The State Government’s ambition to reform South Australia’s planning regime risks adding another layer of expensive bureaucracy, particularly in regional South Australia, and compromising effective outcomes, according to Business SA.

While the business lobby has particular concerns about duplicating the planning role of local government, and diminishing the input of councils in the process, it also remains to be convinced of the merits of establishing a State Planning Commission, the centrepiece of the Government’s reform agenda.

The Government recently published The Planning System We Want – the report of its Expert Panel which contained 22 measures to reform the planning process for all urban and regional development.

The recommendations would implement new planning rules and processes starting with a statutory authority, the State Planning Commission, which would “provide high level advice to the minister and Cabinet on planning, provision of infrastructure and services, urban renewal and related issues”.

In doing so, it would subsume the roles of the existing Development Assessment Commission and the Development Policy Advisory Committee. The Expert Panel says the State Planning Commission would “have a legislative mandate to ensure policy integration, resolve administrative deadlocks and duplication, and promote performance across the planning system”.

In the wake of the report’s publication, Business SA reiterated its concerns about the Expert Panel’s recommendations which have been embraced by the State Government.

Business SA is at odds with the Government over the proposal to establish ‘regional planning boards’ and associated ‘regional planning schemes’ that would complement and support the work of the State Planning Commission in country areas.

It places its argument against these recommendations in the context of a perceived need to amalgamate local councils because, “with 68 metropolitan and regional councils for a population of 1.68 million, the local government sector is well and truly over-governed in South Australia”.

“Queensland, with almost triple our population, has 73 councils and Victoria, with approximately three and a half times our population, has only 79 councils.

“Considering the need to amalgamate councils in South Australia, we do not support the establishment of regional planning boards which may become redundant if logical council amalgamations take place. Furthermore, ‘cash strapped’ councils may struggle to co-fund the proposed boards.”

Business SA is also concerned that regional planning boards could reduce the planning authority of councils where much of the local knowledge relevant to development decisions lies.

“In view of our argument against regional planning boards, we do not see a need to create regional planning schemes until an appropriate level of council amalgamations takes place.”

On the creation of a State Planning Commission, Business SA says it would like to see whether the desired outcomes can be achieved within the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI), Development Assessment Commission and associated committees.

But it adds: “If there can be significant improvements in the expediency of planning processes through devolving operations to a new statutory authority, and the overall costs will be less than existing costs for the same functions … there may be a business case for establishing a State Planning Commission.”

That said, Business SA supports a number of the expert panel’s other recommendations.

It endorses the proposal to enact a consistent state-wide ‘menu of planning rules’ saying “with over 1200 zones across 72 development plans, we support appropriate moves to streamline planning rules and reduce their number while improving consistency across jurisdictions”.

On streamlining planning processes, Business SA says “we also support the Expert Panel’s ideas to enforce strict referral timelines on agencies party to a planning process”.

Business SA supports the Expert Panel’s recognition of strategic planning but says this view should also be extended to land use.

“Business SA is disappointed that it fails to recognise that strategic planning also extends to ensuring land use is optimised for sustainable economic growth, including for sectors like agriculture and associated food and beverage manufacturing.”