[David Grima]

Hi all,
Can someone please correct me if my methodology is wrong as I thought I knew the process and now am questioning myself as I have received a couple of similar enquiries from different Councils and now notice that my own Council’s previous data file submitted in 2019 seemed to have fallen for the same trick.
When categorising properties, essentially you work through the categories (just like the guidelines says):
1) is it Government, if yes, classify it, if no, move on.
2) is it Public, if yes, classify it, if no, move on.
3) then work through Farmland, Residential, Industrial, Business (in that order).
I think that there is some unrequired confusion with 1 and 2 where a property is required to be classified as GOVT but then because the specific use is in the definition pf PUBLIC LAND (like cemetery) the classification is being updated as PUBLIC.
My understanding is that this is NOT the process (i.e. where the property is owned by State Govt and it is the site of a cemetery, it should be classified as GOVT).
The guidelines doesn’t help in some regards. For example, why does it mention Public Schools in the definition of PUBLIC when I would think that all such properties would be classified as GOVT)?
Just my 2 bob’s worth, interested to know your thoughts.
Dave

[David Grima]

sorry my reference to confusion in my post relates to the reference to Public Hospitals and not Schools 🙂

[Emma Murphy]

Hi David,

The below was a response on the FAQ on the Reform website in regards to an oval.

“You should first determine if the land meets the definition of Government land, if the land is owned by council, and not leased for value (i.e. leased for more than just a nominal rent) then it should be classified as Government Land, in accordance with Section 3.1(a) of the Preliminary Land Classification Manual for Local Government.

If the land does not meet the Government land definition, it is not used for profit making purpose and the dominant use is for public benefit then it should be classified as Public Benefit Land.

A property cannot be classified as Public Benefit Land if it can be classified as Government Land. If the land meets the definition of Government land it does not need to be subclassified as Public Benefit .Mixed development classification is applicable for land that is classified as both residential and non residential.”

I do question/query Appendix E – Definition of Industrial Land…there a quite a few locations specified that would be Council owned, however using Figure 1 Preliminary land classification process these could be coded as GOVT.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Emma Murphy.

[David Grima]

Hi Emma,
Thank you for that – seems to confirm my thinking.
Agree with your comments about Industrial Land too.
Dave

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