All shires surrounding Tweed Shire have recognised the incredible benefits and now approve DDOs on rural land. Tweed shire has failed the environment, the shires schools, the rural landholders and their families.
Nearly all rural land holders want the option to build DDO’s on their property!
Detached Dual Occupancy homes (DDO’s), commonly referred to as second dwellings, are currently not allowed on rural land in the Tweed Shire. The very odd person we found that did not want the option to build DDO's, usually already had an extra dwelling from pre town planning approval days or had a very strong farm income to maintain their rural land like those on the Cudgen plateau. Consultation with rural land holders over several years in rural community workshops and forums, has confirmed land holders want the option to build on their property.
Our Rural Community Consultation
Confirmed the following reasons for DDO’s in the Tweed since they:
Relief to the shires extreme housing stress
Provide some much needed quick relief to the shires extreme housing stress, an affordable housing option being presented where there is effectively no outlay for land, no wait time for subdivisions to be completed.
Maintain the shires scenic amenity
Provide funds and manpower landholders desperately need to continue to maintain the shires scenic amenity, environmental rehabilitation and weed control
Family succession and age in place
Allow for family succession and farmers to age in place on their farms, close to family members and friends, without jeopardising primary production operations by pulling valuable capital from the farm to “buy a house in town for mum and dad”
Subtly integrated and dispersed within the rural landscape
Provide a softer environmentally friendly housing alternative to conventional urban sprawl or “legoland” type housing estates with intensive living and traffic congestion. Instead DDO housing can be very subtly integrated and dispersed within the rural landscape and provide an option for people to be more self sustaining in their back yard, without reliance on environmentally damaging food chain transport networks.
Boost to schools halls and clubs
Provide a critical mass of people needed around our rural villages to give a much needed boost to their schools halls and clubs.
Protect the primary production potential of the land
Provide resource needed to protect the primary production potential of the land and the scenic rural amenity. (duly noted as one of the major reasons for Lismore council allowing second dwellings) .
Rectify inequity
Rectify the inequity that currently exists where urban residents are permitted to build second dwellings with no additional rates collected, so rural landholders are effectively subsidising the shire rates of residential land owners.
Join the petition
To confirm your support for rural DDOs and the above 8 points please sign the petition, provide your email for updates and provide the information we have asked for to make this petition a valid legal petiton.