The issue will be debated at tomorrow's council meeting in Braidwood.

When subdividing rural land, averaging allows for small lots to be created as long as the average size throughout the total holding is above the minimum allowed. The issue has implications in environmental, agricultural, administrative and financial factors as well as for the provision of council services.

The report states that "For several years verbal advice from the Department of Planning indicated that rural lot size averaging was unlikely to be allowed in new LEPs and that the Department intended to release a guideline or practice note to this effect. However nothing definite was received from the Department and in an attempt to bring the issue to a head a discussion paper on averaging was jointly prepared with Cooma-Monaro Council and submitted to the Department in December 2008."

The Discussion Paper sets out the history of lot sizes and averaging in the five shires that were amalgamated into Palerang in 2004, and suggest the advantages and disadvantages of the issue.

In the current Palerang planning system, under the old Yarrowlumla LEP 2002, rural subdivisions with a minimum of 8 ha (or 16 ha if prime agricultural land) and an average of 80 ha, with a maximum of 5 lots less than 80 ha, are allowed, while rural land under the Tallaganda LEP 1991 rural subdivision to 40 ha minimum size is allowed.

The Minister of Planning has invited the Mayor and General Manager, together with the Mayor and General Managers of Cooma-Monaro and Goulburn Mulwaree Councils to a meeting at the end of November to discuss lot size averaging.

Meanwhile, at the time of publication, it was not yet known what the outcome was of the application to the Minister for an exemption from 'conflict of interest', declared by all councillors, in preparing the LEP, although the Department of Local Government confirmed that a letter had been sent to Palerang Council last week.