to assistfarmers to get involved in viable agroforestry.

Constraints

• Corporate commercial constraints can restrictthe potential environmental benefits of treeplantations by requiring the trees to be plantedin a tight formation on the most productivesoils on a farm and in the most economicallyadvantageous position in the district, ratherthan being spread across the landscape asrequired to serve the environmental parametersbest.

• The local governments have raised considerableconcerns about the impacts of log-haul truckson the local and district road system and thepotential effects on the viability of otheragricultural activities resulting from a degradedroad network.

• Tree plantations have a local adverse socialimpact in many cases by displacing the existinglong-term occupier and often causing them to belost to the district.

• The majority of the employment benefits arisingfrom broadscale tree plantations grown forwoodchipping accrue to the district where theyare processed, which is often too distant to beof any benefit to the area in which they aregrown.

• The full economic returns from agroforestrycome after 25 years, compared with 10 yearsfor woodchip tree plantations.

• There is a significant economy of scale disparityin favour of plantations, which may be as highas 20 per cent.

• There is currently a significant disparity in thetax incentives and investment opportunitiesfavouring tree plantations.



• Lack of appropriate incentives has led to a slowuptake by farmers of growing trees for sawlogs,which may cause difficulties with marketcreation due to restricted product availability.

• Larger-scale tree plantations are another form ofmonoculture, presenting similar difficulties toother agricultural monoculture, such as annualand perennial horticulture and broadacrecropping.


• Support for plantations remaining an as-of-rightcrop except in Priority Agriculture zones, butpreference for agroforestry and the need toprovide sufficient incentives for it to become awidespread use.

• Concern at the long-term viability of theplantation industry and the effect of taxincentives.

• Concern with plantation impacts on population,roads and fire protection, and the limitedenvironmental benefits.

Policy/Strategy

• Continue to acknowledge tree plantations as anagricultural crop and accept it as an as-of-rightcrop in the Agriculture zone (discretionary usein the Priority Agriculture zone), but at thesame time promote and pursue agroforestry as apreferred application of commercial treecropping in rural areas.

• Pursue with relevant agencies the options forcreating and/or extending tax incentives,salinity/carbon credits, environmental credits,tax relief, subsidies, etc. to give agroforestrysimilar economic advantages and viability totree plantations.

• Continue to research the appropriate species forplantings, most advantageous locations andpatterns for plantings, best form of integrationwith agricultural production and best methods

of harvesting and marketing, and make theinformation freely available to all agriculturalproducers.

• Promote agroforestry as an integral componentof farm management and incorporate it as apart of the comprehensive land and watermanagement planning within eachsub-catchment or planning unit.

• Extend the assessment of the impacts oflog-haul trucks on the local and district roadnetwork to all rural product haulage anddevelop a fair and equitable formula for roadupgrading and maintenance contributions fromall rural product hauliers in proportion to theirimpacts on those roads.

• Local government and the community toconsider visual impact guidelines for treeplantations to minimise any adverse impacts onthe visual landscape of rural areas.

Implementation

• CALM, DoAg and other State agencies topursue, through appropriate Commonwealthagencies, the options for incentives, credits,subsidies, etc. to facilitate the widespreadacceptance and adoption of agroforestry as anatural component of agricultural land usethroughout the region.

• DPI to extend its log-haul road impactsassessment to all rural product hauliers.

• DPI to finalise the Farm Forestry Policy takinginto account the above policy/strategy and workwith local government in its implementation.

• Local government to continue to support thedevelopment of tree plantations as an acceptableagricultural crop.

• Rural community to adopt tree planting in theform of agroforestry as an automatic inclusionin any farm planning or farming operation.


Agroforestry can take a range of forms, such as widely spaced rows with grazing between, parkland spaced trees with grazing between, tree belts with cropping or grazing between ortree clumps surrounding intensive uses. (Photos by courtesy Richard Moore, CALM)


5.7 Rural Subdivision

Issue

Rural subdivision has long been a contentiousissue, with some landowners supporting theconcept of having an inalienable right to subdividetheir land as and when they choose, while otherscomplain of adverse impacts on their bona fideagricultural activities by inappropriate adjacentsubdivision and development. In accordance withStatement of Planning Policy No. 2.5 Agriculturaland Rural Land Use Planning Policy andDevelopment Control Policy DC 3.4, detailedsubdivision criteria should be addressed in theregional and local planning strategies.

Background

• There has been a long-held concept that allrural lots should be not less than 40ha in area,regardless of location, capability, constraints orother factors, although in recent years manyhave accepted smaller lot sizes for variousintensive uses.

• DoAg has contended that the future ofeconomic agriculture in this State rests with theexport market, which requires large lot sizes forviability and capacity to sustain production (e.g.200ha minimum for general agriculture and80ha for high-capability land for intensiveproduction).

• Many rural landowners have viewed their landas a “superannuation policy”, whereby they cansubdivide and sell off a portion of their farm togive them financial security in retirement.

• Other rural landowners have viewed the optionto subdivide part of their farm as a basis forgenerating the capital necessary to expand,diversify or intensify their productive activities.

• As indicated in Table 3, there is already a rangeof various lot sizes within each rural district tosatisfy requirements for agricultural use.

• A number of local governments in areas of ruralpopulation decline have considered the optionto subdivide existing farms to generate a“subdivision-led recovery”.

• There has been a number of suggestions thatsmall family farms are more productive, moreefficient and more environmentally responsivethan larger corporate farms.

Opportunities

• Financing retirement security or expansion ofactivities through subdivision can be a methodof taking those steps, which may otherwise beunavailable to many rural landowners.

• Amalgamation and re-subdivision of existingfarms consisting of multiple titles, to create onelarge operational farm title plus an equivalentnumber of small rural lots, can be a means bywhich viable farms are not broken up by sellingoff existing titles separately.

• Amalgamation and re-subdivision can allowadjoining neighbours to rationalise lotboundaries to follow topographic or man-madefeatures or to allow for rational farmingoperations, rather than being controlled by rigidnorth-south or east-west survey alignments.

• Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.5Agricultural and Rural Land Use PlanningPolicy provides specific criteria for the creationof homestead lots.

• Amalgamation and re-subdivision of existingfarms can be a valuable tool in implementingsub-catchment strategies that seek to:• rationalise water resource use, water

harvesting and distribution infrastructure;

• facilitate more productive farming operationsby aggregating suitable soil types andappropriate land areas;

• facilitate biodiversity conservation;

• arrest and reverse land degradation processes;

• facilitate protection of landscape features; and

• achieve other desirable outcomes.

• Setting up a pilot sub-catchment strategy andassociated amalgamation/re-subdivision of thefarms could be a valuable demonstration of theprocess and the significant benefits consideredlikely to be able to be achieved.

• Improving the productive capacity of asub-catchment in this way can afford theopportunity of creating additional viablefarming operations, and the proceeds of the saleof those new farms can form part of the fundingarrangement towards implementing thesub-catchment strategy.

• The environmental and economic benefitsresulting from a sub-catchment strategy canbring additional social benefits also, with anincreased local population.

• Boundary rationalisations can be used to resolveaccess issues for landlocked rural lots.



Constraints

• Creating smaller lots for non-productive uses ina rural area can create conflicting land uses andbe a constraint on agricultural production onadjacent lots.

• Ad hoc subdivision for non-productive purposesgenerally increases the land values in the area,which can render marginally viable farmingoperations unviable due to parallel rises in ratesand taxes.

• Reducing farm lot sizes can constrain theproductive capacity due to economy of scale,restrictions on large machinery (e.g. centre pivotirrigators) and workforce flexibility.

• Smaller farms are often not viable in this era oflarge-scale production for market share.

• Fragmentation of water supplies andhigh-capability land reduces the versatility ofthe land and the options for futurediversification.

• Many smaller lots created don’t make adequateallowance for the inclusion of a sufficient areaof high-capability land, the capture and storageof a sufficient quantity of good-quality water,the siting of a residence in a location which doesnot constrain adjoining productive uses, and theretention of existing vegetation.

• The ongoing concept of subdividing a farm as ameans of financing retirement or furtherdevelopment is not sustainable.

• Once subdivided and sold, it can be difficultand expensive to buy back and re-amalgamatetraded portions of a farm to restore its originalproductive capacity.

• Increasing the number of smaller lots leads togreater infrastructure and servicing costs.

• In other countries, smaller farms often rely ongovernment subsidies to maintain viability, butthe Commonwealth Government has made it

quite clear that such subsidies will not be madeavailable in Australia.

• Non-agricultural uses can sterilise the use ofhigh-capability agricultural land for its “highestand best” use.

• Successful development and implementation ofsub-catchment farm restructuring strategies willdepend heavily on gaining overwhelminglandowner support within that sub-catchment.

• Advice from DoAg indicates that at least aminimum of 30ha of high-capability land andadditional land for farm infrastructure isrequired to provide a sustainable farming unitfor a reasonable range of agriculturalproduction activities.


• There was strong opposition to theinappropriate subdivision and fragmentation ofagricultural land and the introduction ofincompatible land uses, but at the same time,some suggested rural landowners should retainthe right to subdivide their land.

• There were several suggestions that subdivisionmight be used as an opportunity to intensifyland uses and specialise in new crop types.

• A number of landowners expressed concern atover-regulation and the potential for excessivebureaucracy, which might restrict privateenterprise and creativity.


Perennial horticulture crops.

Annual horticulture crops.


Policy/Strategy

The following subdivision criteria should be usedas the basis for assessment of applications and as aguideline for detailed criteria to be incorporatedinto local planning strategies:

1. Agriculture and Priority Agriculture Zones:In order to protect the productive capacity ofagricultural land and the basis of State, regionaland local economies, there is a generalpresumption against the further subdivision ofland in the Agriculture and Priority Agriculturezones, except where it can be clearlydemonstrated that the subdivision will bebeneficial to viable and sustainable agriculturalproduction and land management on the subjectland and will not be prejudicial to similarproduction and management on adjoining lands.Subdivision approved under this criteria shallhave a minimum lot size of 80ha.

In addition, in the case of subdivisions creatingnew or additional lots in the Agriculture orPriority Agriculture zones, new lots of less than80ha will not be supported, except where thelot is a minimum of 40ha and all of thefollowing criteria are met:

• An agronomist’s report or similardemonstrates that each new lot will contain aminimum of 30ha of land with ahigh-capability rating (class 1 or 2) for annualor perennial horticultural production.

• A hydrologist’s report or similar demonstratesthat each new lot has long-term, secure accessto a supply of water of a sufficient quantityand quality as applicable to the potentialagricultural production on that land, and theDepartment of Environment is prepared toagree that the capture of that water is withinthe limits of an endorsed water allocationmanagement plan or is within the sustainableyield for that sub-catchment.

• The total lot area incorporates the minimumarea of 30ha of high-capability land, plus thewater capture and/or storage area (asnecessary), plus an area for farminfrastructure and buildings with sufficientsetback from adjoining properties so as not torestrict potential agricultural productivity onthose properties, setbacks from watercoursesand wetlands, plus the retention of anyremnant vegetation that should be protectedfrom clearing.

2. Agricultural Trade Lots:In providing for farm build-up, the creation ofan Agricultural Trade Lot will be supported inthe Priority Agriculture and Agriculture zoneswhere:

• the lot is a minimum of 40ha;

• there is a statutory restriction imposed thatprohibits the development of a dwelling onthe lot and the lot does not contain anexisting dwelling; and

• the lot is “tied” by title as an AgriculturalTrade Lot.

3. Farm Restructuring:In the case of farm restructuring or boundaryadjustment, the principal issue of considerationin assessment will be improving thesustainability and long-term agriculturalviability of the farming operation and observingthe primary principle of protecting andenhancing the productive capacity ofagricultural land. Where a farm consists ofmultiple titles and the proposal is to consolidatethe main operation into a single title,consideration will be given to the creation oflots smaller than the outlined criteria, providedthat:

• The smaller lots have sufficient size to allowfor the construction of a dwelling and othersmall farm infrastructure and buildings withsufficient setback from adjoining properties soas not to restrict potential agriculturalproductivity on those properties.

• The smaller lots are located to have minimaladverse impact on the viability andsustainability of the main farming property.

• The total number of resulting lots is notgreater than the original number of lots.

• In the case of lifestyle lots, the land is locatedwithin 10km of a major townsite.

For the purpose of this clause, a “lifestyle” lot isa lot that does not comply with the criteriaoutlined for subdivision of land designatedAgriculture or Priority Agriculture insubdivision criteria 1.

Variations to this theme may be considered ontheir individual merits in line with these basicprinciples.

In the case of farm rationalisations, whereboundaries are realigned along existing fencelines, contours, creek lines, ridge lines, othertopographic features or similar, rather thanalong rigid survey alignments, subdivision is andwill be supported where it can be clearlydemonstrated that the changes will be beneficial



to viable and sustainable agricultural productionand land management on the subject land andwill not be prejudicial to similar production andmanagement on adjoining lands. Specialvariations to these criteria may be stated foreach planning unit according to the specificcircumstances that apply within that planningunit. As stated in Development Control PolicyDC 3.4 Subdivision of Rural Land, theCommission may approve subdivision of ruralland where:

• the new boundaries reflect goodenvironmental and land managementpractices;

• no additional dwelling entitlements arecreated or where the dwelling entitlements areremoved or reduced; and

• the proposal is intended to facilitate theongoing agricultural usage on all of the lots inthe locality.

Rural-residential or rural smallholdingssubdivisions will not be supported unless theland is designated for that purpose in the localplanning strategy or rural strategy and until theland has been rezoned for that purpose.

4. Rural Landscape Protection Zone:Criteria for subdivision in the Rural LandscapeProtection zone will vary in each planning unitaccording to the specific circumstances thatapply within that planning unit and are to bedetailed in the local planning strategies andtown planning schemes.

5. Specific Purpose Rural Smallholdings:In providing for the development of specificprecincts to facilitate intensive agriculturaldevelopment through allowing subdivision tocreate lots of less than 40ha, a local governmentmay identify land with specific characteristicsfor that purpose. This process should beundertaken as part of the development orrevision of the local planning strategy, and theland designated as Rural Smallholding in thatdocument, and will be required to be zoned forthat purpose under the town planning schemeprior to subdivision being considered.

6. Sub-Catchment Farm Restructuring:Amalgamation and re-subdivision of existingfarms within a sub-catchment will be supportedwhere an endorsed sub-catchment strategyindicates clear benefits to landcare,environmental rehabilitation, natural resourcesmanagement, agricultural productivity and

sustainability. The establishment of a suitablepilot sub-catchment strategy will be considereda priority.

Implementation

• WAPC to adopt these criteria and apply them inthe assessment and determination of subdivisionproposals within the rural areas of the region.

• Local governments to adapt these criteria totheir local planning strategy/town planningscheme.

• WAPC and local government to continue towork with the rural community to refine thesecriteria to address community aspirations andprinciples of sustainability.

• WAPC, local government and relevant agenciesto work together with the rural community andlandcare groups to identify a suitable locationfor a pilot sub-catchment strategy.


Broadacre grazing/cropping.


5.8 Rural-Residential

Issue

With the growth in popularity of rural lifestyleliving, rural-residential development has flourished,but often to the detriment of the environment, ruralresources, productive agricultural land and urbanservices.

Background

• Over the past 30-40 years, increasing numbersof people have sought to move out of urbanareas to seek the lifestyle advantages of living ina rural or bushland setting.

• Originally, those people rejected urban-typeservices and facilities (e.g. roads, power, water,phones), but subsequently rural-residentialcommunities have been demanding suchfacilities, usually at a cost to the rest of thecommunity.

• Rural-residential estates were often speculativelydriven and consisted of a standard layout ofone-or two-hectare lots in a pattern that gavelittle consideration to landscape orenvironmental values or existing agriculturalactivities.

Opportunities

• There are opportunities to provide for theselifestyle options on generally unproductive landwithin proximity of urban services.

• Appropriate data is now available to assess andidentify agricultural areas of State, regional orlocal significance to protect them fromcompeting or conflicting land uses, such asrural-residential, simplifying the task ofidentifying suitable areas for rural-residentialestates.

• A number of revolutionary design concepts havebeen developed in recent years, wherebylandscape and features and environmentalvalues, etc. have been protected and evenenhanced by careful analysis and flexibledesigning.

• Clustering of lots can afford greater opportunityto protect landscape and features andenvironmental values, etc. and can facilitatemore economical servicing of the estate.

• WAPC has expressed a desire to consider arange of options to improve the standard andfunction of rural-residential estates.

• Agriculture Western Australia (as it wasformerly known) produced a practical guideline

booklet for owners of small rural landholdingsin WA.

