South Australia’s peak independent planning body has recommended special protections covering areas such as McLaren Vale and the Barossa remain unchanged.
Minister for Planning and Local Government Vickie Chapman has welcomed the State Planning Commission’s recommendations following a 2018 Review of the Character Preservation Districts*, saying it should put to bed any concerns held by residents.
“During this investigation, concerns were raised about potential boundary changes, and what that might mean for certain communities,” Minister Chapman said.
“This was fuelled by comments made by Labor MP Leon Bignell, which were misinformed and misleading.
“The 2018 Review was a legislated procedure, required under laws passed by the former Labor Government.
“The boundaries couldn’t have changed as a result of the Review, because changes can only occur through the Parliament.
“Despite that, Mr Bignell told residents that the Liberal Government was ‘sneakily using a Review’ to ‘rezone land to allow gutter to gutter housing’ to be built on prized agricultural land.
“This is completely, and utterly, untrue. It couldn’t occur then, and it certainly couldn’t occur now,” she said.
The SA Government’s recent land supply analysis of the Greater Adelaide area has confirmed there is enough land available to support growth and employment across the next 15 years. As such, the Commission has recommended that any change to the CPD boundaries would be unnecessary.
“I thank the Commission for carrying out this important investigation,” Minister Chapman said.
The completion of these CPD investigations was carried out in parallel with a statutory review of South Australia’s Environment and Food Production Areas (EFPA).
The Commission’s EFPA Review is ongoing and is required to be completed by 2022.
*In 2018 there was a legislated review of the two Character Preservation Acts undertaken by the State Government which recommended the Commission investigate the merits of amending eight locations within the two Character Preservation Districts (CPD).
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