Welcome to the Australian Local Food System Policy Database. This is a collection of policies from New South Wales (NSW) and Victorian local governments that relate to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
For further information about using the database and how it was created see How to use the database. You can search the database by using the fields below. Domain refers to eight broad categories under which various topics are situated. The domains and topics are based on a framework of recommendations for local government action on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system (also located on the ‘How to use the database’ page linked above).
To cite the database: Reeve B, Carrad A, Rose N, Charlton K & Aguirre-Bielschowsky I (2021) Australian Local Food System Policy Database. Available at: https://law-food-systems.sydney.edu.au/policy-database (access date).
Suggested search terms
Hold Ctrl to select multiple terms. Using ‘any words’ functions as an “OR” search. Using ‘all words’ functions as and “AND” search.
Search Criteria:
| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | These themes should also be considered in the development of the proposed tourism plan for the City | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | recognising and interpreting the City’s agricultural, horticultural, industrial, social and maritime history within appropriate reserves and open spaces across the City | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Integrate any recreational and leisure needs that may be specific to CALD communities into all planning and | Health and Wellbeing | Traditional food cultures | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Add all informal spaces that have recognised and permitted free public uses to a secondary inventory of all spaces that are not zoned as Open Space or classified as Community Land or Operational Land | Sustainability and Environment | Food production on LG land | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Develop a Recreation and Leisure Program that extends current programs and compliments the delivery of the ROSS, with the goal of promoting and fostering more use and enjoyment of the City’s open space and the encouragement of healthy, active lifestyles in Hawkesbury City Council. Typical existing and potential programs include: – – – – – – – – e walking programs (eg. Heart Foundation programs) ‘Try’ programs to introduce people to sports community gardens/city farm initiatives holiday activities programs partnering recreation based corporate, charity or community events in parks (fun runs, fun cycle rides, triathlons, etc) partnering local community events in parks (ie. Christmas, Australia Day, local celebrations, arts events, fairs, evening food markets, greeting new communities, etc) guidance for personal training in parks supporting volunteer groups in sports, bushland management, community gardens, etc. | Sustainability and Environment | Food production on LG land | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Plan and design all open space to meet the recreational, social and leisure needs of seniors, recognising the | Sustainability and Environment | Food production on LG land | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Add all informal spaces that have recognised and permitted free public uses to a secondary inventory of all spaces that are not zoned as Open Space or classified as Community Land or Operational Land | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Develop a Recreation and Leisure Program that extends current programs and compliments the delivery of the ROSS, with the goal of promoting and fostering more use and enjoyment of the City’s open space and the encouragement of healthy, active lifestyles in Hawkesbury City Council. Typical existing and potential programs include: – – – – – – – – e walking programs (eg. Heart Foundation programs) ‘Try’ programs to introduce people to sports community gardens/city farm initiatives holiday activities programs partnering recreation based corporate, charity or community events in parks (fun runs, fun cycle rides, triathlons, etc) partnering local community events in parks (ie. Christmas, Australia Day, local celebrations, arts events, fairs, evening food markets, greeting new communities, etc) guidance for personal training in parks supporting volunteer groups in sports, bushland management, community gardens, etc. | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Plan and design all open space to meet the recreational, social and leisure needs of seniors, recognising the | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| HAWKESBURY REGIONAL OPEN SPACE STRATEGY | Develop a Recreation and Leisure Program that extends current programs and compliments the delivery of the ROSS, with the goal of promoting and fostering more use and enjoyment of the City’s open space and the encouragement of healthy, active lifestyles in Hawkesbury City Council. Typical existing and potential programs include: – – – – – – – – e walking programs (eg. Heart Foundation programs) ‘Try’ programs to introduce people to sports community gardens/city farm initiatives holiday activities programs partnering recreation based corporate, charity or community events in parks (fun runs, fun cycle rides, triathlons, etc) partnering local community events in parks (ie. Christmas, Australia Day, local celebrations, arts events, fairs, evening food markets, greeting new communities, etc) guidance for personal training in parks supporting volunteer groups in sports, bushland management, community gardens, etc. