November 2024

A message from the Chair of the State Planning Commission - Craig Holden

On behalf of the Commission members, I would like to sincerely thank Sally for her service. Her ability to provide clarity and advice on complex planning matters has been invaluable. And while we will miss Sally, we are pleased to welcome Marc Voortman, Executive Director of Planning and Building at DHUD, to the Commission in his new role as ex officio and we look forward to working together.

I would also like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Stuart Moseley who has now finished his three-year commitment as a Commission member. Stuart is the current Chief Executive Officer at the Victorian Planning Authority, and his experience and national perspective has been deeply appreciated.

The Commission’s work continues apace as we approach the end of the year, and to help keep people up to date with our activities we have launched a new blog on our website. The ‘SPC Spotlight’ blog will feature updates on, and insights into our work and projects. The first article is now live – you can access it via the SPC website.

Message from the Deputy Chief Executive, Department for Housing and Urban Development - Sally Smith

A new code amendment landing page and code amendment register was recently launched on the PlanSA website. This update is the first in a series of projects aimed at improving the code amendment process as outlined in the Housing Roadmap. Several other key projects and progress updates from the Roadmap and Expert Panel recommendations will be ready to announce soon.

Finally, PlanSA’s latest performance indicators report shows that not only is our planning system improving year-on-year, but that recent changes to regulations and the Planning and Design Code are helping get houses to market quicker than ever. It’s encouraging data, and you can read more in the article below.

State Planning Commission member changes

The State Planning Commission, South Australia’s independent planning advisory, has announced a change of members which came into effect on 1 November.

Since becoming a Commission member in 2021, Stuart Moseley has made an invaluable contribution to the planning direction of the state. He finished his three-year commitment on 31 October. Stuart will continue his strong association with the Government of South Australia advising the Department for Housing and Urban Development (DHUD) on the implementation of infrastructure schemes.

Sally Smith has served on the Commission as the ex officio since the Commission’s inception in 2017. After her many years of dedicated service, Sally will be stepping down to focus on her recently announced role as Deputy Chief Executive at DHUD as well as continuing to lead the Planning and Land Use Services division within the Department.

The position of ex officio will now be served by Marc Voortman. Marc was appointed to the role of Executive Director of Planning and Building at DHUD in January 2024 after many years in local government leadership roles.

The State Planning Commission will now be served by Mr Craig Holden (Chair), Ms Stephanie Johnston, Ms Lisa Teburea, Mr John Stimson, Mr David O’Loughlin and Mr Marc Voortman. Collectively the members bring a diversity of expertise in planning, urban design, development, local government and social and environmental policy.

The State Planning Commission guides the decision-making within state government, local government and community and business organisations with respect to planning, development and infrastructure provisions in South Australia. The Commission was established on 1 April 2017 with the commencement of the new planning Act.

PlanSA performance indicators report - approving more homes faster

The Performance Indicators Annual Report 2023-24 provides a multi-year comparison of the planning system, using 3 full years of data to track performance. 

The report shows that not only is our planning system is improving year-on-year, but that recent changes to the regulations and the Planning and Design Code are helping get houses to market quicker than ever.

Streamlined approvals in greenfield areas resulted in more than 500 dwelling applications being approved with no planning consent required in 2023-24. This compares to just 18 streamlined approvals in the previous year. 

Approvals for land division were up 19 per cent this year with 4,347 additional allotments issued a Land Division Certificate, meaning there is more land available for new houses. 

Enhancements to the PlanSA e-planning system have increased productivity, with more on-time planning consents granted than ever before. 

More restricted developments, which are complex applications that require extensive consultation, were assessed on-time: 84 per cent compared to 78 per cent last financial year.   

The report also shows that PlanSA has facilitated record levels of investment in South Australia, with more than $5 billion worth of residential and commercial development approvals granted in 2023-24 alone.  

Further PlanSA enhancements, announced as part of the Housing Roadmap, will make it easier to track code amendments with new tools including a dashboard, updated toolkit, and code amendment management system coming soon. This will make it simpler to monitor and report data associated with the planning system.   

The Department is also working to make performance data more accessible so that all users can access the insights generated by the system indicators.  

New code amendment landing page

In October a new code amendment landing page and code amendment register were launched on the PlanSA website.

These website updates are the first step in delivering transparent tracking of code amendments as outlined in the South Australian Housing Roadmap. The changes include:

• a landing page with key code amendment details and status
• an enhanced overview page which includes resources, templates and documents for each stage of the code amendment process
• a new code amendment register which can be filtered by the code amendment title, type, stage, local council area or initiation stage
• easy access to provide feedback on code amendments currently on consultation  
• an overview page for each code amendment which includes key dates and updated documentation for each stage.

Consultation open on John Rice Code Amendment

Northern suburbs community members and the wider public are invited to provide feedback on a proposal by the Government of South Australia to rezone a parcel of land in Elizabeth South to pave the way for up to 300 new homes in an existing residential area.

The proposal forms one of the many code amendments identified in the South Australian Government’s Housing Roadmap, which seeks to increase the supply of land to create more homes to help address the housing crisis.

The site is situated south of John Rice Avenue, Elizabeth South between Philip Highway and Commercial Road, opposite the Lionsgate Business Park (former Holden factory site). The site has a long-standing Employment zoning, but the land has never been developed for commercial or industrial purposes.

The proposal would see 12.1 ha of vacant land (9.1 ha Employment zoned land owned by state government and 3 ha of council land zoned General Neighbourhood) rezoned to ‘Master Planned Neighbourhood’. This could accommodate a diverse range of housing and the potential for complementary recreational, community service and retail uses.

