Farming groups have reacted angrily to an announcement from the South Australian government to allow housing on some of the state’s most productive agricultural land near Adelaide.
The proposal reverses the government’s focus on infill development in Adelaide which came about after concerns about housing encroaching on farmland in places like Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills.
The state government will introduce a bill this week to rezone large tracts of land protected by the Environment and Food Production Area (EFPA) to make it available for up to 61,000 new houses, mostly north of the city.
Areas around Adelaide protected from housing development. (ABC News )
Grain Producers SA chief executive Brad Perry said the changes would take some of the best farmland in the state out of production.
He said farmers were disappointed and concerned by the proposed changes.
“There is a lot of land out there that can be used for housing,” he said.
“We can’t be sacrificing prime cropping land with good rainfall and turning that into housing — that’s land that will never go back into production after that.
“While we recognise the need for more housing, having residential housing adjacent to broadacre cropping zones presents its own challenges, including conflicts over spray drift, dust, noise, and farming hours.”
Brad Perry says places houses near farms can create conflicts. (Supplied: Grain Producers SA)
Primary Producers SA chair Simon Maddocks said farmers had been overlooked in the announcement.
“We totally appreciate the challenge that the government has in how we’re going to find the required housing, but let’s also stop and think for a minute — this is where governments need to be more strategic in their forward planning and take in much broader considerations,” he said.
“I think it’s very short-sighted.”
Land at Roseworthy is earmarked for housing. (ABC News)
Premier defends changes
The updated Greater Regional Adelaide Plant released yesterday identified land at Roseworthy, Two Wells, Murray Bridge, Victor Harbor, and Goolwa as potential areas for future housing developments.
The Barossa and McLaren Vale Character Preservation Districts would remain intact.
The government said 7,324 hectares of farmland, or less than 1 per cent of the agricultural lands in the greater Adelaide region that were currently protected, would become available for development for the next 30 years.
Premier Peter Malinauskas (left) with a map of extended corridors for future rail lines north and south of Adelaide. (ABC News)
“It’s about getting a balance and I don’t think we should allow people to conjure up their mind images of the state government now allowing for all the productive farming to land to now be turned into housing developments,” Premier Peter Malinauskas said.
He said the changes were needed now so detailed land use and infrastructure planning could start.
“I disagree with that artificial constraint being placed on the market, the artificial imposition on young families from being able to live in a home in the same way their parents did,”
Mr Malinauskas said.
Farmland north of Adelaide is among the most productive in the state. (ABC North and West SA: Michael Dulaney)
Farmers fear land lost
Balaklava farmer Matthew told the South Australian Country Hour there were other areas around Adelaide apart from Roseworthy where housing could be built without taking away agricultural land.
“Why not at the top of the Gulf [St Vincent] there through Port Wakefield and Bowmans?” he said.
“Why don’t they look at developing that into housing?
“It’s ground that’s going to be cheap to buy and no-one’s going to shed too many tears about seeing houses built on it.”
Towns like Two Wells and Angle Vale, north of Adelaide, are attractive for first-home buyers. (ABC News)
The bill to amend the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 to allow for the new housing land is set to be introduced to state parliament this week.
Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia said he would wait to see further details before deciding whether the changes would receive bipartisan support.
“If the government wants sprawl, sprawl without discipline is not the way, so we’ve got to make sure we consider things like water security,” Mr Tarzia said.
The government announced on Sunday that it was preserving corridors for new railway lines to Roseworthy and Concordia in the north and Sellicks Beach in the south.
