Tamworth Regional Council puts land next to airport up for lease

About 270 hectares of land, known as Malua Estate, is up for grabs, with much of it bordering Tamworth Regional Airport's security fence.

The land is zoned for primary production, which means any business which extracts raw material from nature - agriculture, oil and gas, logging and forestry, mining, fishing, and trapping - can apply for the lease.

But the details of the lease make the local council's intention for the land clear, including specifications for cattle grazing and an offer to construct a cattle yard for the prospective landholder.

The land also holds more than 50 hectares of critically endangered box-gum grassy woodland.

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When box gum trees, along with the grasses, shrubs and wildflowers beneath them, meet a high-quality set of criteria, it is considered by the Commonwealth Government to be an endangered ecological community.

Nearly one fifth of the land included in the proposed lease meets this criteria, meaning any potential landholder will have to take precautions to protect the land.

"A band of box-gum grassy woodland, a critically endangered ecological community, runs along the water course on the property. This area must be periodically grazed by cattle as per the environmental management plan as/when directed by council," the lease proposal states.

The land comes pre-packaged into small lots by existing fencing, and Bolton's Creek runs through the property to provide sustainable access to water.

Expressions of interest in the lease close on July 25.

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