New planning rules to support River Murray flood-resilient redevelopment

Share your feedback on new planning rules to assist the rebuilding process and mitigate the impacts of future River Murray flood events.

What's being decided?

The Chief Executive of the Department for Trade and Investment is seeking to amend the Planning and Design Code to provide clearer guidance for impacted communities to rebuild more flood-resilient development.

Improvements to planning requirements outlined in the draft River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment include:

• finished floor levels for dwellings and other valuable buildings to mitigate risk of inundation in future flood events
• greater flexibility in building height allowances
• updated resilient design and materials for underfloor structures
• maintain open space areas around storage areas
• streamlined assessment for sheds, carports and garages located behind a riverfront dwelling, removing previous red tape
• rezoning flood-affected shack settlements, including Paisley and Murbko, to assist development applications and rebuild efforts.

These amendments are informed by the extent and levels of floodwaters during the recent flood and aim to minimise the impact of future River Murray floods on permanent residents, shack owners and caravan and tourist parks.

Background

The 2022 River Murray flood was the largest flooding event since 1956 and the third highest flood ever recorded in South Australia. The high number of impacted homes, shacks and businesses is unprecedented.

The Department for Trade and Investment’s Planning and Land Use Services division has worked closely with flood affected councils, state government agencies and the building and construction industry to identify opportunities to improve the Code to:

• help mitigate future flood risk
• support sustainable, resilient communities.

Due to the urgency of providing clear rules to support redevelopment, the Code Amendment has come into effect on an interim basis at the same time as being released for consultation.

Support material outlining the rebuilding process in flood-affected areas, including design, materials, risk mitigation and approval processes are available on the PlanSA website.

These changes to promote flood-resilient development will be supported by creating long-term housing and infrastructure regional plans to help affected communities rebuild and grow more sustainably.

Get involved

We invite you to provide a submission on the River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment.

Find out more:

• read the draft River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment Summary
• read the draft River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment
• take a look at our FAQs
• watch a recording of the online information session held on 18 July.

Have your say by:

• taking our 10-minute survey
• posting your feedback relating to a specific location on the map
• registering for an upcoming drop-in session (RSVP is preferred but not essential)
• emailing plansasubmissions@sa.gov.au with subject ‘Submission – Draft River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment’
• posting your written submission to:
  Code Amendment Team, Planning and Land Use Services, Department for Trade and Investment, GPO Box 1815, Adelaide SA 5001

Local councils affected by this Code Amendment have hard copies of the draft Code Amendment available for viewing during standard opening office hours.

We will publish your submission on the PlanSA website, including company details. We won't publish personal addresses, email and phone numbers.

What are the next steps?

We will consider your feedback in finalising the River Murray Flood Resilience Code Amendment, and we will share a summary of all feedback received and how it was considered on this site.

We will provide the Code Amendment to the Minister for Planning for approval and will publish the finalised Code Amendments on the PlanSA website.