The proposal would also extend the Affordable Housing Overlay, which requires developments of over 20 dwellings to provide 15 per cent affordable housing. The proposal also seeks to apply the Urban Tree Canopy Overlay, which promotes the planting of new trees and retention of existing mature trees, such as those that line  the John Rice Avenue boundary of the site.

Should the proposal be approved, it is anticipated housing construction could commence from the end of 2026.

The state government is seeking the community’s feedback on the proposal for how the land could be rezoned to support a new residential community. All feedback will help inform the final Code Amendment.

Members of the public are invited to review the proposal and provide their feedback by visiting the YourSAy website by 5:00 pm Monday 2 December 2024.

Draft community title land division amendments to the General Regulations

Consultation is open on draft amendments to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017, prepared in response to cases where community lots have been sold without suitable access.

The draft Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) (Community Title Land Division) Amendment Regulations 2024 propose the following key amendments to the General Regulations:

• a new prescribed condition under regulation 85A, requiring that the construction of common property comprising a driveway or private road must be completed before the Commission issues its land division certificate
• amending regulation 88 to allow the Commission to issue its land division certificate where the above condition has not been satisfied if the applicant enters into an agreement with the relevant local council that is supported by adequate security
• amending regulation 88(2) to include community plan (in addition to strata plan) under the under the Community Titles Act 1996 (as the case requires)
• amending Schedule 8 to require an application for community title land division proposing the construction of a common driveway or private road, to be accompanied by details of the design of the driveway or road and the costs associated with the construction of the driveway or road, to assist councils in determining the amount required to be held as security.

These proposed changes are part of the South Australian Government’s commitment to investigating mechanisms to ensure consumers purchasing community title properties are adequately protected.

This follows updates to Practice Direction 12, which provide flexibility for the State Planning Commission to issue its land division certificate under section 138 of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 where councils are satisfied that either the common driveway has been constructed or that evidence of appropriate security for the construction of the common driveway has been provided.

Have your say

Consultation on the draft Amendment Regulations ​​is open from Friday, 22 November to Friday, 20 December 2024.

Feedback and comments can be submitted via email to PlanSASubmissions@sa.gov.au by 20 December.

Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Code Amendment finalised

The Ancillary Accommodation and Student Accommodation Definitions Review Code Amendment is now finalised and has been adopted by the Minister for Planning.

As a result of the amendment, granny flats will no longer have to share kitchens, bathrooms and laundries with the main house, while student accommodation can include individual facilities to be self-contained. The changes will help provide a greater range of housing options to support affordability and ageing in place.

During the consultation period, stakeholders and the community shared valuable feedback that helped shape the draft code amendment. This feedback was incorporated into the final version of code amendment, and resulted in the following key changes:

• maximum floor area criteria for ancillary accommodation increased from 60 to 70 square metres to support living amenity
• the part of the definition of ancillary accommodation relating to utilities was removed and included within the related policy instead, thereby enabling assessment of utilities connection to be undertaken on a discretionary basis by the relevant authority
• included a new policy for ancillary accommodation specifying that the primary dwelling’s private open space is accessible to all occupiers of the site; this will ensure that ancillary accommodation has access to private open space and will further reinforce that ancillary accommodation is not a separate dwelling
• referred to a ‘site’ instead of an ‘allotment’ in the definition of ancillary accommodation, consistent with other definitions.

View the engagement report for more information about what we heard and how community feedback influenced the final code amendment.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their feedback. To see what other code amendments are currently open for consultation, visit the PlanSA website.

Festival Plaza Code Amendment update

Consultation on the draft Festival Plaza Code Amendment was open from 12 September to 24 October 2024.

A total of 87 submissions were received from state government, industry, advocacy groups and community during the consultation and we are now considering all feedback in finalising the code amendment.

An engagement report is being prepared, which includes a summary of written submissions and feedback received, how these were considered, and proposed updates to the draft code amendment that was released for consultation.

Once completed, this report will be provided to the Minister for Planning to enable a final decision on the code amendment.

View a short summary of what we heard during consultation and information about the next steps in finalising the draft code amendment.

More information about the Festival Plaza Code Amendment is available on the PlanSA and YourSAy websites.

Draft Residential Driveway Crossovers Design Standard to be incorporated into future engineering standards

Following public consultation, the Residential Driveway Crossovers Design Standard and associated Code Amendment will not progress in their current form and will be incorporated into future engineering standards.

A total of 84 unique submissions were received during consultation on the draft design standard between 23 August and 14 November 2023.

Broadly speaking, the submissions recognised the work that has gone into producing a draft design standard for public comment and that the design standard’s objective was a worthy aspiration.

However, several significant matters were raised that require further and more detailed investigation by the Commission.

Therefore, the Commission wrote to the Minister for Planning recommending that the draft design standard and Code Amendment not proceed in their current form. The Minister has agreed to the Commission’s recommendation.

As outlined in the South Australian Government’s Housing Roadmap, the Housing Infrastructure Planning and Development Unit (HIPDU) within the Department for Housing and Urban Development will prepare engineering standards for residential land divisions in growth areas across South Australia. These will be delivered as design standards in the planning system that will be consulted on in 2025.

The Commission has requested that HIPDU incorporate driveway crossovers into these engineering standards, taking into consideration the feedback received from councils, industry and community as part of this consultation process.

The community, industry and councils will be invited to provide feedback on the draft engineering standards once they have been developed.

Further details of feedback received is available in the engagement report. For more information visit the YourSAy website.