April 2022

Message from the Chair of the State Planning Commission

Recent research undertaken by the University of South Australia has highlighted just how important residential trees are in cooling and protecting our suburbs and reducing energy requirements for homes. The research paper can be viewed on the University of South Australia's website.

In the pursuit of better future for all South Australians, the Commission is grateful for the research being undertaken by our state’s universities. We are currently partnering with the University of Adelaide on the Open Space and Tree Project which will be one of our priority projects for 2022.

Speaking of stakeholders and partnerships, last week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the 2022 UDIA Urban Futures State Conference. Our new Minister for Planning, Housing and Urban Development the Hon. Nick Champion was also there, and it was great to be able to join him on stage as part of a panel discussion on the future of development in our State. Thank you to the organisers and attendees.

Craig Holden
Chair, State Planning Commission

Message from the Executive Director, Team PLUS

Machinery of Government changes like this take time. Over the next few months the details will be worked through with the official transition expected by the end of the financial year.

Earlier this month I met with David Reynolds the new Chief Executive of the Department for Trade and Investment. Merging with Trade and Investment presents an exciting opportunity for PLUS since we share their aim to foster a thriving state for all South Australians. More details on the move will be provided in the coming months.

Planning work continues apace here at PLUS. Earlier in the month members of the Regional Planning team travelled to Port Pirie for a site visit as part of preliminary work for the Port Pirie Master Plan Project. This is a significant project which will involve close collaboration with the Port Pirie Regional Council and a range of other State Government agencies. In addition to its primary objective of helping to reduce blood lead and environmental lead levels, the Port Pirie Master Plan Project will involve planning for long-term economic prosperity, community wellbeing, climate change resilience and environmental sustainability in one of our State’s most significant regional communities.

Another major project in progres is the Statewide Bushfire Hazards Overlay Code Amendment. This project will review the current policy framework (spatial layers and policy content) of the six Hazard (Bushfire Risk) Overlays as well as explore other planning instruments and mechanisms to assist in mitigating bushfire hazard impacts. Public consultation on this Code Amendment is scheduled for later this year.

Sally Smith
Executive Director, Planning and Land Use Services

New Festival Plaza public realm

The first stage of the Festival Plaza Public Realm, designed by ARM Architecture and documented by ASPECT Studios, was formally opened in March. The Office of Design and Architecture SA (ODASA) and the State Assessment team at PLUS played a key role in the assessment and design development of the Plaza through the pre-lodgement process.

The Festival Plaza Public Realm project aims to create an urban landscape which connects the various significant buildings in the Adelaide Riverbank precinct and which also:

• improves connectivity between the city centre and the riverbank area
   
• reinforces the vistas and view corridors to significant buildings in the precinct (Parliament, Adelaide Railway Station and Festival Centre)
   
• creates a new world class civic square that will become a focus of community activity and recreation
   
• prioritises pedestrians and the visitor experience within the precinct.

Once complete the project will provide 16,500 square metres of renewed public open space in the areas surrounding the Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Railway Station, SkyCity Casino, Parliament House, Old Parliament House and Station Road. It will also deliver a large interactive water feature, several refurbished public artworks, sheltered seating areas and a series of 16 bespoke arbours.

Further information and updates can be found on the project website.

Raising the bar on residential infill 

Infill development is the single largest provider of new housing in Greater Adelaide, with a projected net annual increase of approximately 2500 residential dwellings.

Last year the State Planning Commission introduced mandatory tree planting policy for new residential infill development. This policy is a critical first step towards increasing green canopy across South Australia.  

To support and create cooler and more liveable neighbourhoods, a target has been set to increase urban green cover by 20% in the current 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide (2017). The new policy requires at least 1 tree and 15% soft landscaping for new residential developments on blocks of 200 square metres, and up to 4 trees and 25% soft landscaping on blocks of 800 square metres. 

As well as mandatory tree planting, other policies have been introduced which cover stormwater management, carparking and garaging and street appeal and façade.

