[Emma Murphy]

Council has received a request for a rating exemption under 555 of the LGA for a Conservation Agreement.

The agreement is issued by the Biodiversity Conservation Trust. The agreement is conservation agreement under Part 5 Division 3 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

This is a “Funded conservation agreement” for 15years.

To date, Council has only received requests for exemptions for “unfunded and/or voluntary conservation” agreements which an exemption has been provided.

On the Biodiversity Conservation Trust website, there is reference to rating exemption for voluntary agreements, however nothing mentioned for funded agreements.
https://www.bct.nsw.gov.au/cards/apply-voluntary-agreement
https://www.bct.nsw.gov.au/cards/apply-funded-agreement

I have identified on the register there are other funded agreements in our LGA, however I have only had contact from this one particular land holder.
https://www.bct.nsw.gov.au/agreements-search-page

While not legislative, in a letter from Biodiversity Conservation Trust regarding a voluntary agreement, it was stated “Rate exemption provides positive recognition for dedicated landholders undertaking voluntary action to legally protect an actively manage their land”

I have been unable to find anything legislation that would prevent Council from not granting the exemption for Funded Conservation Agreements or creating a separation between voluntary and funded.

Hoping to hear from other Councils who have funded agreements and have/haven’t provided the exemption.

[Ian Clayton]

Hi Emma,

I haven’t had this situation (yet), but have tried to follow the legislation.

Local Government Act – Sec 555 (1)(b1) – … land that is the subject of a conservation agreement (within the meaning of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 ),

Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transitional) Regulation 2017 – Clause 17(3) – After the commencement of the new Act, a conservation agreement cannot be entered into under section 69B of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 ……

Biodiversity Conservation (Savings and Transitional) Regulation 2017 – Clause 18(1)(c) – (1) A reference in any Act or statutory or other instrument, or in any contract or agreement— (c) to a conservation agreement under section 69B of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 of a kind referred to in clause 17 (2) is to be read as a reference to a conservation agreement under Division 3 of Part 5 of the new Act.

Biodiversity Conservation Act – Division 3 of Part 5, Sections 5.20 to 5.26.

The provisions of this division seems to allow agreements to be funded, and are not required to be in perpetuity. Unfortunately, if the agreement is made under this division, exemption from rates may well to apply.

The changes to the exemption provisions that are yet to commence could see certain conservation agreements remain rateable under the environmental category, subject to the making of regulations defining the agreement types. This seems to be the most difficult amendment for OLG to work through so there’s no indication when this might happen. Existing agreements would remain under the current provisions (ie non-rateable) due to the savings provisions in the amendment act.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ian

[Emma Murphy]

Further to the above – I also had agreed with Ian that there appears to be no point of difference in the legilsation for funded and non funded.

The Biodiversity Conservation Trust have advised the following:

Rate exemptions are provided for under section 555(1)(b1) of the Local Government Act 1993 for land that is the subject of a conservation agreement. Note that there is no delineation between ‘funded’ and ‘unfunded’ agreements. A proportional reduction is applied to this exemption (see 555(3)).

In the context of your question, landholders with the following agreements are therefore eligible for these rate exemptions:
• Unfunded in-perpetuity CA’s including those under the BC Act 2016 and previous legislation
• Funded CA’s

BSAs are not eligible under the current s555 exemption. These agreements are used to secure biodiversity offsets that are required under the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.

For funded CA’s, there is no distinction in relation to being ‘in perpetuity’ agreements.

[Author]

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