Constraints

• Inappropriately located and designedrural-residential estates can have a significantdetrimental effect on productive agriculturalland and the district economy through factorssuch as taking over good-quality productiveland, restricting adjacent productive activitiesthrough buffer requirements and introducingland management issues such as weeds, animals,diseases and fire hazards.

• Similarly, there can be unacceptable impacts onadjacent State forests, national parks and naturereserves through weeds, animals, firemanagement and increased people pressures.

• Ad hoc development of rural-residential estateson the fringes of towns can severely compromiseor restrict townsite expansion options.

• Rural-residential estates can develop with a mixof conflicting uses and resident intentions, e.g.quiet lifestyle as opposed to truck storage orbuilder’s yard.

• Regular one-or two-hectare subdivisionsimposed on a visually attractive orenvironmentally sensitive landscape are oftenhighly damaging to those existing values.

• Speculative land purchasing for prospectiverural-residential estate development can createsignificant rises in values of farming land,further eroding the viability of economicallyvulnerable operations.

• Rural-residential estates can create futuredemands for services and facilities that aredifficult and expensive to provide.

• Rural-residential developments are often basedon speculative assessments rather than guidedby a calculated demand analysis.


• There was recognition of the need for choice oflot and housing types by allowing for somerural-residential development, but there wasstrong support for protecting productiveagricultural land from conflicting land uses anddevelopments.

• There needs to be careful planning and controlprovisions to avoid conflicts with agriculturalland.

• Rural-residential estates should be located onlyin close proximity to urban areas, whereadequate servicing is feasible and affordable.



Policy/Strategy

A prerequisite to the endorsement of any localgovernment strategy or policy that identifiesRural-Residential zones or policy areas will be anassessment of all rural land to identify theagricultural areas of State, regional and localsignificance. No Rural-Residential zones or policyareas will be supported within or adjoining thoseareas. In addition, it will be necessary for the localgovernment to demonstrate a demand for the scaleand type of rural-residential development proposed.Generally, all rural-residential development shouldbe located within 5km of a significant urban area.

The general criteria for rural-residential subdivisionis to provide lot sizes ranging from one to fourhectares. It is necessary to produce lots largeenough to satisfy the lifestyle, amenity and privacyexpectations of the prospective owners, while at thesame time not wasting the land resource or creatinglots beyond the capacity of landowners to managesustainably.

WAPC has a general presumption against thecreation of further traditional uniform patternrural-residential subdivisions, which pay littlerespect to the special landscape, topographical orenvironmental characteristics of the parent lot.However, it will favour the clustering of lots orother methods of conserving and enhancing theintrinsic features of the site and its setting. To thisend, no specific minimum lot size will be set, butrather the expectations of conservation andenhancement are emphasised and the overall lotdensity limits will be stated.

The prerequisites to approval of a rural-residentialsubdivision are:

• identification of the land in an endorsed localplanning strategy/town planning scheme;

• endorsement of a structure plan for the wholeestate; and

• rezoning to Rural-Residential.

The required structure plan should address issues,including:

• identification and evaluation of the intrinsictopographic, landscape, environmental, visual,cultural and amenity features of the site and itssetting and measures to protect and enhancethose values;

• accessibility, connection to adjoining areas andmovement patterns within the estate;

• road layout and lot configuration;

• provision of services, infrastructure andcommunity facilities;

• availability of water supplies for household,firefighting, domestic garden and other purposes(NOTE: Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.5stipulates the mandatory provision of areticulated potable water supply);

• buffer to existing and potential land uses anddevelopment on any adjoining agricultural land(NOTE: All buffer requirements shall beprovided within the parent lot of therural-residential estate, such that bona fideagricultural production on adjoining rural landis not compromised or restricted);

• tenure types, including strata titles; and

• permitted, discretionary and not permitted usesand development criteria.

In addition, the structure plan and provisionsshould ensure that rural-residential developmentsand land uses and land management on propertiesabutting national parks, State forest, naturereserves and other conservation value areas areconsistent with the conservation objectives forthose areas and that actions are taken in respect ofthe freehold land to minimise any adverse impacton the visual quality, conservation values andmanagement of those conservation areas.

Implementation

• WAPC to adopt these criteria and apply them inthe assessment and determination of subdivisionproposals within the rural-residential areas ofthe region.

• Local government to identify agricultural areasof State, regional and local significance andproposed Rural-Residential zones or policyareas in close proximity to urban areas whereappropriate servicing is feasible and affordableand where there will be minimal impact onproductive agricultural land.

• WAPC and local government to continue towork with the rural community to refine thesecriteria to address community aspirations andprinciples of rural sustainability and lifestylechoice.



5.9 Rural Smallholdings

Issue

There are constant demands for the creation ofmore small farming lots for productive purposes,but these lots can fragment productive agriculturalland and introduce non-agricultural uses whichconflict with surrounding productive agriculturalpotential.

Background

• In the original subdivision of rural land, somesmallholding lots (i.e. four to 40ha) werecreated among the larger farming lots andfurther smallholding lots have since beencreated as a result of subsequent subdivision oflarger lots.

• Some smallholding lots are operated as viablefull-time farming operations, others are used asa part-time undertaking and some are used as alifestyle option.

• Smallholding lots generally have not beenconcentrated into specific areas, but rather mayoccur randomly throughout rural areas.

Opportunities

• Smallholdings can support the production ofhigh-value niche market products (e.g. herbs,cherries).

• Smallholdings provide opportunities forpart-time rural production.

• Selecting areas close to urban facilities canmaximise the opportunities for part-time orniche market production while minimising theadverse impacts on other productive agriculturalland.

• Commercial production from ruralsmallholdings can exceed the amount ofproduction that would be generated by a similararea of larger farm holdings.

• Various methods can be used to ensure that apurchaser of property in a Rural Smallholdingszone is fully aware of the potentialconsequences of living in a rural productionarea.

• Agriculture Western Australia (as it wasformerly known) produced a practical guidelinebooklet for owners of small rural landholdingsin WA.

Constraints

• Inappropriately located smallholdings can be awaste of good productive agricultural land andcan cause restrictions on the productivepotential of adjoining agricultural land.

• Smallholding lots are often too small to beviable production lots.

• Smaller lots can present difficulties for captureand storage of water and placement of aresidence.

• Smallholding lots can generate subsequentdemands for the supply of services andinfrastructure.

• Smallholding lots may prove attractive aslifestyle lots, with subsequent potential for landuse conflicts with surrounding lots andactivities.


• There was general support for the concept ofallowing for smallholdings and hobby farming,but not at the expense of productive agriculturalactivity.


Rural smallholdings


Policy/Strategy

• Assess and demonstrate the need, level ofdemand and type or theme of smallholdingsintended and the perceived benefit to thedistrict.

• Identify an appropriate area or areas generallywithin five kilometres of an urban area fordevelopment as a rural smallholdings area.Priority Agriculture land should not beconsidered for rezoning to Rural Smallholdings,and generally these estates should not occupyland that would otherwise be zoned as PriorityAgriculture. However, it may be acceptable toinclude some high-capability agricultural land,provided there is minimal conflict or restrictionplaced on the productive capacity of adjacentagricultural land.

• Prepare and endorse a subdivision guide plan,addressing issues including road layout, lotsizes, service and infrastructure provision,protection of remnant vegetation, landscapefeatures, waterways and wetlands, etc.,proposals to maximise the productive capacityof the land and minimise land use conflicts, andprovisions for home business, industry ortourism uses.

Implementation

• WAPC to adopt these criteria and apply it in theassessment and determination of subdivisionproposals within the rural smallholdings areasof the region.

• Local government to assess all rural land toidentify the agricultural areas of State, regionaland local significance and identify RuralSmallholdings zones or policy areas in closeproximity to urban areas where appropriateservicing is feasible and affordable and wherethere will be no adverse impact on productiveagricultural land.

• WAPC and local government to continue towork with the rural community to refine thisconcept to address community aspirations andprinciples of rural sustainability and lifestylechoice.


Rural smallholdings.


5.10 Tourism Developments

Issue

In recent years, there has been an increasing trendto establish low-key tourist accommodation onfarms to take advantage of the unique attractionsof the region, but this has also created conflictswith adjacent agricultural activity.

NOTE: A full tourism strategy for the region wasincluded in the Warren-BlackwoodRegional Planning Strategy, where theeconomic significance of tourism to theregion was acknowledged and fullysupported. In this Strategy, it is onlyintended to deal with tourism uses inrelation to rural land, agriculturalproduction and natural resourcesmanagement. This Strategy acknowledgesand supports the potential economic andsocial benefits of tourism as an adjunct toagricultural production and diversificationof farm activity and income.

Background

• The unique natural landscape andenvironmental attractions, in conjunction withthe agricultural activity and proximity to themetropolitan market, provide a basis for astrong regional tourism industry featuringlow-key developments in conjunction withexisting farming operations.

• Over the past 20 years, there has beenincreasing interest in becoming involved inrural tourism as a diversification of the farmactivity and income.

• This development has also coincided withincreasing conflicts between tourism uses andagriculture with resultant constraints onproductive agricultural uses and activities onadjacent rural lots.

• The challenge is to be able to reap the rewardsof farm-based tourism without creating adverseimpacts on agricultural activity or the naturalenvironment in the district.

• Some larger-scale tourism projects have beendeveloped successfully in the region, and thereis potential for more.

Opportunities

• The region and its attractions offerconsiderable scope for further development of

tourism accommodation facilities, large-scaletourism projects and low-key farm-stay units.

• Farm-stay tourism offers potential fordiversification of farm activity and economicincome.

• The farm tourism industry also offerssignificant local and regional economic andemployment benefits.

• Tourist chalets provide considerable flexibilityfor placement in locations where they can takemaximum advantage of site attributes, but haveminimal impact on landscape or environmentalvalues or adjacent agricultural activity.

• Farm activity forms part of the attraction andtourist experience.

• Ecotourism and nature-based tourism activitiescan contribute significantly to biodiversityconservation and natural resourcesmanagement objectives.

Constraints

• Poorly located tourist facilities can createconsiderable conflict with adjacent agriculturalactivity and can severely constrain thoseoperations, even when the adjacent agriculturalactivity predated the tourism development.

• Similar constraints can affect adjacentpotentially productive agricultural land.

• Tourist facilities also can restrict the potentialproductivity on the same lot as the tourismuses.

• Poorly located and/or managed tourist facilitiesalso can have negative impacts on adjacentState forest, national parks and nature reserves.

• Inappropriately located, designed or managedtourism development can diminish the intrinsiclandscape, environmental or cultural values ofthe original attraction.


• There was strong support for well-designedtourism and ecotourism developments in ruralareas due to the local and regional economicand employment benefits.

• Tourism development should be permitted inrural areas only where it will not conflict withexisting or potential agricultural uses.

• Clear policies and conflict-resolutionmechanisms are required where rural conflictoccurs.



Policy/Strategy

Support the development of low-key tourist units(i.e. up to five chalets or similar) on rural landwhere this is compatible with and complementaryto the natural resources management objectives setout in this Strategy.

• A development application should be requiredfor all tourism development in rural areas, evenwhere it is listed as a “permitted use” in thatparticular zone.

• Criteria to address location, access, setback,design, landscape protection, fire management,conflict avoidance, etc., to be developed byeach local government to suit local and sitecircumstances.

• In addressing boundary setbacks and possibleconflicts with adjacent agricultural activities,consideration must be given to existing andpotential future productive uses on those lands.

• Specific criteria also to be developed by eachlocal government for setbacks from, protectionof, and minimising the adverse impacts on,adjacent State forest, national park or naturereserves or on-site or adjoining remnantvegetation.

• Ensure that tourism developments, land usesand land management on properties abuttingnational parks, State forest, nature reserves andother conservation value areas are consistentwith the conservation objectives for those areasand that actions are taken in respect of thefreehold land to minimise any adverse impacton the visual quality, conservation values andmanagement of those conservation areas.

• Support also larger-scale tourism projects inappropriate locations where these arecompatible with and complementary to thenatural resources management objectives setout in this Strategy, subject to appropriate priorrezoning.

• Formulate a regional tourism development andmanagement plan (as outlined in theWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy)and incorporate its outcomes into this Strategyand the local planning strategies.

• Assess and identify specific precincts in whichtourism developments may be recognised as a(or the) primary use.

Implementation

• Local government (with assistance from DPIand others) to develop guidelines and criteriafor addressing rural tourism developments.

• Develop the regional tourism development andmanagement plan (as outlined in theWarren-Blackwood Regional PlanningStrategy).


(Photo by courtesy Diamond Farm Chalets)

With careful planning, low-key tourist chalets can complement agricultural operationsand natural landscape areas, providing additional local tourist accommodation,diversified farm income and a boost to the local economy.

(Photo by courtesy Walpole Wilderness Resort)


5.11 Regional Transport

Issue

Increasing rural production leads to increasingtransport demands, which raises the conflict ofheavy vehicles and light vehicles on a road systemthat has not necessarily been upgraded inaccordance with those increases in traffic volumesand tonnages.

Background

• The expansion, intensification anddiversification of agricultural production in thefuture will increase the pressure on the roadnetwork by heavy haulage vehicles.

• The current levels of road funding are unlikelyto lead to a substantial improvement in thegeneral standard of the regional road network.

• The distances to markets and the port increasethe pressures to use larger bulk transportvehicles.

• There is increasing pressure from transportcompanies and producers to allow forunrestricted access for road haulage.

Opportunities

• The economics of rail transport are maximisedwhere regular large tonnages are hauled overlong distances from a point source to a fixeddestination (e.g. as in the mining industry).Other benefits of rail over road are theincreased safety for other road users, greaterfuel efficiency and lesser environmentalimpacts.

• The principal advantages of road transport areits flexibility in terms of timing, direction andload type and its cost effectiveness under thecurrent funding arrangements.

• Local processing of products from the regioncan reduce substantially the volume and weightof product to be transported and can presentopportunities for combining road/rail transportif the processing plant or estate is located on oradjacent to an existing rail facility.

• Road-rail combinations can be effective iftransfer stations are placed convenientlybetween the product source and the port(preferably close to the source) and wheredouble handling of the product can beminimised or eliminated.

• Under its code of practice, the plantationtimber industry has an arrangement for localroads whereby individual plantation owners

advise the local government of their harvestingintentions 18 months in advance, agree on ahaulage route to be used, agree on any specialrestrictions, carry out any required roadmodifications prior to harvesting and repair theroad to its previous standard at the completionof harvesting.

• The Agricultural Economic Potential of theWarren-Blackwood Region (as attached),carried out as technical background for thestrategy, has produced a series of futuredevelopment scenarios for each district whichwill assist in determining the future transportimplications under each scenario.

Constraints

• Due to the geographical spread of plantationsand other broadacre agricultural activity,product from this source is not readily suited tocollection by rail, but rather would requiretrucking to a rail transfer station, if rail was tobe the primary form of transport.

• Rail transport does not have the same degree offlexibility as road transport to accommodatevariables in product cartage (e.g. time,direction, etc.) and is at a disadvantage in termsof funding.

• The South Western Rail line has additionalissues constraining its economiccompetitiveness, including steep grades (1:40)which require a second locomotive to assist forrelatively short distances, inferior track andbase engineering and geometry which restrictloads and speed of travel and the cost ofmaintenance and upgrading can be recoveredonly from the single line user at this stage.

• If road-rail transfer involves double handling ofproducts, there are additional cost and timedelays and greater likelihood of productdamage.

• Road haulage has the disadvantages of cost ofroad construction, road improvement cost,damage to the road surface, road safety, trafficdelays, discouragement to tourism traffic, socialdisruption to towns en route, lesser fuelefficiency and greater air pollution.

• The local governments have raised considerableconcerns about the impacts of log-haul truckson the local and district road system and thepotential effects on the viability of otheragricultural activities resulting from a degradedroad network.

• Many products are exported or sent to Perth intheir raw form, requiring greater tonnage and



volume to be transported and reducing theopportunity for road-rail transfer.

• Considerable emphasis is being given to theimpacts of timber haulage trucks and the needfor special contributions to be made for roadupgradings, which may be inconsistent whenthe impacts of other traditional agriculturalproducts is considered.

• There is a deficiency in the east-west linkagesfor truck transport between Scott Coastal Plainand Manjimup and from the Boyup Brook areato North Greenbushes.


• There is growing concern at the amount ofdamage being done to the regional, district andlocal road system by heavy haulage vehiclesand the impacts on other road users.

• There is insufficient funding allocated tomaintain or develop the road network to anacceptable level and meet the growing demandsfrom the various road users.

• Most people strongly prefer the use of railtransport wherever possible.

Policy/Strategy

• Reassess the road infrastructure and upgradingrequirements across the region, taking intoaccount the impacts of heavy transport servingthe plantation timber industry, otheragricultural industry and industry generally.

• Review the regional road strategy in Figure 8 ofthe Warren-Blackwood Regional PlanningStrategy.

