DPTI report identifies 12,000 homes demolished across Adelaide for urban infill in six years
Thousands of family homes are being demolished across Adelaide and replaced by two-storeyed townhouses. Here is how many have been lost in your neighbourhood in the past six years.
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More than 12,000 houses have been demolished across Adelaide in the past seven years for urban infill, official figures show.
The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) has determined an average of 2000 demolitions occurred annually within the metropolitan area between 2012 and 2018 to clear sites for new housing or to create vacant allotments.
A departmental study found 12,022 houses on traditional “quarter acre” blocks were replaced by 18,245 new dwellings — predominantly double-storey town houses and units.
Data collected by DPTI shows the most demolitions occurred within the Charles Sturt, Port Adelaide Enfield, Marion, Campbelltown, West Torrens, Tea Tree Gully and Onkaparinga council areas.
A Department of Planning Transport and Infrastructure study found there was “a concentration of demolitions within 10km of the CBD, and spreading further out to suburbs in the northeast and south within Tea Tree Gully, Campbelltown, Salisbury, Marion and Onkaparinga”.
A departmental report said the infill was the result of the 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide introduced by the previous Labor government in 2010.
Under the plan – updated in 2017 – metropolitan councils were forced to approve multiple dwellings on single blocks of land near public transport routes, shopping centres and schools.
The extent of infill since has caused widespread community concern, with residents complaining about poor design, overdevelopment of allotments, lack of street parking, overshadowing and loss of canopy cover.
Campbelltown Council last month received approval from Planning Minister Stephan Knoll to increase its minimum block size from 150sq m to 250sq m after years of complaints.
Mayor Jill Whittaker has welcomed those changes, saying they will help address problems of parking and design that had frustrated many residents.
Mr Knoll is overseeing the introduction of new planning regulations that were released last week by the State Planning Commission for community consultation.
The new regulations include various measures to address public concerns about infill, which is providing more than 40 per cent of Adelaide’s new housing.
The DPTI report said the “steady increase” in the rate of demolitions experienced across Adelaide since 2004 “is expected to continue in the foreseeable future”.
“The average replacement rate across demolition sites has also steadily increased, from 1.7 in 2004 to the current rate of 1.85, indicating increasing densities on demolition sites,” it said.
“The average replacement rate indicates that for every one dwelling that is lost to demolition, 1.85 new dwellings will replace it.”
Under the proposed planning changes, infill will be targeted by a range of measures in a bid to improve the quality of buildings and address community concerns.
Planning commissioner Michael Lennon said “minor infill” was the biggest contributor of new housing stock in South Australia, “helping to address the demand for housing in established areas and contain the spread of development within the Greater Adelaide region and into our important agricultural lands”.
“This is driven by changed demographics, household formation, market demand and residential preferences over the past decade,” he said.
“Communities have raised concerns as to the impact some of these new homes are having on existing neighbourhood character, traffic on local streets, loss of vegetation and tree canopy, issues with overshadowing and the loss of privacy, and site coverage when buildings are replaced with more dense building forms.”
Mr Lennon said the Planning Commission had proposed a range of practical solutions in the draft Planning and Design Code “to address these issues and better align development outcomes with community expectations”.
“The draft code focuses on increasing tree planting and space for gardens, introducing maximum driveway widths to make more room for front gardens and street trees, incorporating design features into building facades, making garaging accessible and convenient, ensuring developments have adequate on and off-site parking and including provisions for water tanks to assist with stormwater run-off and reuse,” he said.
In a letter to the editor in Tuesday’s Advertiser, Protect our Heritage Alliance convener Warren Jones expressed his concerns about existing infill.
“Already through our suburbs, we are seeing unfettered infill developments with no trees, no greening, little open space and inadequate parking,” he said.
Acting Planning Minister Rob Lucas urged people concerned about urban infill to provide their feedback on the draft planning code.
“I am advised that the code will provide a better framework for infill development which adheres to community expectations,” he said.
“I would encourage all stakeholders and the broader community to provide their feedback on the draft code.”