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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-05-12 Daily Xml
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Question Time

PORT PIRIE, FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:34): My question to the Minister for Urban Development and Planning is: will he please provide details on any action taken to assist the future development of Port Pirie?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for her important question. The cities of the Upper Spencer Gulf—Port Augusta, Port Pirie and Whyalla—are poised for growth. All are ideally located and offer high-quality infrastructure as well as coastal living close to the scenic Flinders Ranges.

To assist in the future development of these major regional centres, the state government has begun developing a number of structure plans. As the first stage of a process of community consultation, I today released for public consultation the Draft Port Pirie Structure Plan. Port Pirie is a very important regional centre in the Mid-North of this state. Members opposite might recall that it is at the heart of the electorate of Frome.

The draft structure plan presents a vision for the future physical growth and development of Port Pirie by broadly identifying where future housing population and commercial and industrial growth are best located and not located across the city and the surrounding district. As part of a two-month consultation period, I invite Port Pirie residents to have a say about the future development of their city.

This draft structure plan does not attempt to forecast either the future population or the anticipated growth rate for Port Pirie. What it does do is provide a robust framework that can accommodate a range of future population growth scenarios, including high growth. It then seeks to identify suitable locations to provide for substantial population growth should it be required. This is particularly important because of the projected growth in the Far North in mining, tourism and supporting industries.

The structure plan gives priority to making the best use of Port Pirie's assets, protecting them from encroachment by incompatible development and the clustering of new activities at major hubs. The design builds on the original Port Pirie township, where the foreshore and town centre provided separation between the industrial and residential areas while also providing for an active waterfront. The logical extension of residential areas is to the south, away from industrial areas. The connection of the city to the waterfront will be strengthened through an extension of the original town centre to a new commercial hub in the heart of the city.

The structure plan also seeks to ensure that a supply of well located market-ready and affordable industrial, commercial and residential land is available when needed, providing Port Pirie with a competitive advantage as an investment destination. The draft plan also recognises and supports the aims and objectives of the Tenby10 strategy aimed at reducing lead levels in children aged under five years in the Port Pirie area.

The draft also identifies the role and function of different parts of the city and tackles issues such as the interface between industry, residential areas and valuable environmental assets. The draft structure plan is the result of a ground up collaborative process led by the Department of Planning and Local Government with the Port Pirie Regional Council. The Southern Regional Flinders Development Board and various state government agencies were also involved in the development of the plan.

The draft Port Pirie Structure Plan contains 11 key directions under the following headings: climate change and sustainability, facilitating economic and employment growth, and housing and residential land supply. Strategies for achieving each of the directions are detailed in the plan. The draft plan also contains a map depicting the broad vision for the growth and development of Port Pirie.

Once finalised, the Port Pirie Structure Plan will form an official part of the state government's land planning strategy for South Australia. This gives the document statutory effect and will provide formal direction to the council and the private sector. In particular, it will guide the updating of the development plan for Port Pirie, which details the zoning and other land use policies and is used to assess the appropriateness of development applications.

The development plan and proposed amendments to the development plan must be consistent with the planning strategy. The draft structure plan has been released for two months of public comment, ending on Friday 10 July. A copy of the document as well as a community information brochure can be downloaded from the Department of Planning and Local Government website at www.planning.sa.gov.au/go/portpiriestructureplan. Hard copies are also available from the Port Pirie Regional Council and the Southern Regional Flinders Development Board.

Open house information drop-in sessions will be held during the consultation period on Thursday 11 June 2009 in the functions area, Port Pirie Regional Council Chambers, 115 Ellen Street, Port Pirie, between 10am and 12 noon and between 3pm and 5pm.

The draft for Port Pirie is one of a series of such structure plans being developed for South Australia's major regional cities. A plan for Mount Gambier has already been adopted. The Port Augusta structure plan has recently finished the community consultation process, and a draft for Whyalla is also being finalised.

I urge the people of Port Pirie and the surrounding district to track down a copy of the draft structure plan and make sure their views are aired through a submission. Often, the planning process can be improved through suggestions from members of the public, and I encourage anyone who has an opinion about the structure plan to lodge a submission and attend a town hall meeting.

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