Tea Tree Gully Council moves to consider minimum block size

Fancy a guaranteed backyard and three bedrooms in your suburban home rather than a tiny townhouse? This council thinks it knows how to keep the space.

Amid calls for more affordable housing, one state council is considering moving towards blocking urban in-fill and effectively reducing the amount of houses able to be built in the area.

The Tea Tree Gully Council passed a motion introduced by incumbent deputy mayor Lucas Jones advocating for a minimum block size greater than 200sq m.

Mr Jones requested council chief executive Ryan McMahon write to the State Planning Commission “requesting the size of new residential allotments be limited to a minimum block size”.

“(This is) to take into consideration challenges that many communities are currently experiencing in relations to urban fill,” he said.

Mr Jones said those challenges included traffic and parking issues, loss of privacy and waste and sewerage issues.

Incumbent Tea Tree Gully Deputy Mayor Lucas Jones has proposed a minimum block size in his council area to act against urban infill. Picture: File

Mr Jones said, in defence of a possible reduction in housing, the plan was not moved to address housing affordability.

“It is designed to stop our streets from being inundated with traffic management issues,” he said.

“Council received countless complaints from residents about issues associated with infill in our community.”

The Campbelltown Council was in 2019 granted approval by the state government to introduce minimum 250sq m block sizes.

The move came as residents expressed their concern about safety impacts stemming from infill housing around Newton Central Shopping Centre.

Previously black sizes of 150sq m had been the minimum, introduced by the previous Labor government under the 30 Year Greater Adelaide Plan to reduce urban sprawl.

State Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion, who could endorse the push from Tea Tree Gully Council as Planning Minister, chose not to comment.