• Identify the transport infrastructure fundingpriorities for the region.

• Assess specifically the need for improvedeast-west truck transport linkages, especiallybetween Scott Coastal Plain and Manjimup andfrom the Boyup Brook area to NorthGreenbushes.

• Identify the opportunities for additional usersof the rail line to Manjimup to spread the costof rail maintenance and upgrade and ensuregreater security for ongoing usage.

• Assess the potential for a sub-regionalindustrial processing estate to be establishedadjacent to the rail line to Manjimup toencourage downstream processing andmaximise transport efficiency, including railhaulage from the processing area to the port.

• Assess the potential for a road-rail transferfacility to be established in conjunction withthe industrial estate to encourage otherunprocessed product to be transported to theport by rail.

• Examine the potential to utilise road-railwagons or stacked product for easy, one-manreloading to minimise double handlinginefficiencies with road-rail transfer.

• Wherever practical, upgrade existing log-haulroads within State forest or other less well usedroads to minimise conflicts with generalhighway traffic.

Implementation

• WAPC/DPI is currently carrying out a study toidentify a suitable sub-regional industrialprocessing site adjacent to the South WesternRail line, including the potential for a road-railtransfer station.

• WAPC/DPI to review and integrate thesouthern province transport strategy with theWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy.



5.12 Land Valuations

Issue

High rural land valuations related to speculativepurchases create additional rating and taxationimplications for bona fide agricultural producersand discourage voluntary conservation of landareas.

Background

• Rural land in the region has becomeincreasingly attractive as a lifestyle option,either as a speculative purchase in anticipationof approval to carry out rural-residentialdevelopment, smaller lots subdivision, or as alifestyle investment in its present lotconfiguration.

• Prospective purchasers with these concepts inmind are usually prepared to pay substantiallyhigher prices for the land than can be achievedwhen selling for purely agricultural productionpurposes.

• Several higher-priced land sales in an area willraise the notional value of the surrounding lotsto similar levels and this is used as the basis forState Government land valuations, which inturn is used as a basis for taxation and landrates.

• Agricultural producers become liable for highertaxation and land rates without increasing theirreturns from the land, threatening theirviability and forcing some farmers off theirproperties.

• The main cause of speculative land valuesappears to be a lack of clear objectives, criteriaand standards in planning schemes and regionalstrategies, which allows for such exploitationand leads to higher valuations.

• Valuations are based on the price the market iswilling to pay for a property and according tothe highest and best use for which the propertycould be developed.

Opportunities

• Clear Sheme zonings with clearly statedobjectives, use and development permissibilityand subdivision criteria will minimise anydevelopment uncertainty and reduce speculativeinvestment in rural land.

• Removing uncertainty and speculativeinfluences would allow market values to reflectthe true agricultural value and in turn

government valuations, taxation and land rateswould adjust to a more appropriate level.

• Lower taxation and land rates would removeone of the economic constraints currentlyfacing agricultural producers.

• Similar criteria could apply also to areas offreehold land proposed to be set aside forconservation or environmental purposes, wherelittle or no income would be generated but theproperty is valued as a whole and taxation andland rates levied accordingly.

• Increasing the rates charged to other propertiesin the district to offset the reduced speculativevaluation of farms and the proportionatevaluation reduction forconservation/environmental areas on farmswould ensure that the community shares thecost of the environmental, social or economicbenefits it derives.

Constraints

• Lack of clarity and certainty in planningschemes and government policies (e.g.subdivision) have facilitated speculation onrural land, with consequent impacts onvaluations, taxation and land rates.

• Pursuing a situation of certainty withinplanning schemes and government policies canreduce flexibility to allow for variations forspecial circumstances.

• Speculation-induced high land values canreduce the economic viability of a farmingoperation and have spin-off impacts on localand regional economies if farms go out ofproduction or are scaled back in productivity.

• Farmers will not be encouraged to set aside anyparts of their landholdings for conservation orenvironmental purposes if they are still leviedfull taxation and land rates for that areawithout being able to earn full income from it.

• Local governments may have their rate baseeroded by reduced land valuations and ratingability, leaving the remainder of the communityresponsible for picking up the shortfall througha higher rate on their own properties, unlessthese concessions can be covered by acorresponding increase in government grants orsimilar to local government.

Public Consultation Responses

• The community raised concern at the impactrising land values and land rates were havingon the viability of farming operations.



Policy/Strategy

• Clearly identify and delineate all Agriculture,Priority Agriculture, Rural Landscape Protectionand other specific purpose rural zones, set clearzone objectives, use controls and subdivisioncriteria and clarify that conflicting uses (such asrural-residential) are not permitted.

• Clearly identify and delineate allRural-Residential, Rural Smallholdings andother specific purpose semi-rural/semi-urbanzones and set clear zone objectives, use controlsand subdivision criteria.

• Seek revaluation of rural areas according tothose new zones, objectives, use controls andsubdivision criteria.

• Apply differential ratings to the agriculturalareas to ensure rate charges are proportional tothe potential property income and viabilitylevel.

• Allow special taxation and land rate concessionsfor endorsed areas to be set aside forconservation/environmental purposes whereconservation covenants have been established.

• Adjust the land rates levied on the balance ofdistrict properties to ensure that the communitythat benefits economically, environmentallyand/or socially from the rural land orconservation areas, shares the cost burden.

• Seek special incentives, concessions orgovernment grants to facilitate these objectives.

Implementation

• WAPC and local government to identify thezones and develop the provisions and criterianecessary to achieve clarity of opportunities andconstraints for rural areas, using the baseestablished in this Strategy.

• Valuer General’s Office to consider valuing ruralproperties strictly in accordance with the actualuse and development potential set out in thetown planning schemes, rather than anymarket-led speculative value, in all future ruralrevaluations.

• Community to accept a share of the cost of theenvironmental, social and economic benefits itreceives from protecting the productive potentialof agricultural land and protecting specialconservation/environmental values on rural landwithin its district.



6.0 REGIONAL ZONINGS

6.1 Resource Assessment Process

The non-urban areas of the region have beenanalysed for agricultural significance, as detailed inthe attached supporting report, Areas ofAgricultural Significance: Warren-Blackwood RuralStrategy. In summary, this was achieved byidentifying the areas of high land capability (70 percent plus) for annual and perennial horticultureand intersecting that with the areas of high wateravailability. Water availability was calculated foreach sub-catchment as the difference between thecurrent use and the estimated sustainable yield.Where there was a significant concentration of highland capability and water availability orconcentrations of current annual or perennialhorticultural production, those areas were noted ashaving potential State or regional significance foragriculture.

In some areas, it was necessary to include someother factors to refine that assessment. Thisincluded the Scott Coastal Plain, where landcapability for annual or perennial horticulture wasgenerally low due to winter waterlogging, but highfor summertime only annual horticulture.Combined with the high groundwater availability,this indicated the area as having State significance.In other areas, such as to the north and south ofBoyup Brook, there were areas of someconcentration of high land/water potential, but theywere relatively small and isolated. Based on localconsultation, these were not included. Other areasmay be included in the local planing strategies asareas of local agricultural significance by therespective local governments.

Map 8 indicates the outcome of that assessment,with the areas of agricultural potential of State orregional significance highlighted.

6.2 Conceptual Rural Zonings

The areas of agricultural potential of State orregional significance were then translated intoconceptual rural zonings, as depicted on Map 9.With some minor refinement, those areas ofagricultural potential of State or regionalsignificance became the Priority Agriculture zoneand the remainder of the freehold rural land isshown as Agriculture zone, with the exception ofseveral areas which were considered, because ofspecial landscape or environmental factors, to beappropriate for a Rural Landscape Protection zone(or Special Control Area).

At the regional level, these conceptual zonings aredeliberately shown in “blob” form, with nocadastral base, because the broadscale assessmentsof the Strategy do not allow for the resolution ofdetail to such a fine extent. Each area has beenrounded off and some smaller or isolated lots maynot be included in the regional zoning map. As acomponent of the local planning strategyassessment process, each local government hasconsidered its own agricultural areas of localsignificance and has taken into account localtopographic, infrastructure, social, economic andother factors to refine the broad regional zoning tolocal cadastral detail. Any discrepancies resultingfrom that process should be insignificant.

6.3 Zone Objectives

Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.5 Agriculturaland Rural Land Use Planning Policy sets out tworural zones (Priority Agriculture and GeneralAgriculture), which are to be used as the basis forall regional and local planning strategy and schemerural zones. A key objective of the Strategy is toimplement that policy. However, during the ruralland and water assessment process, the studymanagement group became concerned that thesetwo terms, listed in the order they were, created aperception that Priority Agriculture represented therural land of agricultural value and that GeneralAgriculture was for rural land of little significance.The group stressed that all agricultural land withinthe region was considered to be of greatimportance to the local economy, social structure ofthe district, visual landscape and the identity of theregion. It was the group’s resolution that the ruralland should be zoned as Agriculture and it shouldbe listed first to emphasise its primacy andimportance. Priority Agriculture can then be seenas a subset of the Agriculture zoning, indicatingthat the area had special or superior qualities thatwarranted additional protection. The PriorityAgriculture classification could be shown as anoverlay Special Control Area on the Agriculturezoning, or it could be a separate zone in its ownright. The Strategy has listed them as separatezones, but the alternative approach is alsosupported.

The three rural zones in the Strategy are:

• Agriculture

• Priority Agriculture

• Rural Landscape Protection

Chapter 6Regional Zonings


The broad objectives for those three zones are:

Agriculture — The primary objective of this zoneis to protect the productive capacity of rural land.Other zone objectives are to:

• protect the economic base, social structure,visual landscape and regional and local identityof the area;

• protect the land, water and biodiversity resourcebase;

• arrest and reverse land degradation;

• promote farm planning integrated andco-ordinated with the catchment/basin plan;

• facilitate sustainable diversification andintensification of agricultural production;

• limit and control conflicting or incompatibleland uses and potential restrictions onsurrounding productive capacity; and

• allow for other non-agricultural uses inappropriate locations where they will haveminimal adverse impact on other objectives.

Priority Agriculture — The primary objective ofthis zone is to provide a higher level of protectionto the productive capacity of the land and the keyland and water resources that underpin it. Otherzone objectives are to:

• protect the economic base, social structure,visual landscape and regional and local identityof the area;

• protect the land, water and biodiversity resourcebase;

• arrest and reverse land degradation;

• promote farm planning integrated andco-ordinated with the catchment/basin plan;

• facilitate sustainable diversification andintensification of agricultural production; and

• limit and control conflicting or incompatibleland uses and potential restrictions onsurrounding productive capacity.

Rural Landscape Protection — The primaryobjective of this zone is to protect and enhance theintrinsic landscape, environmental or culturalvalues of the area. Other zone objectives are to:

• allow for the continuation of existing orcreation of new productive agricultural useswhere this activity will be compatible with theprimary objective of the zone;

• protect the land, water and biodiversity resourcebase; and

• allow for low-key tourism or similardevelopments where these are not incompatiblewith or detrimental to the primary objective ofthe zone.

NOTE: This “zone” may be incorporated into atown planning scheme as a Special Control Areaoverlay, if preferred.

Six areas have been shown with this zoning (orSpecial Control Area):

• Freehold lots along the coastal strip to the westof Black Point and to the south of the ScottRiver were identified in Scott Coastal Plain — AStrategy for a Sustainable Future for landscapeprotection. This was in recognition of the fragiledune system along the coast, exposure to theSouthern Ocean storms, the generally lowagricultural potential within the dunes, theattractive and varied coastal heath andwoodland vegetation and the presence of anumber of rare and endangered species.

• Freehold lots and a pastoral lease on the coastbetween Black Point and the Donnelly Rivermouth were also identified in the Scott CoastalPlain report. They had the similar characteristicsto the lots to the west of Black Point, butoccurred as an isolated pocket within theD’Entrecasteaux National Park, with roadaccess restrictions as well.

• Freehold lots at Sandy Peak and MalimupSprings (to the north-west of Windy Harbour)also have similar characteristics to the lots tothe west of Black Point and also occur asisolated pockets within the national park andhave very restricted road access.

• Isolated freehold lots set among attractiveforested and river foreshore areas within theWalpole-Nornalup National Park have beenzoned to minimise their potential impact on thesurrounding national park landscape andenvironmental values.

• The Ramsar listing of the Lake Muir wetlandsarea justified the need to acknowledge andcontinue the existing cooperative managementof the land uses on the few surroundingfreehold lots in that area.

• The lower Blackwood River Valley and theNannup to Balingup tourism drive have longbeen recognised by the wider community asbeing icons of rural landscape value. With theclearing of existing pine plantations and therelease of many CALM freehold lots in thatarea, there was seen to be a need to have ahigher level of landscape/environmentalawareness and protection.

Refer to the planning objectives, land use categoriesand subdivision criteria set out for each area in therelevant planning units in Chapter 7.



6.4 Other Rural Zones

The land use categories outlined for the individualplanning units should be referred to as anindication of the primary and secondary uses thatmay be permitted. All other uses, includingrural-residential, rural smallholdings and farm-staytourism developments of more than five unitsshould be the subject of a formal scheme rezoning.


Careful land management by landowners (with assistance from CALM) allows forfarming activities adjoining Lake Muir to continue without adverse effect on theRamsar listed wetland.


7.0 PLANNING UNITS

7.1 Planning Unit Derivation

For the purpose of the Strategy, the region has beendivided into 13 planning units, as used for theWarren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy.They represent the Natural Resources zones thatwere developed for the South-West by the thenDEP, Curtin University and DoAg. Use of theseplanning units will allow the natural resources tobe identified and described in a co-ordinated wayand be linked to planning and land use issues.

The Warren-Blackwood Region consists of sixmajor surface water basins, five of which extendinto adjoining regions. Each basin is then dividedinto natural resources management units as set outin Map 10. The surface water basins are:

• Blackwood Basin

• Collie Basin

• Donnelly Basin

• Warren Basin

• Shannon (and coastal streams) Basin

• Frankland Basin

7.2 Planning Unit Function

The principal function of the planning units is toprovide a convenient link between the naturalresources data and management objectives and theplanning issues and objectives. This is the mostappropriate format to represent these factors at theregional level. The Strategy will provide theframework and guidelines for the preparation ofthe four local planning strategies/town planningschemes. The local governments may elect to usedifferent planning units within their local planningstrategies based on other criteria, more recognisableand relevant to local and community issues.However, the linkages between the two systems willbe easy to translate.

Each planning unit is depicted on the regionaloutline to indicate its location within the regionand is superimposed on a cadastral base to show itsextent in more detail. The second map shows theConceptual Rural zones, as set out in Map 9. Theplanning and natural resources strategies aredeveloped for each planning unit under thesub-headings:

• Planning Unit Description

• Natural Resources Description

• Land Capability and Water Availability

• Major Issues

• Natural Resources Management Objectives

• Planning Objectives

• Land Use Categories

• Subdivision Criteria

The description of each planning unit containsestimates of the area of management categories ofCrown land. These figures are accurate at March2003 and may be modified by the ForestManagement Plan 2004-2013.

Within the Conceptual Rural Zonings map, thefollowing depictions have been used:

Agriculture:Within Planning Unit

Outside Planning Unit

Priority Agriculture:Within Planning Unit


Rural Landscape Protection:Within Planning Unit


Within the land use categories, the symbols havethe following meanings:

* local government planning approval required

# Environmental Protection Authority approvalshould be sought

Chapter 7Planning Units


PLANNING UNIT BR1SCOTT

Total area — 301sq.km

1. PLANNING UNIT DESCRIPTION:

• Includes half of sub-catchment B5 — Scott River.

• Low to high dunes and sweeping sandy beaches front the south coast,punctuated by a basaltic outcrop at Black Point. Inland of the dunes lies abelt of wetlands, including Lake Quitjup, Gingilup Swamp and the Scott River.The remainder consists of palusplain.

• The coast and the plains are exposed to the strong south-westerly storms;temperatures are moderated by proximity to the ocean; average rainfall isabout 1,000mm per annum.

• Large portions of the freehold land to the north of the river have beencleared for agricultural use, predominantly for grazing and dairying, but withlarge commercial tree plantations and centre pivot irrigated annualhorticultural production being established in recent years. The remainder ofthe area is covered by a rich mosaic of wetland and dunal vegetation, withsome areas of forest and woodland. Large freehold lots fronting the coastgenerally have little agricultural use.

• The planning unit contains minimal infrastructure, with just two constructedgravel roads across the plain, and one three-phase powerline. The nearesturban settlement (Nannup) is about 40 kilometres away by road.

