Planning Strategy

The Planning Strategy provides direction from the State Government on land use and development in South Australia over the medium term (a period of 10-15 years).

Under Section 22 of the Development Act, the Minister for Urban Development and Planning is assigned responsibility for preparing the Planning Strategy on behalf of the State Government, and reporting annually to Parliament about its implementation. The Strategy contains various maps, policies and specific strategies, covering a full range of social, economic and environmental issues.

The land use and development Planning Strategy is integrated with, and should be read in conjunction with other specialist plans, including the Strategic Infrastructure Plan for South Australia, the Housing Plan for South Australia, and South Australia's Greenhouse Strategy. It provides a physical and policy framework to assist in reaching various targets outlined in South Australia’s Strategic Plan (2007). 

There are various volumes of the Planning Strategy covering different geographic regions of the state. Each volume of the Planning Strategy must be updated by the state government at least every five years. 

Planning Strategy volumes

The Planning Strategy currently comprises five volumes:

The volumes can be accessed via the links above. 

For planning purposes, Metropolitan Adelaide is framed to the west by the sea, to the east and south by the Mount Lofty Ranges, and to the north by the Gawler River (and includes Gawler). The Metropolitan Adelaide volume was most recently updated in December 2007, to incorporate an updated urban boundary for metopolitan Adelaide (for more information on the urban boundary, visit our page on Adelaide's urban boundary).

The Outer Metropolitan Adelaide Region stretches in an arc surrounding the metropolitan area, from Kapunda in the north, through the Barossa and Adelaide Hills (including Mount Barker and Strathalbyn), through to Cape Jervis and the mouth of the Murray River in the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula (including Victor Harbor and Goolwa). This Region was formerly known as the ‘Inner Region’ in the Regional SA volume of the Strategy.

The Planning Strategy for Regional SA covers all other areas of the State, except for the Yorke Peninsula and Wakefield Plains and Greater Mount Gambier. The Yorke Peninsula and Wakefield Plains Region is covered by a stand-alone volume of the Planning Strategy titled the 'Yorke Peninsula Regional Land Use Framework (December 2007)', and Greater Mount Gambier by a volume titled 'Greater Mount Gambier Master Plan (February 2008)'.

Background

The first Metropolitan Adelaide volume of the Planning Strategy was released in 1994, and was subsequently updated in 1998, January 2003, August 2006 and December 2007.

The regional areas of South Australia were addressed in the Planning Strategy for Country South Australia (1994, 1996) and Planning Strategy for Regional South Australia (January 2003).

The Planning Strategy for the Outer Metropolitan Adelaide Region became a stand-alone volume of the Planning Strategy in August 2006 (it was formerly a sub-section of the Regional SA volume). The Yorke Peninsula Regional Land Use Framework became a stand-alone volume of the Planning Strategy in December 2007 (it was also formerly a sub-section of the Regional SA volume) and the Greater Mount Gambier volume camei nto effect in February 2008.

Updating the Planning Strategy

The Planning Strategy is updated every few years and may be amended at any time by the Government. More can be found in the Updating the Planning Strategy section.