South Australia’s planning system has again been judged the best in the nation, this time ranked number one in the inaugural Housing Industry Association Planning Blueprint Scorecard.

The report praised South Australia’s single, statewide planning system and endorsed the Malinauskas Government’s planning initiatives from the Housing Roadmap.

“Industry is encouraged by the recent release of the Governments’ Housing Roadmap that included bold new planning reforms that could see houses built on development sites up to 18 months faster.”
- HIA Planning Blueprint Scorecard

Changes to the code amendment process and resulting land division will significantly streamline the process to turn greenfield sites in housing.

The revised timeframe to turn an empty block of land into a housing development is now expected to be just 36-63 months, compared with 54-75 months under the old system.

This encompasses the code amendment process, plus development assessment, land division, engineering approval, civil works and dwelling construction.

A standardised template will be established for code amendments which will remove unnecessary details to initiate the rezoning of land.

The creation of a code amendment dashboard will also enable private proponents to track the progress of their rezoning application.

This latest accolade follows similar recent results, with SA’s planning system ranked number one in the Retirement Living Council’s National Planning Report Card and by the Business Council of Australia.

Quotes

Attributable to Nick Champion

Our planning system is the envy of all the other states.

We already knew South Australia has the most efficient planning system in the country and this latest result is proof the changes we are making will make it even better.

As we continue to implement various initiatives from the Housing Roadmap we will make it even easier and faster to build more homes for South Australians.

As well as streamlining planning processes the government is delivering housing by developing master planned communities in strategic infill sites such as West End Brewery, Seaton and Prospect.

Attributable to Stephen Knight, Executive Director Housing Industry Association

This is recognition of the work that has been done to improve the system in SA but there is still much more that can be done.

The recently announced planning improvements in the Housing Roadmap elevated SA up from a score of 2.5 to 3.0, delivering on this plan will improve the score even further.

Streamlining the approval of land for new housing will be vital for providing homes for all South Australians.

The centralised e-portal development approval system that is continuing to be enhanced with AI assessment potential for tick box level projects, will gain us more points in the future.