Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-22 Daily Xml

Contents

CARAVAN, TOURIST AND RESIDENTIAL PARKS

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:03): As a supplementary question, what process should caravan park proprietors go through if they want to seek exemption from these new zoning requirements prior to the finalisation of the DPA in December?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:03): As I indicated, the new development plan has been brought in on temporary control. It expires in December. There is, of course, a statutory process under the Development Act in relation to any interim planning control, but the establishment of this committee really is to provide some greater input into that statutory process, because some of the information that we will need in assessing the future of caravan parks is perhaps to determine what an optimum size for them is, for example.

There are some very small caravan parks that may not be viable in the long term. That is why we would like to work with the industry to get that particular input. In relation to the residential parks, we have some parks in the suburbs of the city where I understand up to 700 people permanently reside, so they are very significant contributors to the housing stock, particularly with the issues we have in relation to housing at the moment.

The owners of some of those parks have told me that it is very difficult to get zoning for new parks, and I think we need to look at that aspect to see whether some changes to policy are necessary to ensure that we have specific space for residential parks. They are the areas that go beyond the specific development plan process. Certainly, we need to go through the 12 months and, in specific answer to the honourable member's question, any people affected by this decision will need to go through the usual development plan process of responding. But, in relation to some of these broader policy questions, obviously people can contact this committee through Planning SA so that, as well as consideration being given to the specific development plan, we can also look at the broader context in which caravan parks operate.