Encourage Farm Succession
Farm succession and subdivision
Landowners are finding the RMA a significant barrier to providing for farm succession. In particular this is a problem in areas where there are large areas of outstanding landscape, coastal areas and on urban fringes. Farm values and consequently rates have increased out of all proportion to the property's productive capacity, with values largely determined by location and to a certain degree by inflexible subdivision policies in some of these areas. There is increasing pressure on councils from existing communities to control land use change in these areas and this has lead to farming activities being controlled simply because of their "iconic" location.
Subdivision applications to sell off house sites where neighbouring farms are merged, or to create title for developing farm succession plans (providing for small low impact subdivisions to free up capital to continue with an economically viable enterprise) are either declined or incur large costs and lengthy delays. Very few councils are offering the sorts of incentives that encourage innovative development.
Make policies flexible enough to cope with low-impact on farm subdivision
Current solutions are primarily focused on recognising a loss of flexibility in land use options through providing for lost rights to be on-sold, transferred to another part of the property or part of the district or to be awarded as a result of the provision of public access, or the management or protection of an area of the farm for conservation values. These have value but they are not widely accepted or freely traded within the current planning framework.
Plans should include or provide for flexible subdivision policies to enable low-impact subdivision where it provides for long-term economic sustainability. For example, subdivision of a house site to enable farm succession or include the ability to subdivide off a house site where properties are merged as a controlled or permitted activity.