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing to be integrated into new urban developments. Affordable housing to be located within centre catchment and close to public transport and services. Provision of housing to meet special needs i.e. essential workers, itinerant residents, elderly, cultural groups, et | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | 3.4.3_Housing Affordability Hawkesbury LGA provides an affordable housing option, when compared to the Sydney SD. However for some very low, low and moderate income households affordability remains an issue with 51% of these groups being impacted by housing stress | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | ACTIONS B2.1 Integrate affordable housing into new urban developments. B2.2 Locate affordable housing within centre catchment and close to public transport and services. B2.3 Provide housing to meet special needs i.e. essential workers, itinerant residents, elderly, cultural groups, etc B3.1 PLANNING: LEP and DCP controls are to protect the supply of existing affordable housing. B3.1 PARTNERSHIP: Facilitate partnerships with State Government, Community Housing groups and developers to facilitate development of affordable housing | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing integrated into new developments | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing integrated into new developments. Desirable location for affordable housing, to ensure residents can access a broad range of services available in major centres | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing integrated into new developments. Priority location for affordable housing, to ensure residents can access a broad range of services available in major centres. | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Demand for high density dwellings is not anticipated to be large, however they may play a role in affordable housing, housing for older people and in general improving overall dwelling choice | Social Policy | Affordable housing | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing integrated into new developments. Desirable location for affordable housing, to ensure residents can access a broad range of services available in major centres. Cluster of shops for daily shopping with 10-50 shops: Employment and Centres Service Infrastructure Public Transport (target) Open Space and Recreation Natural Environment -Small supermarket | Health and Wellbeing | Accessible healthy food retail | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Affordable housing integrated into new developments. Priority location for affordable housing, to ensure residents can access a broad range of services available in major centres. Retail and service focus to serve large residential catchment: -Large group of retail services -1-2 supermarkets | Health and Wellbeing | Accessible healthy food retail | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Small cluster of shops for daily shopping 5-30 shops | Health and Wellbeing | Accessible healthy food retail | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Agriculture and Rural Land Hawkesbury LGA has an extensive amount of agricultural land which should be protected to maintain a significant economic resource. Future urban development on prime agricultural land should be restricted with any property clearly assessed in detail, with conflicts between urban development in rural and agricultural areas avoided. Agriculture in The Hawkesbury is already a significant economic contributor and will be increasingly important and in demand as transport costs rise. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Challenges for agriculture include water sources for irrigation and availability of agricultural land in future as competition from other rural and ancillary uses demands high quality agricultural locations. As such, urban development in proximity to agricultural land needs to be buffered to avoid impacts on future residents of agricultural uses, such as noise, odour, hours of operation and pesticides. While agricultural land needs to be buffered from urban land uses to minimise impacts such as run off, loss of viable holdings and loss of production potential. Implications for the Hawkesbury Residential Strategy _ Agriculture is important to the local and regional economy and should not be impacted by future urban or rural residential development. _ Urban and rural residential development in rural and agricultural areas should avoid conflicts between uses and maintain economic and tourism resources for the LGA. _ Future urban and rural residential development on prime agricultural land should be clearly assessed for its benefits before approval. _ Land auditing and an assessment of the scale and nature of land food production is required in the short term before further erosion of this important resource. 4 | 16 Hawkes | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | external benefits of a proximate and accessible food supply (future cost savings from reduced need to transport food) are increasingly important in considering the merits of urban development versus protecting agricultural production. Consequently there will be a need for food to be produced as close as possible to population concentrations. Agricultural and rural industries in the Hawkesbury, which already plays a significant economic contributor, will therefore be increasingly important and in demand. As identified in the Hawkesbury Employment Lands Strategy 2008, Hawkesbury contains 16 percent of vegetable and other crop establishments in the Sydney Basin (ABS, 2006). There has also been international demand for the Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate Trail and its products. As food security becomes a more pressing issue and demand increases, management of Hawkesbury’s agricultural lands will gain in importance. This will require forward planning to assess the scale and nature of land that would become more valuable for food production for the Sydney Basin in the future. