Because I was interested in buying a rural block for sale in the northern Tamar region, some local friends from Deviot recommended I called the West Tamar Council to clarify whether or not it would permit a house being built on the block. This is because there have been recent moves in the council to rezone rural land following a state and federal push to inhibit the breakdown and subdivision of farming properties.
From what I could understand from the gentleman I spoke with on the phone, the West Tamar Council is in the process of having hearings to further define and classify rural land in the region for building purposes. Land presently zoned "rural" will be either reclassified as "rural resource" or "rural living". To be able to build on the former, the minimum land size would be 50 hectares. To build on the latter, the minimum land size is 10 hectares, with the proviso that "some agricultural enterprise" is carried out on the block.
This made me think how outrageously hypocritical it is for the governments to place such restrictions on farmers and builders in the northern Tamar region on the one hand, all in the name of "maintaining RURAL land", and then turn around on the other and allow a massive billion-dollar FACTORY right in the middle of it!
How can this conflict of community management be allowed to happen?
It seems most important for both the local people and the governments of the Tamar region to share the same vision for its careful development so that the essential aspects of it as a COMMUNITY are PROPERLY MANAGED and able to be preserved for the future.
The areas around Deviot and the Batman Bridge have been described to me "as some of the prettiest spots on the river". If the mill goes ahead, we can say goodbye to this aspect of its future, that's for sure!
