By accident or design? Peri-urban planning and the protection of productive land
on the urban fringe
Dr Nicole Cook
Lecturer, Human Geography
Department of Resources Management and Geography
Melbourne School of Land and Environment
The University of Melbourne
Introduction
Peri-urban food production
•Significant in terms of food supply:
•Houston (2005) showed up to a quarter of all agricultural output (in
dollars) came from peri-urban areas
•The Urban Research Centre at UWS (Sydney) estimates 40% of food
consumed in Sydney was grown in the city's market-gardens
-this increases to 90% for mushrooms, lettuce, bok choy
-Buxton et al (2008) and Parbery (2008) estimate the contribution of the
peri-urban rural councils and Port Phillip and Westernport areas together
is over 10% of Victoria's total farm business turnover
Introduction
Peri-urban spaces and housing development
•‘A widespread perception of peri-urban areas in Australia as suburbs in
waiting’ (Bunker and Holloway 2001: 13).
•Parbery (2008) found that 75% of landholders in Weerribee would like rural
land to be rezoned.
•Redevelopment of these areas in terms or housing affordability
Introduction
State Planning Policy Framework
A tension between:
•Fringe development and expansion
•Protection of agricultural land
Implications for periurban food production?
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Best practice planning
‘Integrating Land Use
Planning and Community
Food Security’ (Budge and
Slade, 2009).
Source: Sarah Taylor, 2012
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Food production:
Development pressure
25 enterprises
Average farm size 84 hectares
•Three decades of landholder pressure
for rezoning
•Aging farming population
•Losses and contraction in output
market gardening (377 ha), fruit orchards
(281 ha), lucerne (110 ha) and pasture
production (412 ha) (Moorabool Shire
Council 2009, 3-6).
Situated with wider production
activity across the Shire of
Moorabool
-Dryland farming (Sth)
-Broadacre (Sth West)
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Amendment to Local Planning Scheme, 2008
Local Planning Scheme sets the development framework for 5 year periods
The 2008 revisions: balancing housing supply with rural, heritage and production
values
Calls for greater acknowledgement of development potential
Council seeks review of Amendment by Planning Panels Victoria
Planning Panels advise reduction in provision of residential land from 1126 ha to 328 ha
(Planning Panels Victoria, 2008: 43-44).
Positive outcome in terms of
preservation of rural land zoning
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Two rationale for protection of land:
i) Minimisation of public spending on new housing development:
‘Marginal agricultural viability … does not establish a sound justification for
endorsing an alternative land use— the suitability of the land for an
alternative use, costs to the community in providing infrastructure and
ongoing services and implications for other uses in a locality must be taken
into account. A laissez faire approach to development planning for lifestyle
housing promotes dispersed residential development, whereas compact
urban forms support efficient more cost effective delivery of infrastructure
and services (PPV 2008, p. 34).
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Two rationale for protection of land:
ii) Protection of market gardens for tourist and amenity values
Avenue of Honour Strategic Management Plan protects market gardens
to maintain integrity of avenue
Market gardens key to ‘rural landscape setting’ (Municipal Strategic Plan)
Market gardens- critical support for tourism ‘and the character and
lifestyle of the area’ (PPV 2008 29).
1. The case of Bacchus Marsh
Food planning policy in Bacchus Marsh
The costs of urban sprawl and tourism values of market gardens serve
as a ‘defacto’ food planning policy
By accident rather than design
Peri-urban planning unit?
2. Water uncertainty
Water uncertainty for growers in Bacchus Marsh
Water allocations for growers:
2007/2008- 7%
2008/2009- 5%
2009/2010- 14%
2011/2012- 60%
Underpinned calls for
rezoning
New narratives around
supply, use and recycling
water
Victorian Government. (2010). Victorian Government Response to the Report of the Outer
Suburban/Interface Services and Development Committee: Inquiry Into Sustainable
Development of Agribusiness in Outer Suburban Melbourne September.
2. Water Uncertainty
Water supply in peri-urban producer regions
-Regional water and irrigation
-Reuse of recycled water
-Extension of dual pipe system to enable water recycling on all new
residential development
Maximising the ‘Edge Effect’ (Victorian Eco Innovation Lab)
-Proximity of growers to major urban treatment plants
-Melbourne capacity to harvest rainwater and stormwater (ease dependence
on supplies from elsewhere in the State)
-Integration of residential and agricultural water systems (precinct level)
Larsen, K., Ryan, C., & Abraham, A. (2008). Sustainable and Secure Food Systems for
Victoria Research Report No 1. April. Victorian Eco Innovation Lab: Melbourne
3. Hybrid spaces: new prospects for local food economies
New prospects for local food economies
•Peri-urban food production and housing: at odds with each other
•Currently no coherent food policy in planning scheme and instruments
•But this is not just a matter of ‘protection’:
-Synergies between urban and peri-urban areas
-Making the most of fringe resources (waste water recycling)
-Linking metropolitan and peri-urban resources (eg water savings in the metropolitan
area takes pressure of regional water supply)
-Linking residential and agricultural landuses
Housing and food
supply as part of the
same system
References
Budge, T., & Slade, C. (2009). Integrating Land Use Planning and Community Food Security. La Trobe University: Bendigo
Bunker, R., & Holloway, D. (2001). Fringe City and Contested Countryside: Population Trends and Policy Developments
Around Sydney. Issues Paper No. 6 Urban Frontiers Program: University of Western Sydney
Buxton, M., & Goodman, R. 2008. Protecting Melbourne’s Green Wedges- Fate of a Public Policy in Amati, M. (ed) Urban
Greenbelts in the Twenty-First Century Ashgate: Aldershot 61-82
Harder, S. (2010). Towards Localisation: Peri-Urban Planning for a Food Secure Future Unpublished Honours Thesis,
School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University
Houston, P. (2005). Re-valuing the Fringe: Some Findings on the Value of Agri-cultural Production in Australia’s Peri-Urban
Regions, Geographical Research 43(2): 209-223.
James., S, O’Neill., P., & Dimeski, B. (2010). Sydney’s Agricultural Lands: An Analysis. Prepared for the NSW Department of
Planning by the Urban Re-search Centre, University of Western Sydney.
Larsen, K., Ryan, C., & Abraham, A. (2008). Sustainable and Secure Food Systems for Victoria Research Report No 1. April.
Victorian Eco Innovation Lab: Melbourne
Larsen, K. (2009) ‘Submission to the Outer Suburban Interface Services and Development Committee- Inquiry into
Agribusiness in Outer Suburban Melbourne’ Victorian Eco Innovation Lab: Melbourne
Moorabool Shire Council (2004) ‘Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour: Strategic Management Plan’.
Moorabool Shire Council (2009). Economic Contribution Assessment: Bacchus Marsh Irrigation District Moorabool
Morgan, K., Marsden., T. & Murdoch, J. (2006) Worlds of Food: Place, Power and Provenance in the Food Chain, Oxford
University Press.
Planning Panels Victoria. (2008) Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C34: Panel Report. DPCD: Melbourne