Legislative Council Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Adelaide Hills Housing ADELAIDE HILLS HOUSING The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS Legislative Council ADELAIDE HILLS HOUSING The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:52): I have a supplementary question. The Hon. B.V. Finnigan Legislative Council The Hon. B.V. Finnigan: A follow-up question again. You can't come up with anything. The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS Legislative Council The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: What focus does the government have on the future demand for rural living areas and animal husbandry zones in Mount Barker and other peri urban districts? The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY Legislative Council Minister for Mineral Resources Development Minister for Urban Development and Planning Minister for Small Business The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:52): This is essentially the same question that the Hon. Mr Ridgway asked about high value agricultural land, and I think that the answer is essentially the same. In places such as Mount Barker, what you often find as development—and this applies particularly to Mount Barker—is that, as you get fringe development up to a boundary, there are various interface issues at the boundary of the township with the rural boundary. If spraying is taking place on the agricultural land opposite a residential zone, as housing is built up to that zone there will be pressure to remove the rural activities that take place; so you will get complaints. There are always problems when there is a boundary between an agricultural zone and a residential zone. There can even be problems at boundaries between different types of agricultural zones. For example, the spraying on vineyards may conflict with another sort of horticulture where different sprays are used at different times of the year. So there are all these different sorts of conflicts. Having those buffers is a particularly complex idea— The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting: The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY Legislative Council The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: That relates to another planning issue. I do not want to spend the rest of question time talking about general planning issues but, clearly, one of the issues at Mount Barker—and this is along Bald Hills Road, which is the current urban growth boundary—is that sprouts on one side are being put under pressure because of residential development that has occurred in previous years. Also, because of the sorts of rural living zones there, where people have larger properties, it is part of lower density living. Where you have lower density rural living—which may be blocks of one or two hectares or more—that tends to reduce the quality of land available for the higher values of agriculture, and it also leads to a much greater level of sprawl. These are all issues that need to be addressed in a development plan, as to how much of that lower density living you have at the fringes.