Campbelltown Council wants garage dimensions modernised to have less cars parked on suburban streets

An Adelaide council at its wits’ end over streets becoming increasingly clogged with parked cars is proposing a major change to clear them up.

Parked cars are littering suburban streets as homeowners struggle to squeeze their oversized vehicles into tiny garages, leading to calls for the design code to be overhauled.

Campbelltown Council wants the state’s councils to back its call for the outdated code for single car garages to be modernised to truly reflect the growing size of vehicles.

Mayor Jill Whittaker said streets becoming congested with parked cars was an issue across the metropolitan area “where infill is occurring at a rapid rate”.

“The (garage) standards set in 1993 are inadequate because cars are becoming bigger and garages are not,” Ms Whittaker said.

“What it means is that people are having to park very valuable cars on the street, because they can’t park them in the garage, get out and grab their shopping because it’s too tight.

“It’s an issue happening everywhere, but the people of Campbelltown have been used to having spacious streets and are now having to learn a completely different way of driving so they can get through.”

A new development in Adelaide's west with single car garages, forcing many motorists to park on the street. Picture: Supplied

The council will ask the Local Government Association of SA’s annual general meeting on Friday to advocate to the state planning commissioner to change the code.

The council said the dimensions for single garages of 3m by 5.4m were “clearly not sufficient due to … the trend for vehicles to be bigger” and wanted it increased to 3.5m by 6m.

“The current minimum size is almost like that of a supermarket carparking space, hence why those that have the smaller garages will not use it for its intended purpose,” the motion read.

“This proposed increase would provide the single greatest chance of increasing usability of garages thereby resulting in less residents parking on the street.”

The council also wants provisions for rubbish bins and laundry/kitchen spaces to be excluded from the minimum garage dimensions and the number of parking spaces to have some correlation with the number of bedrooms in a home.

In supporting documents, the LGA acknowledged few issues were “as contentious” as parking and that some parking requirements hadn’t been updated since 1993.

Port Adelaide Council has also requested the AGM formally note SA councils’ endorsement of legislative changes that would move council elections from 2026 to 2027.

The council argued holding the state and local government elections in the same year created “voter fatigue” and was “too burdensome” of the Electoral Commission’s limited resources.

“By the time people are required to vote in council elections, they have lost interest and enthusiasm for another election,” the motion stated.

The LGA earlier this year outlined its support for the change – which would extend the term of current elected members – in a submission to the Local Government Minister on his elections review.