Liberals move to scrap SA Government’s urban growth boundary plan
A BOUNDARY around greater Adelaide that would have blocked housing development on almost 800,000ha of rural land has been axed from the State Government’s planning laws before Parliament.
A BOUNDARY around greater Adelaide that would have blocked housing development on almost 800,000ha of rural land - from the Fleurieu Peninsula in the south, past Murray Bridge in the east and north to Kapunda - has been axed from the State Government’s planning laws before Parliament.
The Opposition last night moved changes to the Bill that delete an large environment and food protection area that Planning Minister John Rau wanted enshrined in law.
Mr Rau said striking a boundary would stop urban sprawl, encourage infill housing and deter corruption.
But the Liberal Opposition, supported by Family First and John Darley, got rid of the provision, citing industry concerns it was inflexible and would drive up house prices.
It is expected that tomorrow the Opposition will move further changes to the laws to allow elected members to continue to sit on council development assessment panels at the discretion of the minister.
The Liberals have proposed a series of amendments to the State Government’s planning overhaul, which continues to be debated in Parliament.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said regional councils in particular needed the flexibility to have elected members on DAPs.
He said the Government had not provided a compelling case to prove that an urban growth boundary enshrined in law would prevent dodgy land deals. Mr Marshall said industry had warned that it would stymie housing affordability.
Mr Rau said the food and environment protection area was a key plank of the Planning Bill and would remove power from a Minister and give it back to the Parliament.
He committed to reinstating the policy when the Bill came back to the Lower House.
“I’m not giving up on good policy just because a coalition of the unwilling and the uninformed have a good first quarter,” he said.
“By taking the power to rezone land in this green belt away from a Minister we are ensuring greater transparency and more checks and balances in the system.
“The Hills Face Zone has been spared from the developer’s bulldozer only by dumb luck. Any Planning Minister could rezone it for housing by the stroke of a pen.
“I want to require the Parliament to approve rezoning before anyone can bulldoze the Hills Face, or other prime agricultural land bordering our city. I want to give away my power as Minister back to the Parliament.”