2. NATURAL RESOURCES DESCRIPTION:

• Soils on the plain are typically poorly drained siliceous sands with darkorganic topsoil over coffee rock at depth. In the dunal area, the sands areeither siliceous or calcareous. Steep slopes occur among the coastal dunes,particularly towards Black Point. The coastal dunes are very vulnerable towind erosion where the vegetation cover is disturbed. On the plain, there ispotential for wind erosion of exposed soils and for water erosion of fine soilparticles.

• The principal waterway is the Scott River, where the water quality is fresh, butthere are concerns about nutrient enrichment. Major wetlands include LakeQuitjup and Gingilup Swamp. The whole area is underlain by the deepYarragadee Aquifer, which has huge reserves of high-quality water, currentlybeing tapped for annual horticultural production and mining and beingconsidered as a possible water source for Perth metropolitan needs. TheLeederville Aquifer sits above the Yarragadee and smaller aquifers arelocated about the fringes or superficially.

• The unit contains Beard type 23 (low jarrah/banksia on sands) vegetationcommunity, which is now poorly represented and well below the nationaltarget.

• Conservation reserves — 39% of unit

• State forest — 2% of unit

• Other non-freehold — 6% of unit

• Cleared land — 29% of unit

• Remnant vegetation on private land — 24% of unit

• Significant landscape features — rugged coastal landscape (especially BlackPoint), vegetated coastal dunes and Scott River environs.

• Some rare and priority flora exist on the coastal dunes and adjacent to ScottRiver.

• Heavy mineral sands deposits exist within the unit and are currently beingmined at Jangardup.

0 5 10

Kilometres

BR1

DR1

Black Point

River

Scott

JasperLake

BROCKM

ANHIGHWAY

BR2

3. LAND CAPABILITY AND WATER AVAILABILITY:

• Very limited capability for perennial horticulture due to waterlogging in winter,but annual horticulture has significant capability for summertime onlyproduction in most parts. Grazing and commercial tree plantations havemoderate capability. Dunal areas adjacent to the coast have low to very lowcapability for all forms of agriculture.

• There is ample availability of high-quality surface water available foragricultural usage, but the flat terrain and generally sandy nature of the soilrender this resource insignificant for productive use. However, huge suppliesof high-quality water from the underlying aquifers ensure that wateravailability is not a constraint to expanded agricultural production in thisplanning unit.

• There is considerable capacity for expansion of irrigated annual horticulturalproduction (summertime only) on the plains area, using groundwatersupplies.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Large lot sizes and flat terrain have facilitated economic development of largecentre pivot irrigated annual horticultural developments on the plains area.

• Key land management issues associated with agriculture are soil acidificationand phosphorus run-off linked to waterlogging and flooding.

• Potential nutrient enrichment of the Scott River system, Gingilup Swamp andHardy Inlet.

• Water erosion potential and siltation of the Scott River system.

• Protection of the remaining areas of remnant vegetation on freehold land,existing vegetation on the fragile coastal dune system and areas of significantvegetation associations and threatened ecological communities.

• Tourism and recreational access to the coast, vesting of the coastal strip andmanagement of the coastal fringe.

• Protection of the landscape values of the Scott River and the coastal strip.

• Upgrading of the road system to accommodate the transport of agriculturalproduce and tourism traffic (especially along the coastal road).

• Need for three-phase power supply for productive agricultural landholdings.

• Potential demands for an additional minor townsite to serve farm workeraccommodation, sandmine workers and tourists/recreation visitors.



PLANNING UNIT BR1SCOTT (Continued)

5. NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES:

• Protect and enhance existing dunal vegetation.

• Support CALM management and protection of the Gingilup Swamp suite,Lake Quitjup, Lake Bolghinup and the Scott River within the Scott RiverNational Park.

• Manage all intensive agricultural production in strict accordance with bestmanagement practice/code of practice to minimise impacts on significantecological values.

• Establish nutrient load targets for the Hardy Inlet and manage nutrient loadswithin the catchment consistent with those targets.

• Control drainage and surface water movement to minimise transport ofphosphorus to adjacent waterways and wetlands at times of waterlogging orflooding.

• Ensure availability and application of lime to soils to maintain an appropriatePh level.

• Facilitate the development of agroforestry as an economic alternative tolarge-scale tree plantations, for its greater environmental and social benefits.

• Protect and enhance the riparian values along the Scott River.

• Develop and observe appropriate best management practices to minimiseland and water degradation resulting from water and wind erosion,sedimentation, nutrient transport to adjacent waterways and wetlands andwaterlogging. Retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land whereverpossible.

• Protect poorly represented vegetation associations, threatened ecologicalcommunities and rare and priority flora, especially the low jarrah/banksia onsands vegetation community on freehold land (contact CALM for greaterdetail).

6. PLANNING OBJECTIVES:

• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversificationand intensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially thatrequiring irrigation waters and large lot sizes.

• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, allow for low-key tourismdevelopment that is consistent with retaining the natural wildernesslandscape appearance, for the land to the west of Black Point.

• Finalise and implement the coastal strategy for the Augusta-Walpole strip andprepare a coastal management plan for the coastal strip adjoining thefreehold lots.

• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals,uncontrolled pedestrian movement) within adjoining national park, naturereserve or foredune areas.

• Upgrade the local road system as appropriate to accommodate the trucktransport associated with the increased agricultural production andco-ordinate the upgrading of the coastal roads as necessary to serve theincreasing tourism and recreational use of the coastal strip.

• Monitor the need for an accommodation node to serve increasing tourism,recreation, agricultural worker and mining worker demands (initialassessment indicates a location south of the river adjacent to MilyeannupCoast Road may be most suitable.

• Investigate options for amalgamation of isolated coastal freehold/leaseholdlots into D’Entrecasteaux National Park, through acquisition, land swaps,transfer of development rights, incentives, etc.

• Facilitate access to three-phase power supplies for all productive agriculturalproperties in the Priority Agriculture zone.

0 5 10

Kilometres

BR1CONCEPTUAL RURAL ZONES

PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE DR1

RURALLANDSCAPEPROTECTION

Black Point

River

Scott

JasperLake

BROCKM

AN

HIGHWAYBR2

7. LAND USE CATEGORIES:

Priority Agriculture zone:

Primary Uses:Annual horticulture, perennial horticulture, agroforestry, dairying*#, grazing.

Secondary Uses:Single house*, farm worker accommodation*, commercial tree plantations*,rural industry*, extractive industry*, intensive animal husbandry*#, feedlots*#,piggeries*#, poultry farms*#.

Rural Landscape Protection zone:

Primary Uses:Single house*, low-key tourism* (west of Black Point only).

Secondary Uses (all west of Black Point only):Annual horticulture*, perennial horticulture*, dairying*#, grazing*,agroforestry*, commercial tree plantations*, rural industry*, extractiveindustry*.

8. SUBDIVISION CRITERIA:


To maintain the productive capacity of the land and the economy of scale ofoperations and to reduce the potential impacts of competing land uses, there isa clear presumption against any subdivision of the existing lots, regardless oftheir current size.


Subject to resolving the issue of vesting of the coastal vacant Crown land strip,the preparation and adoption of a coastal management plan for that section ofcoastline and the adoption of a road access and upgrading strategy, subdivisionof existing lots down to a minimum size of 40ha may be considered. Furthersubdivision of land to smaller lot sizes for lifestyle purposes will not beconsidered unless and until urban-type services and facilities are provided inclose proximity to the subject land (i.e. south of the river) and the requiredinfrastructure has been appropriately upgraded.



PLANNING UNIT BR2BLACKWOOD

Total area — 3,026sq.km


• Includes all of sub-catchments B13 — Milyeannup Brook, B12 — RedGully, B17 — Carlotta Brook, B16 — Long Gully, B7 — TanjannerupCreek, B4 — Ellis Creek, BB2 — Maranup Brook, BB3 — MokerdillupBrook, BB4 — Rectory Creek, BB5 — Geegelup Brook, B3 —Dalgarup/Hester Brook and BB6 — Waterhole Gully; most ofsub-catchments BV1 — Lower Blackwood, B11 — McAtee Brook, B9 —Gregory Brook, BB1 — Norilup Brook, B2 — Balingup Brook East andBB9 — Boyup Brook; part of sub-catchments B5 — Scott River, B10 — StJohn Brook, BV2 — Nannup-Bridgetown, B8 — Camp Brook, BV3 —Bridgetown-Boyup Brook and BB7 — Tweed River; and a small portion ofsub-catchment B1 — Balingup Brook.

• The Blackwood River forms a major valley west of the Darling Scarp and adeeply incised valley to the east, each within a lateritic plateau with broad,swampy depressions; the Scott Coastal Plain is poorly drained with dunesand swampy depressions.

• Average rainfall ranges from 700mm-950mm per annum.

• The majority of the upper part of the planning unit has been cleared foragricultural use, whereas in the lower part of the planning unit, much ofthe northern part of the Scott Coastal Plain and the foothills and face ofthe Darling Escarpment have been cleared, along with scatteredproperties on the Blackwood River upstream and downstream of Nannup.The remainder is contained within State forest or various nature reserves.

• On the Scott Coastal Plain, there are several large annual horticulturedevelopments and several hardwood tree plantations, with dairying orbroadacre grazing on the rest of that area, but throughout the remainderof the planning unit, the uses are dominated by hardwood and softwoodtree plantations and broadacre grazing, with some scattered dairying andannual and perennial horticulture.


• Soils consist of duplex sandy gravels, sandy and loamy gravels and deep sands and wet soils to thewest of the Darling Scarp, with deep loams, loamy duplexes, loamy gravels, duplex sandy gravels,deep gravels, deep sands and wet and semi-wet soils on and to the east of the scarp, and duplexsandy gravels, deep sandy duplexes, loamy gravels and some wet and semi-wet soils in the east ofthe planning unit. There are very steep slopes along the Blackwood River valley and thesub-catchments east of the Darling Scarp, but easing slightly towards the east of the planning unit.There is a high water erosion risk on the steep valley slopes, with some wind erosion, waterloggingand salinity risk on the plateau areas.

• The principal waterway is the Blackwood River, which has brackish quality in the east but improving inthe lower reaches as it is diluted by fresher side streams. Sub-catchments include Rosa, Milyeannup,McAtee, St John, Carlotta, Camp and Gregory Brooks, Red and Long Gullies, and Tanjannerup andEllis Creeks, all of which are fresh quality. Further east, the sub-catchments of Balingup,Dalgarup/Hester, Norilup, Maranup, Mokerdillup, Geegelup and Boyup Brooks, Rectory Creek andWaterhole and Four Mile Gullies have generally marginal or brackish qualities. The extensiveYarragadee and Leederville Aquifers underlie the unit to the west of the Darling Scarp. The unitcontains Beard type 23 (low jarrah/banksia on sands) vegetation community, which is now poorlyrepresented and below the national target.






• Significant landscape features — Blackwood River valley and plateau areas, including land visible fromthe Brockman Highway and the Nannup to Balingup Road, plus Bridgetown townsite and the easternenvirons of Nannup townsite.

• There are many occurrences of rare and priority flora within the planning unit, particularly within theDonnybrook sunklands area.

• Major deposits of tantalite, spodumene and tin exist and are currently being mined aroundGreenbushes townsite, but this has little impact on freehold land.

Kilometres

0 10 20 30

BROCKMAN

HIGHW

AY

HIG

HW

AY

VA

SSE

Shire ofBoyup Brook

Shire ofBridgetown-Greenbushes

Shire ofNannup

Black Point

Nannup

Greenbushes

Bridgetown

Boyup Brook

JasperLake

BR2

BR3

WR2DR2

DR1

BR1


• Significant portions of the planning unit have a high to very high-capabilityrating for annual or perennial horticulture, with the Scott Coastal Plainhaving mostly a low capability for perennial horticulture due to winterwaterlogging, but a mostly high to very high capability for summertimeonly annual horticulture.

• East of the Darling Escarpment, most of the sub-catchments have amoderate availability of water, which is generally of good quality, forirrigation usage. West of the escarpment, there are very significant waterreserves within the confined Yarragadee and Leederville Aquifers.

• Throughout the majority of the planning unit, there is a moderate capacityfor expansion of irrigated horticultural production, but on the Scott CoastalPlain, that capacity is considerably increased due to water availability.Dry-land viticulture will be unrestricted by water availability.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Conflicting land uses and developments and ad hoc subdivisions restricting production potential ofagricultural land.

• Scattered nature of the freehold land areas in among the national parks and State forest areasincreases the impacts of edge effects (such as weeds, domestic and farm animals and tourism andrecreational uses).

• Retention and protection of existing areas of remnant vegetation on freehold land.

• Clearing of existing softwood plantations along the steep slopes of the Blackwood Valley, leaving soilsopen and exposed to severe water and wind erosion and sedimentation of the waterways.

• Selling of CALM freehold land (previously used for softwood plantations), where lots of various sizesand configurations often lack legal road frontage and/or constructed road access and may havetopographical or other constraints to future development.

• Protection and conservation of the Blackwood River riparian zone.

• Protection and conservation of the visual landscape within the Blackwood Valley.

• Increasing soil and waterway salinity levels in the upper parts of the planning unit.

• Nutrients leaching through the soils or entering waterways via enriched surface water layers orattached to particulate matter pose a significant threat, especially to the Scott River system and theHardy Inlet.

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion, siltation and nutrient transport.

• Social impacts of increasing numbers of broadscale hardwood plantations taking over existing farms.

• Large lot sizes and flat terrain have facilitated economic development of large centre pivot irrigatedannual horticultural developments in the northern portion of the Scott Coastal Plain.

* Upgrading of the road system to accommodate the transport of agricultural produce and tourism trafficfrom the Scott Coastal Plain area.

* Need for three-phase power supply for productive agricultural landholdings on the Scott Coastal Plain.

* Downstream processing of regional products within the region to maximise the economic and socialreturns to the community which produced the primary items.



PLANNING UNIT BR2BLACKWOOD (Continued)


• Establish nutrient load targets for the Hardy Inlet and manage nutrient loads within thecatchment consistent with those targets.

• Develop and observe appropriate best management practice/code of practice tominimise land and water degradation resulting from water and wind erosion,sedimentation, nutrient transport to adjacent waterways and wetlands and rising watertables, waterlogging and salinity levels.

• Retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land wherever possible and maintain rurallandscape and amenity.

• Protect and enhance the riparian values along the Blackwood River.

• Establish and implement landscape management guidelines for the Blackwood RiverValley.

• Protect poorly represented vegetation associations, threatened ecological communitiesand rare and priority flora.

• Develop and implement salinity management measures for the upper planning unitarea, similar to those for the Warren and Collie Recovery Catchments, especially thelow jarrah/banksia on sands vegetation community on freehold land (contact CALM forgreater detail).


• In the Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversification and intensification ofsustainable agricultural production within the capacity of the land, with some allowancefor the inclusion of low-key tourism developments.

• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversification andintensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially that requiring irrigationwaters and large lot sizes (Scott Coastal Plain).

• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, protect the visual landscape and environmentand minimise adverse impacts on the valley slopes and allow for low-key tourismdevelopment that is consistent with retaining the natural landscape appearance.

• Facilitate the development of agroforestry as an economic alternative to large-scale treeplantations, for its greater environmental and social benefits.

• Facilitate the downstream processing of regional primary products, especially farmforestry products, by ensuring the availability of a suitable industrial site in the region andaddressing key issues such as zoning, buffers, service and infrastructure options, roadand rail transport options and waste disposal (study in progress).

• Review the release and sale of CALM/Forest Products Commission freehold lots withinthe Blackwood Valley to address issues, including road frontage, road construction, lotdevelopment suitability, erosion potential, landscape impacts and zoning.

• Liaise with landholders, Blackwood Basin Group and the community to develop andimplement a strategy to address land tenure options, conservation values, conservationincentives, rehabilitation measures, fencing requirements, funding options, publicaccessibility, recreational and educational opportunities and management andmaintenance options for the Blackwood River riparian zone.

• Manage all intensive agricultural production in strict accordance with best managementpractice/code of practice to minimise impacts on significant ecological values.

• Manage conflicting land uses, particularly tourism uses within the Agriculture zone, tominimise restrictions on adjoining productive agricultural uses.

• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals, uncontrolledpedestrian movement, reciprocal fire threat) within adjoining national park or State forest.

• Ensure that all rural-residential development is restricted to a specifically identified zoneor policy areas.

• Upgrade Milyeannup Coast Road, Black Point Road, Fouracres Road and GovernorBroome Road as appropriate to accommodate the truck transport associated with theincreased agricultural production.

• Facilitate access to three-phase power supplies for all productive agricultural properties inthe Priority Agriculture zone.

