With plenty happening on the development front in the City of Unley I ask Minister Rau, why the hurry.

Most people would be aware of a  proposed 7 storey building proposed for 246 Unley Road. They would be aware also that Council is about to embark on the next of a series of development plan amendments focused on the Unley Central. This on top of starting the general DPA which focuses on such things as Laneway Housing and hopefully finalizing DPA 2.

We now have the Minister for Planning indicating he wants to kick the pace up, announcing a raft of ministerial DPAs across the inner metropolitan areas. I said in my last blog post the minister seems to be in a hurry. One might well ask why the hurry?

It appears that while the original population growth predictions of the 30 year plan have not been met growth in the inner suburbs has in fact exceeded the projections. That puts a pressure I guess on the minister to want to push ahead.

But with a concern that running multiple DPAs in the City of Unley may serve to confuse and irritate the residents I really do wonder why the hurry. Unley certainly does not have the resources to conduct more DPAs than we are already. The Government on the other hand, with more fiscal resources, can outsource it if necessary.

As presiding member of our (Unley’s) Development Strategy & Policy committee I am concerned that there may be too much for residents to have to contend with when we consult them over the many plans. The public consultation of the recent DPA2 is evidence of this. This was a complex DPA that was too confusing for residents to take on board and they deserve to be not only consulted but be provided something that they can understand and provide a responsible representation to.

Anyway we (Council) will find out soon I expect what he (Minister Rau) has in mind and over what time frame and who is to run them these extra DPAs will be conducted.