MAJOR changes to the state's planning regulations could result in a blanket ban on housing development on farming land across the Lower North, Murraylands, Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula.
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Under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Bill 2015 – which has entered the committee stage – a vast area of land stretching from north of Kapunda to Cape Jervis and east of Murray Bridge would be declared an environment and food production area in an effort to curtail urban sprawl and protect prime farming land.
In the EFPA, proposed developments that created additional residential allotments would be refused authorisation, essentially banning housing growth outside of town boundaries.
Planning Minister John Rau said the zone would be modelled on the character preservation zones in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale.
"Combined with the existing Hills Face Zone and other open space zones, this will give Greater Adelaide a 'green belt', mirroring the parklands around the city mile itself," Mr Rau said.
"It will make sure our market gardeners, vignerons, and fruit growers spread through the Fleurieu and the Adelaide Hills can be certain that their livelihoods will not be affected by opportunistic urban development.
"At the same time, compatible rural activities, such as existing small-scale quarries will be able to continue consistent with appropriate zoning policies."
Member for Hammond Adrian Pederick said he was concerned the proposed rules would jeopardise economic growth in the Murraylands, while "adding an extra layer of red tape".
Mr Pederick said councils in his electorate – the Rural City of Murray Bridge and Alexandrina Council – had been experiencing strong growth, but were unaware of what impacts the zone boundary would have. He said a small scale map released by the government did not show the boundaries in sufficient detail.
"I'm just disappointed that the local councils haven't had any discussions about this or the wider community," he said.
"When you look at what happened with the character preservation areas in McLaren Vale and the Barossa, the legislation was debated out in the wider community for months and everyone had a reasonable idea what was going to happen with those areas."
He said the blanket approach to stopping urban sprawl was far from ideal.
"Putting a one size fits all approach from really strong country down to essentially salt flats next to a lake – I don't think that works. There's got to be a better plan," he said.
Rural City of Murray Bridge mayor Brenton Lewis said, to his knowledge, no one at the council had been consulted on the bill.
With the regional centre's population expected to rise from 21,000 to 35,000 in the next 20 years or so, he said the city needed room to grow. He said farming was vital to the region, but the development of processing and value-adding facilities was also essential.
"We want to protect our farming land and the right to farm, because agricultural production, processing and manufacturing is the biggest part of our economy by far," he said. "We punch above our weight – we're pushing $1 billion plus worth of product out of the region.
"We bring vegetables – particularly onions – beef, lamb, mutton, pork, grain and milk that's produced interstate and in other areas of the state. We're sourcing livestock from NSW, Vic, NT, WA into this region for value-adding and processing, that's why we've got jobs growth.
"It's fine to say we need to protect farming land, but we also need to have adequate services such as transport and processors. To say that you couldn't subdivide land for that purpose, or for housing to accommodate a growing workforce, would be ridiculous."
He said the map provided by the state government was a "work in progress", adding he was looking forward to the formal consultation period.
"We would be very disappointed if it was to continue to progress through parliament without adequate consultation with us as a growing community and economy," he said.
"We don't want to see the right to farm injured in any way, shape or form, but we need to plan for housing, light industrial areas and other business growth other than farming."
The government was contacted for further comment but did not respond before Stock Journal's deadline.