Kilometres

0 10 20 30

CONCEPTUAL RURAL ZONES

PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE


BROCKMAN

HIGHW

AY

HIG

HW

AY

VA

SSE

Shire ofBoyup Brook

Shire ofBridgetown-Greenbushes

Shire ofNannup

Black Point

Nannup

Greenbushes

Bridgetown

Boyup Brook

JasperLake

BR2

BR3

WR2DR2

DR1

BR1


Agriculture zone:Primary Uses:

Grazing, dairying*#, broadacre cropping, agroforestry, commercial tree plantations,single house*, low-key tourism*, rural industry*.

Secondary Uses:Annual horticulture, perennial horticulture, farm worker accommodation*, extractiveindustry*, intensive animal husbandry*#, feedlots*#, piggeries*#, poultry farms*#.

Priority Agriculture zone:Primary Uses:

Annual horticulture, perennial horticulture, agroforestry, dairying*#, grazing.

Secondary Uses:Single house*, farm worker accommodation*, commercial tree plantations*, ruralindustry*, extractive industry*, low-key tourism*, intensive animal husbandry*#,feedlots*#, piggeries*#, poultry farms*#.

Rural Landscape Protection zone:Primary Uses:

Single house*, low-key tourism*.

Secondary Uses:Annual horticulture*, perennial horticulture*, dairying*#, grazing*, agroforestry*,commercial tree plantations*, rural industry*, extractive industry*.


In the Agriculture zone and the Priority Agriculture zone, apply the standard subdivisioncriteria from chapter 5.7.

However, on the Scott Coastal Plain, to maintain the productive capacity of the land and theeconomy of scale of operations and to reduce the potential impacts of competing land uses,there is a clear presumption against any subdivision of the existing lots, regardless of theircurrent size.


Criteria to be determined in conjunction with review and structure planning of theCALM/Forest Products Commission freehold lots and addressing the issues associated withthem.



PLANNING UNIT BR3TWEED



• Includes all of sub-catchments BB10 — Four Mile Gully, BB13 — Boree Gullyand BB14 — Wattledale Tributary; most of sub-catchments BB8 —Gnowergerup Brook and BV4 — Upper Blackwood; part of BB7 — TweedRiver, BV3 — Bridgetown-Boyup Brook, BB11 — Dinninup Brook and BB12— Kichanning Brook; and small portions of sub-catchments BB9 — BoyupBrook and BB15 — Balgarup River.

• Lateritic plateau remnants with lakes and poorly drained flats and valleys withsome rock outcrops.


• The vast majority of the planning unit has been cleared for agricultural use,with only small and scattered blocks of nature reserve or State forest orremnant vegetation on freehold land.

• The majority of the land is used for broadacre cropping or grazing, but anumber of large-scale hardwood tree plantations have been established inrecent years. Several small-scale viticultural developments have also beenestablished.


• Soils consist of loamy gravels, deep and duplex sandy gravels and deeploamy and deep sandy duplexes. There are some steep slopes along theriver valleys. There is a high water erosion risk on the hills and along thevalley slopes, with a waterlogging risk on the plateau areas and the wholearea is potentially saline.

• The principal waterway is the Blackwood River and the sub-catchments areTweed and Balgarup Rivers, Gnowergerup, Dinninup and Kichanning Brooks,Four Mile and Boree Gullies and Wattledale Tributary, all of which arebrackish to saline quality. There are no significant wetlands or aquifers.

• The unit contains Beard type 4 and 992 (wandoo/marri forest) vegetationcommunity, which is now poorly represented and well below the nationaltarget.






• Significant landscape features — nil

• There are scattered occurrences of rare and priority flora, particularly in theeast of the unit.

Kilometres

0 10 20

Shire ofBoyup Brook

Mayanup

DinninupKulikupBoyup Brook

River

Tweed

Riv

er

Bla

ckw

ood

Boyup Brook - Kojonup Road

BR3

CR1

BR2

WR3WR2


• The majority of the planning unit has a high to very high capability for annualor perennial horticulture, with waterlogging and salinity being the twoprincipal land degradation constraints.

• Moderate to large volumes of water are generally available for irrigationpurposes within these sub-catchments, but these are small compared withthe size of the sub-catchments and the quality of the water in the mainstreams is generally brackish or saline.

• Opportunities for development or expansion of irrigated horticultural uses arelikely to be small scale and scattered due to the relatively restrictedavailability and the potential for high water table and salinity outbreaks.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Rising salinity levels across the broad river flats area and their impacts onagricultural productivity and water quality in the streams.

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion, nutrientleaching and siltation.

• Social impacts of increasing numbers of broadscale hardwood plantationstaking over existing farms.

• Retention and protection of existing areas of remnant vegetation on freeholdland.

• Protection and conservation of the Blackwood River riparian zone.

• Conflicting land uses and developments and ad hoc subdivisions restrictingproduction potential of agricultural land.



PLANNING UNIT BR3TWEED (Continued)


• Establish nutrient load targets for the Hardy Inlet and manage nutrient loadswithin the catchment consistent with those targets.

• Develop and observe appropriate best management practice/code of practiceto minimise land and water degradation resulting from water and winderosion, sedimentation, nutrient transport to adjacent waterways andwetlands and rising water tables, waterlogging and salinity levels.

• Develop and implement salinity management measures similar to those forthe Warren and Collie Recovery Catchments.

• Retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land wherever possible andmaintain rural landscape and amenity.

• Protect and enhance the riparian values along the Blackwood River.

• Protect poorly represented vegetation associations, threatened ecologicalcommunities and rare and priority flora, especially the wandoo/marri forestvegetation community on freehold land (contact CALM for greater detail).


• In the Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversification andintensification of sustainable agricultural production within the capacity of theland, with some allowance for the inclusion of low-key tourism developments.

• Manage conflicting land uses, particularly tourism uses within the Agriculturezone, to minimise restrictions on adjoining productive agricultural uses.

• Ensure that all rural-residential development is restricted to a specificallyidentified zone or policy areas.


Kilometres

0 10 20


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE


Shire ofBoyup Brook

Mayanup

DinninupKulikupBoyup Brook

River

Tweed

Riv

er

Bla

ckw

ood

Boyup Brook - Kojonup Road

BR3

CR1

BR2

WR3WR2


Agriculture zone:

Primary Uses:Grazing, dairying*#, broadacre cropping, agroforestry, commercial treeplantations, single house*, low-key tourism*, rural industry*.

Secondary Uses:Annual horticulture, perennial horticulture, farm worker accommodation*,extractive industry*, intensive animal husbandry*#, feedlots*#, piggeries*#,poultry farms*#.


In the Agriculture zone, apply the standard subdivision criteria from chapter5.7.



PLANNING UNIT CR1COLLIE SOUTH



• Includes sub-catchments C1 — South Branch and C — Collie River South.

• Lateritic plateau with broad, swampy depressions.


• Approximately half of this planning unit has been cleared for agriculturaluses, with the remainder being contained within State forest/nature reserveor remnant vegetation on freehold land.

• The predominant land uses are broadacre grazing and cropping andhardwood and softwood tree plantations.


• Soils consist of duplex sandy gravels, loamy gravels, shallow and deepgravels, deep sands and wet and semi-wet soils. There are only minoroccurrences of steep slopes. There is a waterlogging and salinity risk.

• The principal waterway is the Collie River South Branch, which is fresh waterquality. There are no significant wetlands in the planning unit. Minorgroundwater resources may be available from several palaeochannels.





• Significant landscape features — Collie River South is of moderate landscapevalue.

0

Kilometres

5 10

CR1

BR2

Donnybrook - B

oyup Brook

River

Collie

SouthWilga

BR3Rd


• There are scattered areas of high to very high- capability land forannual/perennial horticulture in the northern or lower area of the planningunit.

• There is good availability of good-quality water.

• The potential for establishment/expansion of irrigated horticulture ismoderate.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Conflicting land uses and developments and ad hoc subdivisions restrictingproduction potential of agricultural land.


• Protecting the quality of water in the Collie River South and the WellingtonDam catchment.




PLANNING UNIT CR1COLLIE SOUTH (Continued)



• Carefully manage existing land uses in the Collie River South to maintainwater quality in the Wellington Dam.

• The Salinity Situation Statement Collie River water quality target is to reducethe salinity of the Collie River to a mean annual level of 500mg/L totaldissolved salts (and with separate goals for the sub-catchments) by the year2015.

• Salinity recovery will require commitment to short-term actions and long-termgoals by the whole community and will involve a range of activities to suitparticular circumstances, including various mixtures of revegetation andengineering solutions.


• Protect poorly represented vegetation associations, threatened ecologicalcommunities and rare and priority flora.




• Manage land uses within the catchment area of the Wellington Dam to avoidpractices that may compromise the quality of the water supply.


0

Kilometres

5 10

CR1

BR2

Donnybrook - B

oyup Brook

River

Collie

SouthWilga


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

BR3Rd

AGRICULTURE

RURAL


Agriculture zone:







PLANNING UNIT DR1DONNELLY



• Includes sub-catchments D1 — Barlee Brook, D3 — Donnelly River, D4 —Donnelly River, D7 — Big Easter Brook, D8 — Donnelly River, D9 —Donnelly River, D10 — Carey Brook, D11 — Beedelup Brook and D12 — FlyBrook, and a small portion of sub-catchments D5 — Donnelly River and D6— Manjimup Brook.

• The lower part of the Donnelly River Basin winds across the Scott CoastalPlain, with the middle section extending steeply incised valleys into theDarling Plateau. The coastline features flat, wide, straight sandy beachesbacked by high vegetated dunes. The palusplain area includes threesignificant freshwater lakes — Jasper, Smith and Wilson.

• The coastal plain section is exposed to the strong south-westerly storms, buttemperatures are moderated by proximity to the coast. Rainfall is about1,000mm-1,200mm per annum.

• This planning unit is predominantly covered by national park or State forest,with isolated cleared agricultural areas as an eastward extension of the ScottCoastal Plain area, the middle section of Barlee Brook, upper part ofBeedelup and Fly Brooks and part of the Donnelly River west of Manjimup.The Darling Plateau area is covered by high open forest/open forest, with arange of vegetation types on the coastal plain.

• Land uses include annual and perennial horticulture, grazing and commercialtree plantations.


• The Darling Plateau area has predominantly loamy gravels, with some duplexsandy gravels and wet soils; sandy duplex soils and wet soils on the plainand deep sands on the coastal dunes. Steep slopes occur in the coastaldunes and particularly along the river valleys on the Darling Plateau. Thecoastal dunes are very vulnerable to wind erosion where the vegetation coveris disturbed. On the plain, there is potential for wind erosion of exposed soilsand for water erosion of fine soil particles. Along the Manjimup Brook, themain threats are salinity and water erosion.

• The principal waterway is the Donnelly River, with sub-catchments beingBarlee, Big Easter, Carey, Fly and Beedelup Brooks, where the water qualityis fresh, and the Manjimup Brook, where the quality is marginal. Majorwetlands include Lakes Jasper, Smith and Wilson. The area to the west of theDarling Scarp is underlain by the deep Yarragadee Aquifer, which containshigh-quality water, currently being tapped for annual horticultural productionand mining and being considered as a possible water source for Perthmetropolitan needs. The Leederville Aquifer sits above the Yarragadee andsmaller aquifers are located about the fringes or superficially.







• Significant landscape features — rugged coastal landscape, vegetatedcoastal dunes and karri forest along Vasse Highway west of Pemberton.

VASS

E

HIGHWAY

Bridgetown-GreenbushesShire ofNannup

Jalbarragup

Donnelly Mill

Riv

er

Don

nelly

JasperLake

Kilometres

0 5 10 15 20

Shire of

DR1

BR2

BR1WR1

WR2DR2

BR2


• The Scott Coastal Plain has mostly low capability for perennial horticulturebut high capability for summertime only annual horticulture, with some areashaving moderate to high capability for commercial tree plantations.

• Within the Darling Plateau area, surface water is relatively unconstrained. Onthe Scott Coastal Plain, the flat terrain and generally sandy nature of the soilrender surface water insignificant for productive use, but huge supplies ofhigh-quality water from the underlying aquifers ensure that water availabilityis not a constraint to expanded agricultural production in this planning unit.

• There is considerable capacity for expansion of irrigated horticulture.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Scattered nature of the freehold land areas in among the national parks andState forest areas increases the impacts of edge effects (such as weeds,domestic and farm animals and tourism and recreational uses), especiallyadjacent to Lake Jasper.

• Large lot sizes and flat terrain in the Scott Coastal Plain area have facilitatedeconomic development of large centre pivot irrigated annual horticulturaldevelopments.

• Nutrients leaching through the soils or entering waterways via enrichedsurface water layers or attached to particulate matter pose a threat to theDonnelly River system and Lake Jasper.

• Wind and water erosion potential and siltation of the Donnelly River system.

• Protection of existing vegetation on the fragile coastal dune system andareas of significant vegetation associations and threatened ecologicalcommunities.

• Coastal landscape values are coming under increasing pressure.

• Little is known of the coastal processes affecting the south coast.

• There is increasing pressure for recreational access to the coast andaccommodation in that vicinity, but that is currently very restricted andunco-ordinated.



PLANNING UNIT DR1DONNELLY (Continued)


• Protect and enhance existing dunal vegetation.

• Support CALM management and protection of Lakes Jasper, Smith andWilson and the Donnelly River estuary.

• Protect and enhance riparian values along the Lower Donnelly River.




• Support CALM management and protection of the coastal landscape,waterways and wetlands within the D’Entrecasteaux, Shannon and WalpoleNational Parks.

• A current regional study of the south coast from Augusta to Walpole (beingcarried out by WAPC/DPI) will address issues such as recreation and tourismdemands, access and accommodation opportunities, important coastalprocesses and coastal management principles.




• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversificationand intensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially thatrequiring irrigation waters (and large lot sizes on the Scott Coastal Plain).

• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, protect the visual landscape andenvironment and minimise adverse impacts on the adjoining D’EntrecasteauxNational Park (only permissible development is a dwelling house).

• Finalise and implement a coastal strategy for the Augusta-Walpole strip.

• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals,uncontrolled pedestrian movement) within adjoining national park, naturereserve or State forest.

• Investigate options for amalgamation of isolated freehold/leasehold lots intoD’Entrecasteaux National Park, through acquisition, land swaps, transfer ofdevelopment rights, incentives, etc.

• Facilitate access to three-phase power supplies for all productive agriculturalproperties in the Priority Agriculture zone on the Scott Coastal Plain.

VASS

E

HIGHWAY

Bridgetown-GreenbushesShire ofNannup

Jalbarragup

Donnelly Mill

Riv

er

Don

nelly

JasperLake

Kilometres

0 5 10 15 20


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

Shire of

DR1

BR2

BR1WR1

WR2DR2

BR2

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:





Secondary Uses:Single house*, farm worker accommodation*, commercial tree plantations*,rural industry*, extractive industry*, low-key tourism*, intensive animalhusbandry*#, feedlots*#, piggeries*#, poultry farms*#.


Primary Uses:Vegetation and landscape protection.

Secondary Uses:Single house*.




To maintain the productive capacity of the land and the economy of scale ofoperations and to reduce the potential impacts of competing land uses, there isa clear presumption against any subdivision of the existing lots on the ScottCoastal Plain, regardless of their current size.

In other areas, apply the standard subdivision criteria from chapter 5.7.


No further subdivision permitted, except where this is specifically provided for inthe finalised Augusta-Walpole Coastal Management Strategy.



PLANNING UNIT DR2UPPER DONNELLY



• Includes most of sub-catchments D5 — Donnelly River and D6 — ManjimupBrook.

• A gently undulating lateritic plateau with shallow valleys and broad swampydepressions.

• Average rainfall is 800mm-1,100mm per annum.

• Much of the Manjimup Brook sub-catchment has been cleared for agriculturalpurposes, as has parts of the Upper Donnelly River sub-catchment. Theremainder is covered by karri, marri and jarrah forest within State forest,much of which has been either selectively logged or clear-felled andregenerated in the past.

• The Manjimup Brook sub-catchment supports a variety of intensiveagricultural uses plus grazing, whereas the Upper Donnelly area is confinedprincipally to grazing.


• Soils are duplex sandy gravels, loamy gravels and wet and semi-wet soils.Slopes are all slight to moderate. Land degradation factors includewaterlogging and some salinity risk.

• The principal waterway is the Donnelly River, where the water quality is fresh,and the sub-catchment is Manjimup Brook, where the quality is marginal.There are no major wetlands or aquifers.






• Significant landscape features — moderately attractive State forest.

Kilometres

0 5 10

HIGH

WAYRO CKMAN Shire of

Bridgetown-Greenbushes

Donnelly Mill

Jardee

Bridgetown

Manjimup

Palgarrup

Yornup

Dean Mill

River

DR2

WR1

DR1

BR2

BR3

WR2

Don

nelly

WE

STER

N

SO

UTH

HW

Y

B


• Most of the Manjimup Brook sub-catchment has a high capability for annualand perennial horticulture, with sections along the main waterway beingaffected by salinity and some upper parts being restricted by waterlogging.The Upper Donnelly sub-catchment area is also affected by waterlogging andonly small portions of the area have a high capability for horticulture.

