An eleventh-hour push to halt plans for a proposed housing estate between farms in Nelsons Plains is taking shape.
And the calls are going all the way to the recently appointed NSW Agricultural Commissioner, Daryl Quinlivan, in a bid to convince Port Stephens Council - and it's councillors - to take the foot off the pedal when it comes to a plan for about 38 homes between cattle and poultry farms on Seaham Road.
The NSW Farmers Association, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison and Port Stephens MP Kate Washington met on Friday morning to discuss the details.
It came after word of a rescission motion, scheduled for Tuesday's council meeting, surfaced.
The trio are writing to NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall and asking him to task the commissioner to look into the proposal.
"This was the whole point of what the commissioner is supposed to be doing - to deal with these right to farm issues. Time is of the essence, if that rescission motion is debated on Tuesday that doesn't give the farmers much time to go to the commissioner and put forward their case and ask for his advocacy on this," Ms Aitchison said.
Ms Washington has called on the council to pause the plan and consult the commissioner.
"I think the council should put a pause on the process and allow the agricultural commissioner to get involved and give advice and for the community to be properly consulted about what all this means for them," she said.
The association's regional services manager Dave Banham said the council should have consulted farmers before the plan to rezone the land from primary production to rural residential - and refer it to the state government for a gateway determination - was put before councillors last month.
As it stands right now, the majority of councillors voted in favour of rezoning the land and referring it to the state government for a gateway determination.
The rescission motion is the only hope to halt it at this stage.
"I'll be asking the commissioner to step in and talk to the council about this," Mr Banham said.
"It seems that all of a sudden there has been a massive push to get this development through. The plan for 38 houses on two acre blocks looks like nothing more than a money grab - it's chicken feed and it's not going to solve the housing crisis."
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Developer Hilton Grugeon told The Mercury this week the development would be good for the economy and support a council plan to provide more housing in the Port Stephens Local Government Area.
Mr Banham has spent the past seven years working with the council to make sure it's policies gave farmers a fair go and reflected their right to farm.
He said the state government's gateway determination process was weak when it came to protecting farming.
"It's not a gate, it's an open gate, and once a plan goes there it's unlikely we'll turn it around," Mr Banham said.
Ms Washington agreed.
"It's a process that facilitates development and so it's unlikely that we'll see anything other than some conditions imposed if it gets to that stage," she said.
Ms Aitchison noted the commissioner should have been appointed at the beginning of the state government's term so he could have already been dealing with issues like this.
She said development plans alongside farms in peri-urban settings was one of the biggest issues farmers faced.
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Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
