Minister lashes council over rezone bid

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Admin
SOUTH Australian Planning Minister Paul Holloway has rejected calls to “back-zone” a controversial housing development that will bring Adelaide’s suburban sprawl to the doorstep of the world-renowned McLaren Vale wine district.
The local Onkaparinga Council wants Mr Holloway to return the 77ha site to rural use even though it has been zoned residential since at the least the 1990s.
Mr Holloway said the council’s position raised serious questions about its capacity to deal with planning matters consistently and effectively.
“To request the zoning be reverted to rural at the 11th hour is a backflip of such monumental proportions that it must surely undermine the public’s confidence in the council’s processes and effectively deter any investment within City of Onkaparinga to the detriment of the residents they purport to represent,” Mr Holloway said.
The proposed Seaford Heights development includes 1170 houses and a shopping strip at the entrance to McLaren Vale.
It has outraged local winemakers, who say it will harm tourism and alter land and soil that is perfect for growing vines.
Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg yesterday admitted the council backflip was due largely to public pressure.
The developer, Fairmont Homes, has declined to comment but the Urban Development Institute of Australia said it would be a “tragedy” if the development did not go ahead.
The council had allowed a vocal minority to get a stranglehold, the institute’s South Australian executive director, Terry Walsh, said. “This is a major piece of land that will allow increased population in accordance with (Adelaide’s) 30-year plan and thus would have allowed for increased infrastructure.”
He said Mr Holloway’s stance was “admirable”.
Mr Holloway said government decisions to invest millions in local rail and road corridors “assumed that Seaford Heights would be developed for housing”.
He said the Rann government would have “little alternative” but to take over the development plan for the site if the council did not co-operate.
His office has been unable to find any precedent for a planning minister back-zoning land from residential to rural use.

bidSOUTH Australian Planning Minister Paul Holloway has rejected calls to “back-zone” a controversial housing development that will bring Adelaide’s suburban sprawl to the doorstep of the world-renowned McLaren Vale wine district.

The local Onkaparinga Council wants Mr Holloway to return the 77ha site to rural use even though it has been zoned residential since at the least the 1990s.Mr Holloway said the council’s position raised serious questions about its capacity to deal with planning matters consistently and effectively.

“To request the zoning be reverted to rural at the 11th hour is a backflip of such monumental proportions that it must surely undermine the public’s confidence in the council’s processes and effectively deter any investment within City of Onkaparinga to the detriment of the residents they purport to represent,” Mr Holloway said.

The proposed Seaford Heights development includes 1170 houses and a shopping strip at the entrance to McLaren Vale. It has outraged local winemakers, who say it will harm tourism and alter land and soil that is perfect for growing vines.

Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg yesterday admitted the council backflip was due largely to public pressure.The developer, Fairmont Homes, has declined to comment but the Urban Development Institute of Australia said it would be a “tragedy” if the development did not go ahead.

The council had allowed a vocal minority to get a stranglehold, the institute’s South Australian executive director, Terry Walsh, said. “This is a major piece of land that will allow increased population in accordance with (Adelaide’s) 30-year plan and thus would have allowed for increased infrastructure.”

He said Mr Holloway’s stance was “admirable”.Mr Holloway said government decisions to invest millions in local rail and road corridors “assumed that Seaford Heights would be developed for housing”.He said the Rann government would have “little alternative” but to take over the development plan for the site if the council did not co-operate.

His office has been unable to find any precedent for a planning minister back-zoning land from residential to rural use.

(Source: Pia Akerman, From: The Australian, September 10, 2010 12:00AM)