• The Upper Donnelly sub-catchment has good availability of fresh waterquality, and the Manjimup Brook sub-catchment has moderate to goodavailability of water for additional irrigation usage, but the water quality in themain stream is only marginal.

• There is a moderate capacity for expansion of irrigated horticultural uses.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Conflicting land uses and ad hoc subdivision and their impacts on theproductive capacity of agricultural land.

• Potential degradation of water quality and environmental qualities in theDonnelly River system caused by sedimentation and nutrient transport withinthe upper catchment.

• The potential restriction on horticultural production in the Manjimup Brooksub-catchment through rising salinity levels in the main stream.



PLANNING UNIT DR2UPPER DONNELLY (Continued)


• Prepare and implement a strategy to arrest and reverse the salinisation of theland and waterway in the Manjimup Brook sub-catchment.




• Protect and enhance the riparian values along the Donnelly River andManjimup Brook.




• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversificationand intensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially thatrequiring irrigation waters.


• Manage conflicting land uses, particularly tourism uses, to minimiserestrictions on adjoining productive agricultural uses.



Kilometres

0 5 10


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

HIGH

WAYRO CKMAN Shire of


Donnelly Mill

Jardee

Bridgetown

Manjimup

Palgarrup

Yornup

Dean Mill

River

DR2

WR1

DR1

BR2

BR3

WR2

Don

nelly

WE

STER

N

SO

UTH

HW

Y

B

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:







In the Agriculture zone and the Priority Agriculture zone, apply the standardsubdivision criteria from chapter 5.7.



PLANNING UNIT WR1WARREN



• Includes sub-catchments W1 — Dombakup Brook, W12 — Warren River, W6— Treen Brook, W8 — East Brook, W9/22 — Lefroy Brook, W20 — BigBrook Dam, W17 — Four Mile Brook, W10 — Diamond Tree Gully, W19 —Big Hill Brook, W18 — Quinninup Brook and W23 — Karri Lake Dam/LittleQuinninup and portions of sub-catchments W24 — Upper Lefroy Brook, W2— Smith Brook, W4 — Warren River and W16 — Tinkers Brook.

• High dunes fronting the coast, backed by a narrow swampy plain, with themajority of the area being shallow to deep valleys draining from a lateriticplateau.

• Average rainfall ranges from 900mm-1,250mm per annum.

• Towards the Northcliffe area, significant portions of the freehold land retainthe remnant vegetation, but this proportion is reduced in the areas aroundPemberton and towards Manjimup. The remainder of the area is covered bykarri, marri and jarrah forest within national park or State forest (much ofwhich has been either selectively logged or clear-felled and regenerated inthe past).

• The freehold land areas around Pemberton and towards Manjimup areextensively developed with annual and perennial horticultural uses plus somecommercial tree plantations, but these uses are sparser in the Northcliffearea.


• Soils on the coastal dunes are deep sands, with predominantly loamygravels, and some duplex sandy gravels and wet soils on the Darling Plateau.There are steep slopes within the coastal dunes and along the river valleys.Some of the area has a high water erosion risk under certain land uses andsome of the area is subject to waterlogging.

• The principal waterway is the Warren River and the sub-catchments includeDombakup, Treen, East, Lefroy, Big, Four Mile, Big Hill and QuinninupBrooks, Diamond Tree Gully and part of Smith Brook, each of which containfresh water quality. There are several moderately significant wetland andfloodplain systems. No significant aquifers exist in the area.







• Significant landscape features — karri forest and agricultural landscapesaround Pemberton, the Warren River and its environs south of Pembertonand the mobile coastal dunes.

SO

UTH

WESTER

N

YPemberton

Northcliffe

Nyamup

Jardee

Manjimup

Quinninup

Dean Mill

River

Meerup

River

Warren

HWY

WR1

WR2

DR1

SC1

SC2

0 20

Kilometres

10


• Almost all the land around Pemberton and towards Manjimup has a high tovery high capability for annual and/or perennial horticulture, but this is morescattered around Northcliffe due to waterlogging and poor drainage.

• All of the catchments have good to ample availability of good-quality water foradditional irrigation usage, with the exception of sub-catchments W9/22 —Lefroy Brook and W24 — Upper Lefroy Brook, where the combined currentyield for agriculture and the requirements for the Pemberton Weir equate tothe preliminary sustainable yield.

• Apart from parts of the area around Northcliffe and the Lefroy Brook/UpperLefroy Brook, this planning unit has significant potential for expansion andintensification of irrigated horticultural development. Dryland viticulture will beunrestricted by water availability.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Potential restriction on horticultural expansion in the Lefroy Brook/UpperLefroy Brook sub-catchments resulting from full allocation of the preliminarysustainable yield.

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion and nutrienttransport.

• Conflicting land uses and developments and ad hoc subdivisions restrictingproduction potential of prime agricultural land.

• Scattered nature of the freehold land areas in among the national parks andState forest areas increases the impacts of edge effects (such as weeds,domestic and farm animals and tourism and recreational uses).




• There is increasing pressure for recreational access to the coast andaccommodation in that vicinity, but that is currently very limited andunco-ordinated.



PLANNING UNIT WR1WARREN (Continued)


• Develop and implement a strategy to improve the efficiency of use ofirrigation water in the Lefroy Brook/Upper Lefroy Brook sub-catchments.

• Review and refine sustainable yield estimates for Lefroy Brook/Upper LefroyBrook sub-catchments.

• Carefully manage existing land uses in the Lefroy Brook/Upper Lefroy Brooksub-catchments to maintain water quality in the Pemberton Weir.




• Support CALM management and protection of the coastal landscape,waterways and wetlands within the D’Entrecasteaux and Walpole-NornalupNational Parks.





• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversificationand intensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially thatrequiring irrigation waters, but within the Upper Lefroy Brook sub-catchment,protect the existing high-value land uses and production capacities.


• Manage land uses within the catchment area of the Pemberton Weir to avoidpractices that may compromise the quality of the water supply.




SO

UTH

WESTER

N

Y

Pemberton

Northcliffe

Nyamup

Jardee

Manjimup

Quinninup

Dean Mill

River

Meerup

River

Warren

HWY

WR1

WR2

DR1

SC1

SC2

0 20

Kilometres

10


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:










PLANNING UNIT WR2PERUP



• Includes sub-catchments W11 — Wilgarup River, W14 — Perup River, W15— Yerraminnup River and W21 — Phillips Creek and Scabby Dam and partsof sub-catchments W4 — Warren River, W16 — Tinkers Brook, W2 — SmithBrook and W24 — Upper Lefroy Brook.

• Lateritic plateau with broad, swampy depressions and major valleys.


• The western segment of the planning unit is largely cleared for agriculture,but the remainder consists of dispersed small groupings of clearedagricultural lots, principally along the major valleys, within karri, marri, jarrahand wandoo forest/woodland.

• The more closely developed areas near Manjimup are predominantly usedfor annual and perennial horticulture, with the remaining scattered lots beingused mainly for grazing, but with also some commercial tree plantations anda few areas of annual horticulture.


• Soils range from deep loams and loamy gravels to duplex sandy gravels andwet soils. There are steep slopes close to the river systems. There is a highrisk of water erosion on the steep slopes and potential for waterlogging insome areas. Currently, salinity levels in the upper Warren River basin areabout 900mg/L total dissolved salts and this is predicted to rise to 1,200mg/L,resulting in significant loss of agricultural potential if action is not taken toaddress the issue. This area is within the Warren River Recovery Catchment.

• Contains the Warren River sub-catchments of Perup, Tone, Yerraminnup andWilgarup Rivers, where the water quality is marginal to brackish, plus parts ofthe Smith and Upper Lefroy Brook sub-catchments, where the water quality isfresh. There are several moderately significant lakes, swamps and wetlands.No significant aquifers exist in the area.

• The unit contains Beard type 4 (wandoo/marri forest) vegetation community,which is now poorly represented and well below the national target.






• Significant landscape features — moderate landscape value.

SO

UTH

MUIR

S

HIGHWAY

WE

ST

ER

NH

IGHW

AY


Shire ofManjimup

Nyamup

Donnelly Mill

Jardee

Manjimup

Palgarrup

Yornup

Dean Mill

River

Wilgarup

MuirLake

Shire of

WR2 WR3

DR2

DR1

BR2

SC2

WR1

BR3

0

Kilometres

5 10 15


• The majority of the land around Manjimup (Wilgarup, Smith and UpperLefroy) has a high to very high capability for annual and/or perennialhorticulture, but significant portions of the Wilgarup sub-catchment havesaline-affected land and marginal water quality. In the Upper Warren, Perupand Yerraminnup River sub-catchments, there is a greater mixture ofhigh/very high-capability and low/moderate-capability land.

• Water availability and quality varies markedly across this planning unit. Withinthe Smith Brook sub-catchment, the water availability and quality are good,but the Upper Lefroy sub-catchment is restricted by full allocation of thepreliminary sustainable yield (between existing agricultural usage andPemberton Weir requirements). The Wilgarup sub-catchment is currently fullycommitted to its preliminary sustainable yield and the quality of the water inthe main stream and some side streams is marginal. The Perup andYerraminnup sub-catchments have reasonably good water availability for thelimited areas of freehold farmland in each, but the water quality is brackishdespite the largely forested nature of the sub-catchments.

• There is considerable capacity for expansion of irrigated horticulturalproduction in the Smith Brook sub-catchment and some capacity in thePerup and Yerraminnup sub-catchments, subject to water quality. Drylandviticulture will be unrestricted by water availability.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Conflicting land uses and ad hoc subdivision and their impacts on theproductive capacity of agricultural land.

• Potential restriction on horticultural expansion in the Lefroy Brook/UpperLefroy Brook sub-catchments resulting from full allocation of the preliminarysustainable yield.

• Potential restriction on horticultural expansion in the Wilgarup Riversub-catchment resulting from full allocation of the preliminary sustainableyield and from the declining quality of the water in the main stream.

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion, nutrienttransport and siltation.

• Rising salinity levels in the Yerraminnup and Perup River sub-catchments,despite the relatively small amounts of land clearing and agricultural activity.

• Scattered nature of the freehold land within the State forest areas and theincreased impacts of edge effects (such as weeds, domestic and farmanimals and tourism and recreational uses).




PLANNING UNIT WR2PERUP (Continued)



• Develop and implement a strategy to improve the efficiency of use ofirrigation water in the Lefroy Brook/Upper Lefroy Brook sub-catchments.

• Review and refine sustainable yield preliminary estimates for the LefroyBrook/Upper Lefroy Brook and Wilgarup River sub-catchments.

• Carefully manage existing uses in the Lefroy Brook/Upper Lefroy Brooksub-catchment to maintain the quality of water for the Pemberton Weir.

• Encourage more efficient use of water and planting less water-demandingcrops to maximise the sustainable development potential in the WilgarupRiver sub-catchment.

• The DoE salinity management program water quality target is to reduce thesalinity of the Warren River to a mean annual level of 500mg/L total dissolvedsalts measured at the Barker Road Gauging Station (and with separate goalsfor the sub-catchments) by the year 2030.


• Wherever possible, retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land within theLefroy Brook/Upper Lefroy Brook and Wilgarup River sub-catchments.





• In the Priority Agriculture zone, generally promote and facilitate thediversification and intensification of sustainable agricultural production,especially that requiring irrigation waters, but within the Wilgarup River andUpper Lefroy Brook sub-catchments protect the existing high-value land usesand production capacities.


• Manage land uses within the catchment area of the Pemberton Weir to avoidpractices that may compromise the quality of the water supply.



SO

UTH

MUIR

S

HIGHWAY

WE

ST

ER

NH

IGHW

AY


Shire ofManjimup

Nyamup

Donnelly Mill

Jardee

Manjimup

Palgarrup

Yornup

Dean Mill

River

Wilgarup

MuirLake

Shire of

WR2 WR3

DR2

DR1

BR2

SC2

WR1

BR3

0

Kilometres

5 10 15


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:










PLANNING UNIT WR3TONE



• Includes all of sub-catchment W13 — Tone River and a small portion ofsub-catchment W4 — Warren River.

• Lateritic plateau remnants, undulating, low hills and broad valley floors withswampy depressions.


• About half of this planning unit is cleared for agricultural uses, with the otherhalf retaining its original jarrah/marri/wandoo woodland vegetation cover.

• The predominant land uses have traditionally been broadacre grazing andcropping, but the area has become increasingly dominated by hardwood treeplantations in recent years.


• Soils range from loamy and loamy gravels to duplex and deep sandy gravelsand wet soils, with deep and duplex sandy soils and saline wet soils aroundthe Unicup Lake and upper river systems. There are some steep slopesadjacent to the Tone River. There is a high risk of wind erosion throughoutand potential for waterlogging in some areas. Currently, salinity levels in theupper Warren River basin are about 900mg/L total dissolved salts and this ispredicted to rise to 1,200mg/L, resulting in significant loss of agriculturalpotential if action is not taken to address the issue. This area is within theWarren River Recovery Catchment.

• The principal waterway is the Tone River, which has brackish water quality.Major wetlands include the Tone River floodplain and the Unicup wetlandsystem. No significant aquifers exist in the area.

• The unit contains Beard type 4 (wandoo/marri forest) and 992 (jarrah/wandoomedium forest) vegetation communities, which are now poorly representedand well below the national target.






• Significant landscape features — moderate landscape value.

Boyup Brook - Cranbrook

RoadTonebridge

River

Per

up

Riv

er

Tone

BR3

BR2

WR2 WR30

Kilometres

5 10 15


• A significant proportion of this planning unit contains high to veryhigh-capability soils for annual/perennial horticulture use, although there areincreasing salinity levels on the broad river flats.

• There is a significant volume of water available for irrigation purposes, butthe water quality is marginal. Water capture for irrigation purposes would befeasible only at levels higher in the landscape.

• There is limited potential for irrigated horticultural development unlessLandcare/Rivercare programs and the Warren River Recovery Catchmentproject can succeed in reducing the saline groundwater table and the streamsalinity levels.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Rising salinity levels across the broad river flats area and their impacts onagricultural productivity and water quality in the streams.

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion, nutrienttransport and siltation.





PLANNING UNIT WR3TONE (Continued)




• Wherever possible, retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land.

• The DoE salinity management program water quality target is to reduce thesalinity of the Warren River to a mean annual level of 500mg/L total dissolvedsalts measured at the Barker Road Gauging Station (and with separate goalsfor the sub-catchments) by the year 2030.







Boyup Brook - Cranbrook

RoadTonebridge

River

Per

up

Riv

er

Tone

BR3

BR2

WR2 WR30

Kilometres

5 10 15


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:







PLANNING UNIT SC1SHANNON



• Includes sub-catchments S20 — Meerup River, S17 — Blackwater Creek,S16 — Buldania Creek, S15 — Canterbury River, S14 — Boorara Creek,S13 — Gardner River, S12 – Gardner River, S3 — Weld River, S1 — DeepRiver, most of S10 — Shannon River and a small part of S2 — Deep River.

• High coastal dunes and rocky headlands, backed by flat, poorly drained plainwith rocky rises and low, undulating terrain with swampy flats, and withlateritic plateau and shallow to deep valleys inland and hilly terrain withswampy flats and rocky outcrops around Walpole.

• Average rainfall ranges from 1,000mm-1,200mm per annum.

• Significant agricultural areas around Northcliffe and minor agricultural areasaround Walpole have been partly cleared for agricultural usage, with theremainder of the land being contained within national parks or State forest(karri/jarrah/marri forest, sedgelands and coastal heath). Several isolatedfreehold lots exist within the national parks, but these are mostly uncleared.

• Around Northcliffe, there is a variety of agricultural land uses, includingannual and perennial horticulture, hardwood tree plantations, dairying,broadacre grazing, aquaculture and organic farming. Land uses aroundWalpole are restricted mostly to grazing.


• Soils range from deep sands on the coastal dunes, to wet and semi-wet,deep sands and loamy gravels on the coastal flats, to loams, loamy gravels,duplex and deep, sandy gravels and some wet soils and deep sands on thesouthern slopes. Steep slopes on the coastal dunes and in the upper rivervalleys. There is a very high wind erosion risk on the coastal dunes andareas of high wind and/or water erosion and waterlogging risks aroundNorthcliffe.

