Salisbury Places of Worship PAR*
There is often insufficient guidance in Development Plans regarding places of worship. At the same time, there is increasing diversity among the types of places of worship, and newer forms of places of worship are developing. Many places of worship now seek to provide more than just the traditional Sunday worship, with an increasing range of religious and non-religious community activities available throughout the week.
Places of worship are unique planning issues, particularly in respect to regional scale places of worship. Key questions are:
- Are they an appropriate land use within a residential and/or industry zone?
- What are their impacts on the amenity and character of a locality?
- What are the impacts from traffic generation and car parking, lighting and noise spillage?
To address the emerging issue of regional places of worship, the City of Salisbury engaged URPS personnel to prepare a Places of Worship PAR. The investigations culminated in a policy outcome that sought to recognise the different types and catchments (scale) of places of worship. For instance, although places of worship are still encouraged within centre zones, planning policy was amended to allow certain types of places of worship in residential areas and at the edges of non-prime industrial zones. Those policies reflect the diverse and changing nature of places of worship.
*PAR (Plan Amendment Report) is the abbreviation for what is now referred to as a DPA (Development Plan Amendment).