Local government representatives from around South Australia have joined a new forum with business aimed at boosting economic growth.

Reducing red tape for local businesses and planning reform have emerged as central themes from the Metropolitan Local Government Group (MLGG) think tank, which convened for the first time yesterday.

One of the ideas on the table involves reducing regulation for local hospitality businesses looking to expand.

MLGG chairman and Onkaparinga mayor Lorraine Rosenberg said some council regulation on local cafés may do more harm than good.

“If you’re a café, for instance, and you want to expand out onto the footpath … there are a whole lot of controls around that,” she said.

“You have to have bollards to prevent the traffic from maybe making contact (and) you’ve got to have distance between areas that the chairs are and (car) parks.

“There’s a whole lot of that regulation – which I’m sure has been put in place in the past for very good reasons – but maybe it’s time to look at (it). Are the regulations there for the sake of it, or are they actually achieving anything?”

Adelaide Central Market Chairman Nick Begakis said reducing red tape was a major priority for businesses.

“One of the suggestions that was made (at yesterday’s forum) was that every time that a new regulation is promulgated, that maybe two old regulations are removed,” he said.

“Maybe there (should be) a sunset clause on every piece of regulation, so that in three or five years time (there could be) a review of that regulation.

“Maybe you make red tape reduction a key performance indicator within the job descriptions of the people within (local government) organisations.”

He said he was encouraged by the Local Government Association’s new move to engage with business, but acknowledged that removing some regulation may not be popular with council electors.

“Given that local government is the most closely connected tier of government to the community, getting ‘out of the way’ might not be about what the community particularly wants to happen,” he said.

Beyond removing “red tape”, Rosenberg said local government would also have to embrace planning reform to help the economy grow.

“Every time I talk to business, planning is the one thing that rises to the surface as a major inhibitor for a whole lot of things,” she said.

“What business is saying is that the planning arena has skewed too far, over the years, to a residence perspective, and too far away from what’s good for business.

“We have to get back to a balance.”

She said the small bar liquor licencing reforms rolled out across the CBD by the State Government could be extended to help hospitality businesses beyond the square mile.

“There are a lot of council representatives and businesses from Gawler, for instance, who said: ‘why can’t we have the same sort of licencing opportunities in the outer metropolitan area which have proven themselves to be very, very popular and good for business in the CBD?” Rosenberg said.

Begakis said: “It’s very heartening that the local government sector has recognised that they have a role to play in economic development, and creating jobs in their regions”.

He said councils could take better advantage of their sister-city relationships within China to encourage trade missions to come to South Australia.