SA spotlights future planning with housing supply summit

According to Darren Crombie, national president of the Planning Institute of Australia, the event will “focus on the essential role of planning in creating liveable, affordable, and resilient communities”.

The theme for the event, Planning with Progress, set to be announced by South Australian Planning Minister Nick Champion, aims to shine a national spotlight on how the state addresses its immediate and future needs by utilising an evolving planning system.

As part of the system’s evolution, Mr Champion will highlight South Australia’s e-planning Plan SA System, which has facilitated an increase in the efficiency and transparency of the state’s planning system.

Mr Crombie said the event theme is based on the planning industry’s core values of “understanding and anticipating the community’s long-term needs and ensuring policy decisions service our communities now and into the future”.

Given the national supply shortages plaguing Australia presently and undoubtedly moving into the future, the event serves as a vital reminder of the importance of planning skills for the growth and development of South Australia and lines up with the government’s intentions to roll out a new 30-year plan, the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan, aiming to support population and employment growth.

In April, almost 3,000 applications were submitted in relation to the plan, with the government revealing the total development cost of those lodged applications was approximately $975 million, highlighting the vast pipeline of South Australian stock hoping to cure the state’s property woes.

Much like in many other Australian jurisdictions, supply is desperately needed across South Australia, with the state capital, Adelaide, reporting a 0.6 per cent vacancy rate for April 2023, according to SQM Research.

South Australian building approvals were also down over 5.7 per cent over the first quarter of the year when compared to the same period in 2022, as Australian building approvals slumped to their lowest point in a decade.