• The principal waterways are the Gardner, Shannon and Deep Rivers, with theother sub-catchments being Meerup, Canterbury, Forth, Inlet, Weld andWalpole Rivers and Doggerup, Boorara, Buldania, Blackwater, Chesapeake,Butlers and Collier Creeks and Kingsman Brook, all of which have freshwater quality. The Deep River catchment is in near-pristine condition.Outstanding wetlands include Broke and Nornalup Inlets, the Gardner RiverEstuary and the Shannon and Deep River waterways. There are nosignificant aquifers in this area.







• Significant landscape features — rugged coastal landscape, vegetatedcoastal dunes, major granitic knolls and forest area between Gardner Riverand the Northcliffe to Windy Harbour Road.

SO

UTH

WESTERN

HIGH

WA

Y

Shire ofManjimup

WindyHarbour

Pt. D’Entrecasteaux

Cliffy Head

Point Nuyts

Northcliffe

Walpole

BrokeInlet

Riv

er

Riv

er

Deep

Weld

River

River

Shannon

Gardner

Riv

er

River

Meerup

MuirLake

SC1

SC2

FR2

FR1

WR1DR1

0

Kilometres

5 10 15 20 25


• Much of the agricultural land to the south and east of Northcliffe has a highto very high-capability rating for annual/perennial horticulture, but this is morerestricted to the north and west, due mainly to soil types and waterlogging.Only a small proportion of the agricultural land around Walpole has a high tovery high-capability rating.

• Each of the sub-catchments has ample water availability and high waterquality.

• There is considerable capacity for expansion and intensification of productiveagriculture around Northcliffe.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Land and water degradation risks due to water and wind erosion and nutrienttransport.

• Conflicting land uses and developments and ad hoc subdivisions restrictingproduction potential of prime agricultural land.





• There is increasing pressure for recreational access to the coast andaccommodation in that vicinity, but that is currently very limited andunco-ordinated.

• Windy Harbour settlement is lacking in water supply, power supply andeffluent disposal services and infrastructure.



PLANNING UNIT SC1SHANNON (Continued)


• Develop and observe appropriate best management practice/code of practiceto minimise land and water degradation resulting from wind and watererosion, siltation and nutrient transport.

• Support CALM management and protection of the coastal landscape,waterways and wetlands within the D’Entrecasteaux, Shannon and WalpoleNational Parks.

• Wherever possible, retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land within theNorthcliffe and Walpole agricultural areas.

• Manage existing uses in the Walpole River sub-catchment to maintain thequality of water for the Walpole Dam.





• In the Priority Agriculture zone, promote and facilitate the diversificationand intensification of sustainable agricultural production, especially thatrequiring irrigation waters.

• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, protect the visual landscape andenvironment and minimise adverse impacts on the adjoining national parkand allow for low-key tourism development that is consistent with retainingthe natural landscape appearance, for the land between Walpole and BrokeInlet.



• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals,uncontrolled pedestrian movement) within adjoining national park or Stateforest.

• Investigate options for amalgamation of isolated coastal freehold/leaseholdlots into D’Entrecasteaux National Park, through acquisition, land swaps,transfer of development rights, incentives, etc.


SO

UTH

WESTERN

HIGH

WA

Y

Shire ofManjimup

WindyHarbour

Pt. D’Entrecasteaux

Cliffy Head

Point Nuyts

Northcliffe

Walpole

BrokeInlet

Riv

er

Riv

er

Deep

Weld

River

River

Shannon

Gardner

Riv

er

River

Meerup

MuirLake

SC1

SC2

FR2

FR1

WR1DR1

0

Kilometres

5 10 15 20 25


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:







Primary Uses:Single house*, low-key tourism.

Secondary Uses:Annual horticulture*, perennial horticulture*, dairying*#, grazing*,agroforestry*, commercial tree plantations*, rural industry*, extractiveindustry*.




Subdivision of existing lots in the area between Walpole and Broke Inlet down toa minimum lot size of 40ha may be considered where it can be demonstratedthat this would not be prejudicial to the objectives of preserving the intrinsiclandscape values of the area and not create any adverse impacts on theadjoining national park or State forest and where this is consistent with thefinalised Augusta-Walpole Coastal Management Strategy.



PLANNING UNIT SC2MUIR



• Includes all of sub-catchment SM — Lake Muir, most of sub-catchment S2 —Deep River and a small part of S10 — Shannon River.

• Lateritic plateau with broad, swampy depressions or hilly terrain with rockyoutcrops and swampy flats leading down to poorly drained flats with lakesand low dunes around Lake Muir/Unicup.


• A narrow band of freehold agricultural land has been cleared on the westernand southern fringes of Lake Muir as have several lots to the east of the lake.The remainder of the planning unit is either national park or State forest,parts of which have been logged in the past and regenerated.

• There is some annual horticultural use, several large hardwood and softwoodtree plantations and the remainder of the land is used for grazing.


• Loamy and duplex sandy gravels and wet and semi-wet soils in the higherareas, with deep and duplex sands and duplex sandy gravels around the lakesystem. There are few steep slopes. There is a high wind erosion andwaterlogging risk around the lake system.

• The only waterway of any significance is the Deep River, which becomes theoverflow from Lake Muir on rare occasions. Lake Muir/Byenup Lagoonsystem is a Ramsar listed wetland. There is no significant aquifer in the area.






• Significant landscape features – Lake Muir is the significant landscapefeature of the area.

Shire ofManjimup

WESTERN

HIGH

WAY

Riv

er

Weld

Muir

Lake

River

Dee

p

Sha

nnon

Riv

er

SOUTH

MUIRSHIGHWAY

SC2

SC1

WR2

WR1

FR2

WR3

0

Kilometres

5 10 15


• Most of the land has only low to moderate capability for annual or perennialhorticulture.

• There is very little water availability for irrigation purposes.

• There is very limited potential for expansion of irrigated horticulturaldevelopment.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Potential impacts of agricultural land uses, particularly nutrient transport, onthe important ecological and visual landscape values of the Lake Muirwetland suite.

• Potential impacts of the mining of peat deposits in the vicinity of the wetlandsuite.

• scattered nature of the freehold land areas in among the national parks andState forest areas increases the impacts of edge effects (such as weeds,domestic and farm animals and tourism and recreational uses).




PLANNING UNIT SC2MUIR (Continued)


• Support CALM management and protection of the Lake Muir wetland suite.

• Wherever possible, retain all remnant vegetation on freehold land in thevicinity of the Lake Muir wetland suite.




• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, protect the visual landscape andenvironment and minimise adverse impacts on the adjoining Lake Muirwetland suite and allow for low-key tourism development that is consistentwith retaining the natural landscape appearance.

• Manage all agricultural production in strict accordance with best managementpractice/code of practice to minimise impacts on significant ecological values.

• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals,uncontrolled pedestrian movement) within adjoining wetlands, national parkor State forest.

Shire ofManjimup

WESTERN

HIGH

WAY

Riv

er

Weld

Muir

Lake

River

Dee

p

Sha

nnon

Riv

er

SOUTH

MUIRSHIGHWAY

SC2

SC1

WR2

WR1

FR2

WR3

0

Kilometres

5 10 15


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL



Primary Uses:Single house*, low-key tourism*.




Subdivision of existing lots down to a minimum lot size of 40ha may beconsidered where it can be demonstrated that this would not be prejudicial tothe objectives of preserving the intrinsic ecological and landscape values of thelake and its surrounding wetlands and not create any adverse impacts on theadjoining national park or State forest.



PLANNING UNIT FR1FRANKLAND



• Includes the whole of sub-catchment F2 — Lower Frankland and part ofsub-catchment F1 — Frankland River.

• Hilly terrain with swampy flats.

• Average rainfall ranges from 1,150mm-1,250mm per annum.

• Approximately half of the planning unit has been cleared for agricultural uses,with the remainder being within national park or State forest.

• There are no urban areas within this planning unit, but Walpole townsite isimmediately to the west and Nornalup townsite is on the banks of theFrankland River, just to the east of the study area boundary. The South CoastHighway passes through the planning unit and several gravel roads serve theagricultural lots.

• The agricultural lots are used for broadacre grazing purposes.


• Soils consist of loams, loamy gravels, deep loamy duplexes and duplex sandygravels. There are many steep slopes throughout this area. High wind and/orwater erosion risks throughout and waterlogging risk in some areas.

• The principal waterway is the Frankland River, which has a marginal waterquality. The most significant wetland is the Nornalup Inlet. There is nosignificant aquifer in this area.







• Significant landscape features — the Frankland River, Mt Frankland and themosaic of vegetation communities.

Frankland

Riv

er

0

Kilometres

5

FR1

FR2

SC1

Walpole


• Only small, scattered portions of the agricultural land have a high to veryhigh-capability rating for annual and perennial horticulture.

• There is a small amount of water available for irrigation purposes, but this isnot a significant constraint given the high rainfall and relatively small area offreehold land in the planning unit.

• Limited potential for irrigated horticultural development, but dryland viticulturewill be unrestricted by water availability.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:


• Nutrients leaching through the soils or entering waterways via enrichedsurface water layers or attached to particulate matter pose a potential threatto the Frankland River system and Nornalup Inlet.

• Wind and water erosion potential and siltation of the Frankland River systemand Nornalup Inlet.

• Protection of the existing vegetation and landscape values.



PLANNING UNIT FR1FRANKLAND (Continued)


• Establish nutrient load targets for the Nornalup Inlet and manage nutrientloads within the catchment consistent with those targets.






• In the Rural Landscape Protection zone, allow for low-key tourismdevelopment that is consistent with retaining the natural landscapeappearance.



• Manage tourism uses to minimise adverse impacts (e.g. domestic animals,uncontrolled pedestrian movement, reciprocal fire threat) within adjoiningnational park or State forest.

• Manage all agricultural production in strict accordance with best managementpractice/code of practice to minimise impacts on significant ecological values.

Frankland

Riv

er

0

Kilometres

5


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

FR1

FR2

SC1

Walpole

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


Agriculture zone:




Primary Uses:Single house*, low-key tourism*.





Subdivision of existing lots down to a minimum lot size of 40ha may beconsidered where it can be demonstrated that this would not be prejudicial tothe objectives of preserving the intrinsic landscape values of the area and notcreate any adverse impacts on the adjoining national park or State forest.



PLANNING UNIT FR2UPPER FRANKLAND



• Includes part of sub-catchment F1 — Frankland River.

• Lateritic plateau with broad, swampy depressions and hilly terrain and poorlydrained flats with rocky outcrops and a major river valley.


• The whole of the planning unit is contained within national park/State forest.

• There is no infrastructure or agricultural uses within this planning unit.


• Soils consist of loams, deep loamy duplexes, loamy gravels and duplex sandygravels, with deep sands and wet soils in the lower areas. There arescattered steep slopes throughout the planning unit.

• The principal waterway is the Frankland River, which has a brackish waterquality. There is no significant aquifer in this area.



• Other non-freehold — nil

• Cleared land — nil

• Remnant vegetation on private land — nil

• Significant landscape features — a key area of landscape value exists westof the Frankland River.

Fran

klan

d

Riv

er

Riv

er

Deep

Weld

River

Muir

Lake

FR2

SC2

SC1

FR1

0

Kilometres

5 10


• Not relevant within this planning unit.

4. MAJOR ISSUES:

• Preserving the ecological values of the existing vegetation.



PLANNING UNIT FR2UPPER FRANKLAND (Continued)


• Support CALM’s management of the ecological values.


• Not relevant within this planning unit.

Fran

klan

d

Riv

er

Riv

er

Deep

Weld

River

Muir

Lake

FR2

SC2

SC1

FR1

0

Kilometres

5 10


PRIORITYAGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

LANDSCAPEPROTECTION

RURAL


• Not applicable to this planning unit.


• Not applicable to this planning unit.


PART 3IMPLEMENTATION


8.0 IMPLEMENTING THESTRATEGY

8.1 Functions of the Strategy

The function of the Strategy has been to develop aframework to guide, promote and facilitate thedevelopment of the region in the best interests ofthe community within a 25-year planning horizon.This has been achieved by way of a program ofpublic consultation and a partnership betweenState and local government representatives. Theresult should be a mutually agreed Strategysupported by all.

The Strategy was started from the basis of thepublic issues and the natural resourcesmanagement factors identified by the communityfor the region. This was then developed into avision, objectives, principles, strategies and policiesto address them. There has been a strong effort tomaintain public involvement as far as possible toensure public support and “ownership” of thefinal Strategy.

8.2 Process of Implementation

The Strategy has been reviewed and revised in linewith submissions received during the advertisingperiod. This final Strategy represents the planningpolicy of WAPC for the Warren-BlackwoodRegion. It will be incorporated within andimplemented under Statement of Planning PolicyNo. 1 State Planning Framework. At a StateGovernment level, it will define the role and levelof involvement of the planning agency in thenatural resources management agenda as well asproviding a framework to assist the other agenciesin their decision-making role in planning-relatedmatters.

For local government, the concurrent developmentof this Strategy and the four local planningstrategies will ensure consistency between the twolevels and will engender State support for thestated local aspirations. Individual members of thegeneral public will be able to use the regional andlocal planning strategies to assist with planningand developing their own projects and lifestyle in amanner compatible and consistent with the overallcommunity vision and direction.

8.3 Relationship to Other Initiatives

This Strategy has used the South West RegionalStrategy for Natural Resource Management as abaseline for translating the relevant principles,objectives and proposed actions of that strategyinto a planning context for implementationthrough the planning system. It will work inparallel with the catchment strategies and businessplans developed by the various basin/catchmentgroups (such as Blackwood Basin Group) and willgive State and local government support forimplementing the planning components of theirobjectives. Similarly, it will work in parallel withand be complementary to the initiatives of otherState and local government agencies. In terms ofgovernment policies such as on sustainability andnatural resources management, the Strategy willprovide a vehicle for implementation andtranslation to the level of other planningdocuments. From a Commonwealth naturalresources management aspect, it will provide anavenue for implementation of relevant NaturalHeritage Trust objectives of Landcare, Rivercare,Bushcare and Coastcare through the planningsystem.

8.4 Relationship to Local PlanningStrategies

The role of the Strategy is to establish theobjectives, principles, broad strategies andguidelines and to provide regional co-ordination,consistency and continuity across boundaries. It isthe role of the local planning strategies to adaptthose guidelines to local circumstances and developthe appropriate level of detail for implementingthrough local decision-making. The particularbenefit of developing the regional and localstrategies concurrently and in partnership is thatthere is a greater opportunity for a clear andprecise distinction between the two levels, whilestill maintaining consistency. It also makes it easierto introduce subsequent major amendments toboth (such as to incorporate waterways andwetlands and bush and biodiversity conservationconcepts when they are resolved) without upsettingthe balance or consistency between the two levels.

8.5 Flexibility and Refinement

There is an ongoing dilemma for planning agenciesin choosing the appropriate balance betweencertainty and flexibility in their planningdocuments. While landowners appreciate certainty,decision-makers’ clarity and investors’

Chapter 8Implementing the Strategy


Chapter 8Implementing the Strategy

predictability in planning provisions, there is also aneed to allow flexibility to accommodate new basedata, changed circumstances, special cases or ashift in community focus. Past planning experienceand strong community urging have indicated thatthe vast majority of these planning principles andstrategies are best expressed through the regionaland local planning strategies (rather than instatutory documents) and implemented throughcommunity commitment to them. Limited schemeprovisions are appropriate to give backup powerswhen needed.

The full range of base information was notavailable to allow the regional assessment to becarried out to the desirable extent and detail. ThisStrategy represents the best outcome that could beachieved under the circumstances at the time (andthis is common with strategic planning exercises).However, the regional and local strategies are notstatic blueprints, but rather are a continuallyevolving consensus of community views andaspirations. Local planning strategies shouldundergo constant refinement as new data, conceptsand opportunities arise and where these have animpact at a regional level, so too should theStrategy be refined. There is a formal process foramending a local planning strategy, but minorrefinements may be carried out by way of localgovernment policies, provided appropriateallowance has been provided in this Strategy.

8.6 Major Modifications

Several major modifications should be anticipatedduring the life of the regional and local strategies.A regional coastal planning strategy is currently inpreparation, water allocation management plansare to be co-ordinated by DoE and furtherassessment of the Waterways and Wetlands in theSouth West and Bush and Biodiversity in theSouth West report data to identify proposals forspecial protection is to be carried out, each ofwhich would require major modification to bothlevels of strategy. Other unforeseen changes arealso likely to arise and will need to beaccommodated.

The Waterways and Wetlands in the South Westand Bush and Biodiversity in the South Westreports have presented a large amount of data thatwill provide a basis for addressing futureconservation and protection goals in the region.However, before any action can be taken toimplement those goals, CALM and DoE need to

prioritise the various conservation and protectiongoals and seek community prioritisation ofmanagement options.

The outcomes can then be reflected in the localplanning strategies in terms of the range ofreservation, conservation or management concepts.This will give clear opportunity to achieve thegoals set up by all the research work that has beendone.