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | G9 Prime agricultural land: G9.1.1 There is an extensive amount of agricultural G9.2.1 Prime agricultural land is to be protected. land which provides a significant resource to G9.2.2 Urban development in rural and agricultural areas should be the LGA and the Sydney Metropolitan Region which requires protecting. G9.1.2 Protection of rural landscapes as productive G9.2.3 Protect the potential for future agricultural productions as and landscape areas are essential to circumstances and opportunities change. maintain a significant economic resource in G9.2.4 Future urban development on prime agricultural land needs terms of primary production as well as to demonstrate the rationale for loss of prime agricultural tourism in the LGA. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | G9.3.1 PLANNING: Maintain agriculture as a viable industry. avoided to minimise conflicts between uses and to maintain G9.3.2 PLANNING: LEP and DCP to protect existing high economic and tourism resources for the LGA. quality agricultural lands from urban expansion or conflicting landuses | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Hawkesbury LGA also has an extensive amount of agricultural land which provides a significant resource to the LGA and the Sydney Metropolitan Region. Rural landscapes contribute to the pastoral industry as well as the rural character of the LGA. Protection of these productive and landscape areas is essential to maintain a significant economic resource in terms of primary production as well as tourism. As identified in the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy, agriculture in the Sydney region represents up to 12 percent of NSW’s total agricultural production and contributes $1 billion to the Sydney economy. The market proximity a suitable climate are the major reasons why agriculture is in the fringe of Sydney. Agriculture provides for a large proportion of the fresh affordable food that is consumed in Sydney (http://www.ruralplanning.com.au/ruralplanning/). | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy 2011 Development within Hawkesbury LGA is further constrained by the need to retain agricultural land to maintain a long term food supply within proximity to the metropolitan region. Hawkesbury LGA is part of the Sydney Basin which is a fertile agricultural area which produces two thirds of NSW’s vegetable production by weight (SGS 2008). The Basin is strategically significant in providing food to the Sydney region and benefited by its proximity to this market, securing areas for food production within proximity to this market will become more significant as the cost of transportation increases. As such, future urban development should be balanced with securing long-term food production areas within Hawkesbury LGA and within the Sydney Basin. 2 | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy 2011 ALL CENTRES ALL CENTRES Sustainability Element Criteria Prime Agricultural Land Sustainability Element Criteria Prime agricultural land is to be protected. Urban development in rural and agricultural areas should be avoided to minimise conflicts between uses and to maintain economic and tourism resources for the LGA. There is a need to protect the potential for future agricultural productions as circumstances and opportunities change. The protection of agricultural land is also seen as important by the local community for protecting the rural, scenic quality of the Hawkesbury. Future urban development on prime agricultural land needs to demonstrate the rationale for loss of prime agricultural land and loss of economic activity, employment and food source in the LGA and should be clearly assessed for its benefits before approval. Bus | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | PLANNING: Support specialised industry sectors of Agriculture and Government, Administration and Defence. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |
| Hawkesbury Residential Land Strategy | external benefits of a proximate and accessible food supply (future cost savings from reduced need to transport food) are increasingly important in considering the merits of urban development versus protecting agricultural production. Consequently there will be a need for food to be produced as close as possible to population concentrations. Agricultural and rural industries in the Hawkesbury, which already plays a significant economic contributor, will therefore be increasingly important and in demand. As identified in the Hawkesbury Employment Lands Strategy 2008, Hawkesbury contains 16 percent of vegetable and other crop establishments in the Sydney Basin (ABS, 2006). There has also been international demand for the Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate Trail and its products. As food security becomes a more pressing issue and demand increases, management of Hawkesbury’s agricultural lands will gain in importance. This will require forward planning to assess the scale and nature of land that would become more valuable for food production for the Sydney Basin in the future. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Hawkesbury | Metropolitan |