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Pt Augusta Section 30

The Port Augusta Development Plan Review was commissioned by the Council in 2006 to analyse the planning issues facing the city and to establish a framework for the amendment of its Development Plan over a three year period.

Specifically, the review provided:

  • an understanding of the key development issues facing the Port Augusta area
  • an appreciation of the pressures to expand the residential, industrial and retail zones
  • identification of specific sites that may be suitable for redevelopment
  • an understanding of environmental and social matters that should be considered within any associated Development Plan Amendment.

The review involved extensive investigations and consultations, including providing land-owners one-on-one time with our expert planners to discuss their land and its future use. The Section 30 Review recommended six directions to guide a comprehensive overhaul of the Development Plan, as well as a range of more detailed actions to introduce new planning policy. The review also identified a number of propriety DPAs for Council to implement over a three to five year period. Preliminary costings for these DPAs were also included to assist in the budget process.

The Minister for Urban Development & Planning released the Ministerial Mount Barker Urban Growth Development Plan Amendment (DPA) in June 2010 for public consultation. This DPA proposes to rezone approximately 1300 hectares of rural land on the edges of Mt Barker and Nairne for residential and light industrial use.

With the aim of ensuring that its community was well informed and empowered to comment on the Ministerial DPA, the District Council of Mt Barker engaged URPS to run a series of information sessions for the local community. These six sessions were extremely well attended, with more than 300 people able to hear about and ask questions regarding the Ministerial DPA process and how to go about getting involved in this part of the planning system.

In a letter to the editor of the Mt Barker Courier, Jean Lovell of Nairne said that "Mt Barker Council is to be congratulated for its commitment to proper community consultation" and that URPS was "highly professional and responded in detail to questions in an articulate, honest and informed manner".

This is evidence of the success of these types of community information sessions and the goodwill and engagement that Mt Barker Council has fostered with its community through the process. We also believe that this type of process leads to informed and valuable input from the community to key planning initiatives such as this Ministerial DPA."