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August 2026
A message from the Chair of the State Planning Commission – Craig Holden
Welcome to the August edition of Planning Ahead. I’m pleased to share that the State Planning Commission has appointed a new State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP).
SCAP plays an important role in South Australia’s planning system, meeting regularly to assess development of state significance and helping to ensure outcomes that reflect the long-term interests of our communities.
I’m delighted to welcome Nathan Cunningham as Presiding Member, alongside David Altmann as Deputy Presiding Member, as well as several new and returning members whose expertise spans planning, design, local government, law, architecture and project delivery. This breadth of knowledge is essential to ensuring balanced, well-considered decisions that support good planning outcomes for our state.
I also want to acknowledge and thank our outgoing members for their valuable contribution over recent years. Their commitment and expertise have helped shape important decisions within the planning system, and I am grateful for the role they have played. I look forward to working with the new panel as they begin this important work.
I hope you enjoy this edition and the updates it shares across South Australia’s planning system.
A message from the Executive Director Planning and Building – Marc Voortman
Achieving the best planning outcomes for South Australia is made possible by ensuring that our state's planning system is informed by the aspirations and views of community, industry and all levels of government.
Currently, the team at DHUD is supporting the State Planning Commission to gather feedback on the draft State-Wide Flood Hazard Code Amendment to update our flood hazard mapping and planning rules and ensure new development is located and designed to address flood risk, now and in the future. This code amendment affects the whole state and I encourage you to find out more about the proposed updates and share your views.
We are working to identify potential practice direction updates to improve building inspections, utilising the valuable feedback received on the Discussion Paper on Inspection Policies.
And we have completed our review of submissions received on the final draft Engineering Requirements for Land Division and are now updating the design standard in response to stakeholder feedback. These reforms aim to streamline assessment processes and enable more homes to be built faster across South Australia's growth areas. You can read a summary of what we heard and the next steps.
Stakeholder input played an important role in the Expert Panel’s recommendation regarding development requirements for installing electric vehicle charging stations, which is delivered through new regulations and a new Ministerial Building Standard.
We greatly value the insights and feedback we receive, which help us deliver better planning policy, processes and guidance to benefit all South Australians.
SA leads the nation with record breaking housing year
More homes were completed in South Australia in the year to March 2026 than in any other year on record, comfortably surpassing the South Australian Government's target of 13,500 homes a year.
According to ABS Building Activity Data, 14,130 homes were completed in South Australia in the year ending March 2026, up 16.5 per cent from 12,131 completed in the year to March 2025, and the highest annual total ever recorded.
Dwelling commencements and the number of homes under construction also climbed in South Australia.
This is supported by the state’s highest level of annual home approvals in more than 40 years in the year to June 2026.
These result build on the momentum generated by the Housing Roadmap, which has driven planning reforms, land releases and workforce investment to lift the state's building pace.
Consultation closes soon: draft State-Wide Flood Hazard Code Amendment
The State Planning Commission is seeking feedback on the draft State-Wide Flood Hazard Code Amendment to update flood hazard mapping and planning rules across the state, based on new and updated flood studies and modelling.
It aims to guide how development should address flood risk and be designed to keep people and property safe from floods.
- more consistent and updated mapping: using the latest flood studies and data to update flood hazard overlay mapping, based on more contemporary standards and modelling, and applying the three flood hazard overlays more consistently across the state
- improved planning rules: introducing definitions and enhanced policies to make development assessments clearer and more consistent, and to align with national guidance
- faster process for future mapping updates: enabling a streamlined process to update flood hazard overlay mapping in the future as more contemporary flood studies and data become available.
Consultation closes 13 August.
New Ministerial Building Standard for electric vehicle charging stations
Ministerial Building Standard MBS 13 – installation of electric vehicle charging stations has now been adopted.
The new Ministerial Building Standard establishes the minimum requirements that apply where development approval is required for electrical vehicle charging stations in covered or underground areas.
The Ministerial Building Standard supports regulation 17(4) of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Regulations 2025, which commenced on 1 July 2026, and excludes the construction of electric vehicle charging stations from the definition of development, except (amongst other things) where they are located in an underground or covered area and are not associated with a Class 1 building under the Building Code.
Discussion paper on inspection policies: update
The State Planning Commission released the Discussion Paper on Inspection Policies for public feedback from 5 December 2025 to 19 February 2026.
The discussion paper provided an opportunity to inform how practice direction 8 and practice direction 9 can support better quality building inspections, leading to safer buildings for our communities.
A total of 44 submissions were received from local and state government, the building and development industry, planning professionals and the broader community.
Read a summary of what we heard during consultation and next steps.
All feedback is now being collated and considered in detail to help shape future updates to building inspection policies.
Advice for development near licenced pipelines helps save time and reduce costs
To help proponents of development near gas and liquid petroleum pipelines meet DTS (Deemed to Satisfy) requirements, avoid unnecessary referrals and reduce costs, the Department for Energy and Mining’s Regulation Compliance Division (RCD) has developed an advice document and template.
Advice on Assessment of Development Applications in the Vicinity of Gas and Liquid Petroleum Pipelines, Licensed under the Energy Resources Act 2000 outlines the information required by the RCD as both the referral body and pipeline industry regulator.
The template provides a framework to identify potential risks, record agreed mitigation measures and demonstrate compliance with Gas and Liquid Petroleum Pipelines Overlay or Gas and Liquid Petroleum Pipeline (Facilities) Overlay requirements before lodgement through the PlanSA portal.
The DTS criteria encourage proponents to establish a preliminary agreement with the relevant pipeline licensee before lodging an application. Where an agreement is reached and provided as part of the development application, referral requirements may be avoided.
Updated fees and charges for 2026/27 financial year
Updated fees and charges for the 2026/27 financial year relating to development assessment under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 are available on the PlanSA website.
These updated fees apply from 1 July 2026.