8.7 Natural Resources ManagementTargets and Monitoring

Hand in hand with a land management system (asopposed to tight land use control in rural areas)and land rehabilitation goes a process of targetsetting and monitoring within catchments. Somesuch targets have already been set by the StateSalinity Council and by salinity recoverycatchments in regard to reducing salinity levelswithin the Warren and Collie River basins. Inaddition, the Blackwood Basin Group hasestablished various targets to assist in catchmentmanagement within the Blackwood basin.

Targets should be identified through keystakeholders and community groups to definegoals for each catchment. A system of monitoringwill also need to be established to complement andvalidate the target setting. The outcomes of themonitoring program will indicate the level ofsuccess in achieving the targets set. It will alsoshow where best management practice/code ofpractice may need to be reviewed. Establishedtargets may need to be revised upwards ordownwards, offending uses or developmentsmodified, or other specific actions taken to remedythe situation.

Responsibility for carrying out the monitoringprogram should be clarified. The most logicalchoices would appear to be either DoE, DoAgand/or basin management groups.

8.8 Strategy Monitoring and Review

Despite refinement and major modification atvarious times, it will still be necessary to monitorthe performance of the strategies at regional andlocal levels. After five years, each will need to bereviewed to assess the ongoing relevance of theirobjectives, principles and strategies and a majorrevision or new strategy prepared.

APPENDICES


Appendix 1

APPENDIX 1 — STUDY MANAGEMENT GROUP AND TECHNICALWORKING GROUP MEMBERSHIPS

The Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy was funded by the Western Australian Planning Commission(WAPC) and was project managed by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure on behalf of theWAPC. A study management group was nominated by the partnership member agencies to advise and guidethe development of the draft Strategy. Membership of that study management group consisted of:

AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES

• Shire of Manjimup Cr Keith LiddelowCr Murray CurtiMr Matt Riordan

• Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes Cr Laurie Bullied (1st part)Mr Tim Clynch

• Shire of Boyup Brook Cr Les BardoeCr Kevin MoirMr Will Pearce

• Shire of Nannup Cr Barbara DunnetMr Leigh Guthridge

• Department of Agriculture Mr Allan Johns (1st part)Dr Henry Brockman (2nd part)

• Department of Environment Mr Mick Owens

• Department of Conservation and Land Management Mr Chris Portlock (1st part)Mr Roger Hearn (2nd part)

• Department for Planning and Infrastructure Mr Kevin Martin (Project Manager)Mr Richard Kay (1st part)Mr Shane Kirk (2nd part)

The study management group was supported by a technical working group representing the followingcommunity groups, landcare groups and government agencies:

South West Catchments Council Department of Environment

Blackwood Basin Group South West Development Commission

Blackwood Valley Landcare Group Department of Aboriginal Affairs

Boyup Brook LCDC Department of Commerce and Trade

Manjimup LCDC Shire of Manjimup

Bridgetown-Greenbushes LCDC Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes

Lower Blackwood LCDC Shire of Boyup Brook

Bridgetown-Greenbushes Landcare Group Shire of Nannup

State Salinity Council Department of Agriculture

Water and Rivers Commission

Department of Conservation and Land Management

Department for Planning and Infrastructure

The WAPC wishes thank all those people and organisations and to acknowledge the significant contributionthey made.


APPENDIX 2 — LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations have been used in this Strategy:

CALM Department of Conservation and Land Management

DEP Department of Environmental Protection

DoAg Department of Agriculture

DoE Department of Environment

DPI Department for Planning and Infrastructure

ha hectare

LCDC Land Conservation District Committee

LGA Local Government area

WAPC Western Australian Planning Commission

WRC Water and Rivers Commission

Appendix 2


Appendix 3

APPENDIX 3 — BIBLIOGRAPHY

Acknowledge, 1999 Land Management in the Blackwood Basin — Analysis of a Survey of Landholder Attitudes.Blackwood Basin Group.

Agriculture Western Australia, 1999 The Land is in Your Hands — A Practical Guide for Owners of Small RuralLandholdings in Western Australia. Agriculture Western Australia.

Agriculture Western Australia, undated Successful Rural Futures in the South West. Agriculture Western Australia.

Agriculture Western Australia, undated Sustainable Rural Development Program — Policy Document. AgricultureWestern Australia.

Allison, H.E., Brandenburg, S.A. and Beeston, G.R., 1993 Natural Resource Zones of the South-West LandDivision, Western Australia. Environmental Protection Authority, Technical Series No. 55.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1983 Estimated Resident Population in Local Government Areas, Cat 3203.5.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1998 Population by Age and Sex W.A., Cat 3235.5.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002 Regional Population Growth, Cat 3218.0.

Bartle, J.R., 1999 The New Hydrology — New Challenges for Landcare and Tree Crops. A paper presented to theWA State Landcare Conference, Esperance, 1999.

Blackwood Basin Group, undated Business Plan — 2000 and Beyond. Blackwood Basin Group.

Blackwood Catchment Co-ordinating Group, undated Strategic Directions for Land Conservation in theBlackwood Catchment — A Summary. Blackwood Catchment Co-ordinating Group, Boyup Brook.

Bond, T., 2001 TIRES South West : Timber Industry Road Evaluation Strategy — Log Haul Road TransportStudy : Stage 2. WML Consultants.

Budge, T., 1999 Integrated Catchment Management and Statutory Planning: Background and Scoping Paper forthe Western Australia Ministry for Planning. Research Planning Design Group.

Carbon Rights Task Force, undated Carbon Rights in Western Australia. Carbon Rights Task Force.

Chamarette, J. and Creagh, L., 2002 Agricultural Economic Potential of the Warren-Blackwood Region.Department of Agriculture, Katanning.

Clement, J.P., Bennett, M., Kwaymullina, A. and Gardner, A., 2001 The Law of Landcare in Western Australia.Environmental Defender’s Office WA (Inc), Perth.

Conservation Commission of Western Australia, January 2004. Forest Management Plan 2004-2013.Conservation Commission of Western Australia, Perth.

Department for Planning and Infrastructure, 2001 Warren-Blackwood Land Release Plan 2001 to 2005 —Country Land Development Program. Western Australian Planning Commission.

Department of Conservation and Land Management, 1994 Reading the Remote — Landscape Characters ofWestern Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Department of Planning and UrbanDevelopment, Department of Environmental Protection.

Department of Conservation and Land Management 1997, Wetlands Conservation Policy for Western Australia,Department of Conservation and Land Management.

Department of Transport, 1998 Southern Province Transport Strategy — Peel, Great Southern and South WestRegions. Department of Transport, Perth.

Environmental Protection Authority, 1993 Red Book Status Report. Report 15. Environmental Protection Authority.

Environmental Protection Authority, 1999 Environmental Protection of Native Vegetation in Western Australia —Preliminary — Position Statement No. 2. Environmental Protection Authority.

ERM Mitchell McCotter Pty Ltd, 1995 Warren-Blackwood Region Plan: Environmental and LandscapeAssessment. Western Australian Planning Commission, Perth.

Government of Western Australia, 2003 Hope for the Future: The Western Australian State SustainabilityStrategy. Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Perth.

Government of Western Australia, 2003 Regional Western Australia - A Better Place to Live: RegionalDevelopment Policy. Government of Western Australia, Perth.


Appendix 3

Hamilton, B., 2002 Waterways and Wetlands in the South West NRM Region, Technical Report #1, South WestRegional Strategy for Natural Resource Management. South West Catchments Council, Bunbury.

Hopkins, A., Morgan, R. and Shepherd, D., 2002 Bush and Biodiversity in the South West NRM Region,Technical Report #2, South West Regional Strategy for Natural Resource Management. South West CatchmentsCouncil, Bunbury.

Institute for Regional Development, 2002 Coastal Environs in the South West NRM Region, Technical Report #4,South West Regional Strategy for Natural Resource Management. South West Catchments Council, Bunbury.

Institute of Land and Food Resources, 2000 Socioeconomic Impact of Changing Land Use in South West Victoria— Summary Report and Recommendations. The University of Melbourne.

Johnston, C., 2002 Best Practice Target Setting in Australia and Internationally: A Literature Review. “RegionalNatural Resource Management Targets Project”. Australian Research Centre for Water in Society, CSIRO Landand Water.

Kelly, G. and Lymon, K., 2000 To Trees, or Not to Trees — An Assessment of the Social Impact of the PlantationIndustry on the Shire of Plantagenet. Curtin University of Technology.

Kelly, G.J., 2000 Rural Communities Adapting to Change : Case Studies from South Western Australia. Thesispresented as part of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Curtin University ofTechnology.

Kininmonth, I., 2000 Identifying Areas of Agricultural Significance. Agriculture Western Australia.

Land Assessment Pty Ltd, 1999 Managing Land Degradation Using Land Use Planning Processes — TrainingResource Manual. Agriculture Western Australia.

Land Assessment Pty Ltd, 2002 Areas of Agricultural Significance: Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy, Report No.0202/Agricultural Significance.

Local Government Association of Queensland, 2001 Local Governments role in Integrated Catchment Planningand Management. Local Government Association of Queensland.

McCreddin, J., 2002 Background Information Sheets 1-6 : National Action Plan Accreditation Criteria.Department of Agriculture, Perth. An adjunct to NRM Ministerial Council, 2002. National Guidelines for theAccreditation of Integrated Catchment/Regional Natural Resource Management Plans.

Ministry for Planning, 1995 Warren-Blackwood Regional Planning Study: Economic Sub-study. WesternAustralian Planning Commission, Perth.

Ministry for Planning, 1997 Warren-Blackwood Regional Planning Strategy. Western Australian PlanningCommission, Perth.

Ministry for Planning, 2001 Warren-Blackwood Rural Strategy: Issues Discussion Paper: For Public Comment.Ministry for Planning, Bunbury.

Monaghan, J. and Associates, 1997 Scott Coastal Plain Study — Background and Issues Paper for Land UseDevelopment and Environment. John Monaghan and Associates.

National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2001 Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000. National Landand Water Resources Audit, Canberra.

National Natural Resource Management Task Force, 1999 Managing Natural Resources in Rural Australia for aSustainable Future: A Discussion Paper for Developing a National Policy. Department of Agriculture, Fisheriesand Forestry — Australia, Canberra.

Native Vegetation Working Group, 2000 Final Report of the Native Vegetation Working Group. Government ofWestern Australia.

Pearce, D., 1999 Profile of Natural Resource Issues in the South West Sustainable Rural Development Region.Agriculture Western Australia.

Pen, Dr L.J., 1999 Managing Our Rivers — A guide to the nature and management of the streams of south-westWestern Australia. Water and Rivers Commission, Perth.

Ray, J., 2000 Changes, Challenges and Opportunities : An Assessment of the Social and Economic Impacts ofFarm Forestry. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor ofScience with Honours, Department of Geography, The University of Western Australia.


Appendix 3

Scott Coastal Plain Steering Committee, 2001 Scott Coastal Plain — A Strategy for a Sustainable Future.Agriculture Western Australia.

Shea, S., Butcher, G., Ritson, P., Bartle, J. and Biggs, P., 1998 The Potential for Tree Crops and VegetationRehabilitation to Sequester Carbon in Western Australia. A paper presented to the Carbon SequestrationConference, Melbourne, 1998. Department of Conservation and Land Management.

Skitch, R.F., 2000 Encouraging Conservation Through Valuation: Volume 1. Department of Natural Resources,Queensland.

South West Catchments Council, 2002 South West Regional Strategy for Natural Resource Management. SouthWest Catchments Council, Natural Heritage Trust, Bunbury.

State Salinity Council, 2000 Natural Resource Management in Western Australia — The Salinity Strategy.Government of Western Australia.

State Salinity Council, 2000 Natural Resource Management in Western Australia — Salinity Actions. Governmentof Western Australia.

Task Force for the Review of Natural Resource Management and Viability of Agriculture in Western Australia,1996 Review of Natural Resource Management and Viability of Agriculture in Western Australia — A DiscussionDocument. Agriculture Western Australia.

Tonts, M., Campbell, C. and Black, A.W., 2000 The Socio-Economic Impacts of Farm Plantation Forestry onAustralian Rural Communities. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.

United Nations, 1992 Agenda 21 Declaration on Environment and Development. United Nations, Rio de Janeiro.

Warren Recovery Team and Water and Rivers Commission, 2000 Salinity Management in the Warren RiverCatchment — Strategic Action Plan. Water and Rivers Commission.

Water and Rivers Commission, 2000 Draft — Waterways WA Policy Statewide Policy No. 4. Water and RiversCommission, Perth.

Water and Rivers Commission, 2000 Supporting Information to Waterways WA Policy Statewide Policy No. 4.Water and Rivers Commission, Perth.

Water and Rivers Commission, 2001 Salinity Situation Statement Collie River WRT29. Water and RiversCommission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 1997 State Planning Strategy — Final Report. Western AustralianPlanning Commission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 1997 State Planning Strategy — Manual. Western Australian PlanningCommission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 2000 Statement of Planning Policy No. 1: State Planning FrameworkPolicy. Western Australian Planning Commission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 2002 Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.5 Agricultural and RuralLand Use Planning. Western Australian Planning Commission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 2002 Policy No. DC 3.4 — Subdivision of Rural Land. WesternAustralian Planning Commission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003 Farm Forestry Policy: Planning Bulletin No. 56. WesternAustralian Planning Commission, Perth.

Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003 Statement of Planning Policy No. 2: Environment and NaturalResources Policy. Western Australian Planning Commission, Perth.

Wright, E., 2001 Developing Agricultural Potential in the Warren-Blackwood Region — Draft Strategic ActionPlan. Agriculture Western Australia.

Author unknown Discussion Paper — Establishing Linkages Between Water Resources Allocation Planning andLand Use Planning Processes.

Author unknown, 2000 My Land — Our Future — Paying the price of public good conservation on privateland. NSW Farmers, June 2000.

Author unknown, 2001 Growing Together — A plan for farming and conservation. NSW Farmers June2001.


Appendix 4

APPENDIX 4 — LAND USE AND CONFLICT DIAGRAMS

The key principle is to ensure that in all zones, the level of nuisance at a dividing boundary does not exceed astandard acceptable level for that particular Rural zone.

Standard rural setback is the distance a particular rural use should be set back from a boundary to anadjoining lot in flat, open country, to reduce the level of nuisance at that boundary to an acceptable standardfor an adjoining agricultural use.

Additional rural setback is the additional distance a particular rural or new agricultural use should be setback from a boundary to an adjoining lot in flat, open country, to reduce further the level of nuisance for thatparticular use.

Notes• Setbacks may be reduced where the nuisance is ameliorated by other factors, such as topography, natural

vegetation, screen plantings, constructed barriers, etc.

• Setbacks should be considered and imposed for all developments/uses on Rural zoned land, regardless ofwhether or not the adjoining land is developed and/or used for a rural purpose at this stage.

• A council may require an owner/developer/occupant of a non-agricultural use in or adjoining a Rural zoneto acknowledge that they are in a Rural zone and will accept standard rural levels of nuisance, and mayalso require a memorial to that effect to be registered on the title.

• Where a nuisance-causing use or development is to be located at a distance less than an acceptable ruralsetback, that proponent should compensate the adjoining owner/occupier for that nuisance.

• These are principles and guidelines only and are designed to address rural land use conflicts in a fair andequitable manner for all parties. It is the responsibility of the local government, community and otheragencies to determine the acceptable nuisance levels and the manner in which they are administered.

Sawmill

Cleared creek linein cleared paddock

TouristChalets

Standard Rural Setback

Additional Rural Setback

Sawmill

TouristChalets

Reduced Standard Setback

Reduced Additional Setback

Ridge line onboundary with

natural vegetation

Example 1: Sawmill vs Tourist Chalets

Farmhouse

Firebreak setback

Canola crop with aerial spraying





Planting strip oftall and small trees

and shrubs plusfirebreak

Cleared paddocks

Farmhouse


Remnantvegetation

Example 2: Crop vs Farmhouse


Appendix 4

Firebreak setback






Planting stripof tall and smalltrees and shrubs

plus firebreak

Cleared land


Spray-sensitive crop

Spray-sensitive crop

Example 3: Agricultural Use vs Agricultural Use



Additional Standard Setback


Reduced fuelzone plusfirebreak

Remnantvegetation

Scatteredparkland

and clearedvegetation

TouristChalets

TouristChalets

State Forest/National Park

Example 5: Tourist Chalets vs State Forest/National Park

State Forest/National Park

Standard ruralfirebreak setback

Firebreak setback






Planting stripof tall andsmall trees

plus firebreak

Cleared land


Remnantvegetation

Organic orchard

Organic orchard

Example 4: Agricultural Use vs Certified Organic Farm

warren-blackwood rural strategy - department of … · peter tille,agriculture western australia....

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