You can read more about these important changes in the updated brochure ‘Raising the bar on residential infill’. This brochure provides an overview of the policy implemented in the Planning and Design Code to improve residential infill and the benefits supported by evidence-based research.

The Department and the Commission will be using data from PlanSA to monitor the rollout of new homes in infill areas and to check whether the new policy is resulting in improved outcomes for established suburbs. This will form part of the Commission’s 12-month review of the infill policy, including the Tree Off-Set Scheme.

Records shed new light on SA’s history  

History buffs will soon be able to view what is believed to be the earliest surviving government record created in South Australia, after it was recently re-discovered in the archives of the Office of the Surveyor-General.

The record (Field Book 73) is a field book by Assistant Surveyor Boyle Travers Finniss who later became the first premier of South Australia. It journals the first months after he arrived in South Australia in September 1836, as one of the first British settlers and part of the initial surveying team.

Amy Vanner, from State Records, said the 1836 field book was especially significant as few official documents from the early days of the South Australian colony remain.

Field book 73 is one of a number of historic documents identified as significant which are currently being transferred from the Office of the Surveyor-General to State Records.

As of 1 March, 509 individual records have been transferred to State Records, of which about 350 are pre-1901. Another 2000 pre-1901 records will be transferred in the coming weeks.

People interested in viewing the original documents should contact State Records. The State Records’ Research Centre is open Tuesday to Thursday, by appointment.

Scanned images of the surveyors’ field books are available free of charge from the South Australian Integrated Land Information System (SAILIS).

The colonial history of South Australia can be hard to reconcile but it’s important to look at it clearly if we want to move forwards. PLUS acknowledges the Aboriginal people as South Australia’s first people and nations and recognises that their sovereignty was never ceded. There is more work to be done to achieve true reconciliation in our communities.

Community engagement tender called  

Planning and Land Use Services (PLUS) has recently released a Request for Quote (RFQ) to establish a panel of experienced and qualified Community Engagement practitioners. Community Engagement is an essential part of our work at PLUS, and we are seeking practitioners to:

• Assist in planning, delivering and evaluating community engagement programs under the State Planning Commission (SPC) Community Engagement Charter (the Charter)
   
• Provide support with other stakeholder engagement activities as required to ensure PLUS programs and services continue to meet customer needs.

For more information about this opportunity, please login or sign up to SA Tenders and Contracts and search using the below details.

• Tender Name: Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Services for Planning and Land Use Services (PLUS)
   
• Tender Code: AGD051160

The Request for Quote closes at 2:00 pm on Friday 6 May 2022.

Building Ministers’ meeting – March 2022   

As the new Minister for Planning, the Hon. Nick Champion is South Australia’s representative at the national Building Ministers’ Meeting (BMM). He attended his first meeting on Monday 28 March 2022. The BMM oversee the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and set its strategic direction.

At the March BMM, Commonwealth, State and Territory Building Ministers met to discuss residential energy efficiency and building readiness for emerging technologies, accessible housing provisions for the 2022 edition of the National Construction Code (NCC), and the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) Strategic Plan 2022.

Ministers met with industry representatives to discuss how building standards can assist in facilitating the residential energy efficiency provisions expected in modern homes. The ABCB also advised that their analysis is nearing completion and there are opportunities to improve residential energy efficiency with a net benefit to households in most parts of the country.

Direction was given for the ABCB to finalise its work as soon as possible and bring forward final advice mid-year for Ministers to make a final decision.

The Building Ministers also received an update on the work being developed to incorporate Distributed Energy Resources (DER) including roughing-in for solar PV energy systems, battery storage and bi-directional charging for electric vehicles.

The BMM unanimously agreed to endorse the ABCB Strategic Plan 2022 (to 2027) which outlines the organisation’s vision, strategic objectives, guiding principles and performance measures.

The Building Ministers’ Meeting Communique’s are published on the BMM website following each meeting.

Celebrating PLUS staff achievements  

Planning system performance update   

In March the planning system received over 4340 development application submissions totalling $942.9 million in development costs.

Visit the Performance Indicators page on the portal to view the latest stats and insights into the performance of the planning system.