Strategic Context
The Agricultural Land Commission operates within a dynamic environment influenced by factors including diverse and often competing interests as well as broader agricultural, land use, environmental, economic and societal trends. These influencing factors may be external (i.e., beyond the Commission's direct control) or internal (i.e., as a result of the Commission's own actions). External and internal factors that influenced the Commission within the 2005 – 06 service planning period include the following.
External Factors
- Despite efforts to reduce the number and type of uses requiring an application to the Commission, the number of applications submitted to the Commission has been increasing — including several notable and complex applications to exclude land from the ALR to accommodate urban growth. Strong economic growth, a buoyant housing market and continued population growth may underlie this increase. The following table shows the increase in the number of applications over the past three years.
| Year | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Applications | 463 | 544 | 560 |
Internal Factors
- The Commission committed to maintaining a high level of responsiveness, requiring additional effort on the part of regional panels to accommodate the increased application load. As a result, the Commission was unable to dedicate as many resources to pro-active planning work as it had anticipated during the 2005 – 06 period.
