Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

Through this process the State established additional criteria to determine where and when environmental zones would be applied. These criteria are discussed in detail within the Land Based Conservation Background Report and are summarised in Table 9 below. Table 9. Recommended E2 Environmental Conservation Zone Criteria

Criteria

Description

Littoral Rainforests

Land mapped as littoral rainforest by SEPP Coastal Management 2018

Coastal Wetlands

Land mapped as coastal wetlands by SEPP Coastal Management 2018

Endangered Ecological Communities Threatened Species

Land identified in local and/or site specific studies undertaken within the last 5yrs, as containing vegetation communities listed as Endangered Ecological Communities under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC) 61 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) 62

Key Threatened Species Habitat

Land identified in local and/or site specific studies undertaken within the last 5yrs, as containing: • Old-growth forests where the over-storey or canopy trees are in the late mature stage of growth 63; • Areas of predicted high conservation value for forest fauna assemblages, refugia, endemic forest fauna or endemic invertebrates 64, and • Habitats for threatened species or endangered populations that cannot withstand further loss where the threatened species or endangered population is present 65.

Over-cleared vegetation communities.

Land identified in local and/or site specific studies undertaken within the last 5yrs, as containing: • Over-cleared vegetation communities, where more than 70% of the original (pre 1750) extent of the native vegetation type has been cleared 66 and • Native vegetation in over-cleared Mitchell landscapes 67.

Culturally significant lands.

Land identified in local and/or site specific studies undertaken within the last 5yrs, as containing Areas of culturally significant lands such as Aboriginal object sites, Aboriginal places of heritage significance, and other significant objects identified by the local Aboriginal community 68.

Land subject to a conservation agreement

Lands subject to an existing conservation agreement, court required restoration/rehabilitation site, biodiversity stewardship, bio-certification offset, development off-set, native vegetation clearing set-aside, wildlife refuge or similar, that is either registered on title or identified on a public register and reported on a planning certificate.

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/ https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ 63 http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/resources/pnf/OGRFreviewFieldIdent.pdf 64 Key Habitats and Corridors for Forest Fauna, Scotts, 2003 65 NSW Office of Environment and Heritage ‘Threatened Species Profiles Database’ http://www.bionet.nsw.gov.au/ 66 Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes, Keith 2006 67 NSW Ecosystems Study: Background and Methodology, Mitchell 2002 68 Guide to investigating, assessing and reporting on Aboriginal cultural heritage in NSW, NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water (2011) 61 62

Draft MidCoast Rural Strategy

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Table 10. Recommended E3 Environmental Management Zone Criteria

Table 9. Recommended E2 Environmental Conservation Zone Criteria

Figure 18. NSW Planning Legislation Framework

Figure 17. Current Planning Controls, from Local Strategic Planning Statement

Figure 16. Coastal Zone of the MidCoast, Coastal Management SEPP 2018

Figure 15. Priority Drinking Water Catchments and Aquifer Catchments in the MidCoast

Figure 14. Broad Catchment Areas of the MidCoast from the Rural Waterways paper

Figure 13. Hunter Regional Plan 'Proposed Biodiversity Corridors'

Figure 12. The MidCoast LGA - Location, Infrastructure and Natural Assets

Figure 11. Location of MidCoast centres, from Local Strategic Planning Statement

Figure 10. Experiences available across the 'Green Grid' of the MidCoast

Figure 9. Destination Barrington Coast, statistics from December 2020

Figure 8. Our Growing and Changing Population, from MidCoast Housing Strategy

Figure 7: Typical mine or quarry project life cycle

Figure 6: Location of underground resources in the MidCoast

Table 8. MidCoast Tourism Destination Management Plan SWOT of Rural Tourism

Figure 5. MidCoast contribution to NSW economy by agricultural industry (ABS 2011

Table 7. MidCoast LSPS Planning Priorities relevant to the Rural Strategy

Table 6. MidCoast 2030 Goals and Actions relevant to the Rural Strategy

Table 5. NSW Government Priority Actions relevant to MidCoast Rural Strategy

Figure 4. Location Quotients and Employment Growth for MidCoast Industries

Figure 3. Strategic Actions for Priority Growth Industries in the Hunter

Figure 2. Hunter Regional Development Investment Prospectus, Local Government Areas

Table 4. Data Gaps identified in Background Reports to Rural Strategy

Table 1. Non-Urban Zones from the Standard Instrument Principal Local Environmental Plan available to use across the rural landscape of the MidCoast Local Government Area

Table 2. Strategic Centres and Centres of Local Significance, Hunter Regional Plan 2036

Table 3. Major legislation, policy and strategies influencing the Rural Strategy

Figure 1. Rural, Environmental and Waterway zoned land considered in the Rural Strategy

1 Strategic Goals and Local Planning...................................................................................64

1 Data Gaps – Challenges and Opportunities......................................................................19