The biodiversity assessment
Read the two part assessment which recommended the new planning controls.
We are proposing biodiversity planning controls as the final project delivered under Plan Harcourt.
As part of the Plan Harcourt project you told us biodiversity was important to you. As a result we completed a thorough biodiversity assessment and now propose draft planning controls for Harcourt that will be applied through a proposed amendment to the Mount Alexander Planning Scheme.
We are now accepting feedback or comments regarding draft Amendment C94malx. There are a number of ways to make a submission - check the options below.
Key information
Broadly speaking the draft planning controls will increase the protection of flora and fauna in Harcourt and will:
- Protect plant and animal species identified as significant and identifying ‘habitat corridors’, along roadside and waterways in Harcourt.
- Correctly apply the Environmental Significance Overlay and Vegetation Protection Overlays on land in the Harcourt township.
- Rezone land to Rural Conservation to protect larger areas of significance.
- Revise the township boundary to account for the findings in the Strategic Biodiversity Assessment.
The proposed planning controls will apply to public and private land in Harcourt.
Council estimates that there are up to a few dozen private properties that will be potentially impacted. Check to see if your property is affected.
The draft planning controls mostly apply environmental overlays to road reserves and public land, but up to a few dozen properties will be potentially impacted.
For council, this means - road reserves and public land under their management.
For land owners this means – either restrictions around the unnecessary removal of the identified large, significant trees, or restrictions around carrying out works that may damage our waterway systems or significant habitat.
Consultation closed 10 June
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Draft planning controls
Check out the draft planning controls and see if they impact your property.
FAQs
What does this mean for biodiversity in Harcourt?
We'll be out and about
Come along to a drop-in session to find out more and talk to our team about what we're planning.
Make a submission online
Answer the questions online now and click submit.
Other ways to make a submission
Make a submission by post, email, phone or in person.
