About land use planning
What is land use development planning?
Land use planning is about combining urban and regional planning to improve natural resources management (NRM). According to the Natural Resources Management Act 2004, in particular Section 29, regional NRM boards have a mandate to respond to matters related to land use planning under the Development Act 1993 and related legislation.
Why is land use planning important to the SA Murray-Darling Basin region?
A regional NRM board’s comment and advice about development planning ensures that natural resources are considered in the preliminary works stage of development.
This early involvement in the land use development planning process can ensure that best practice natural resources management and sustainable design are included in the development assessment process, rather than create a need to employ retrospective measures to fix ecologically sustainable development.
The key tools used for achieving sustainable development within the region are:
The referral process for land use development applications
The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board has a mandate to respond to matters referred under the Development Act and other legislation that has the potential to impact on natural resources.
All plans referred to the board for comment and advice should be emailed to DEWNR.SAMDBReferrals@sa.gov.au. Matters referred to this address are responded to within six weeks or fewer, dependent upon the merits of the proposal.
Development plan amendments, local government strategic plans, stormwater management plans and others are referred to this email address also. Comments made in a response to these referrals address best practice natural resource management.
Strategic regional focus
The SAMDB Natural Resources Management Board maintains a strategic focus within its region to provide knowledge and expertise on existing and emerging NRM issues such as water-sensitive urban design, climate change, dryland salinity, and the cumulative impacts of development on the environment.