The Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 divides development into three categories for planning consent: accepted, code assessed and impact assessed. PlanSA lists the classes a proposal can fall into as exempt, accepted, code assessed (deemed-to-satisfy or performance assessed) and impact assessed (restricted or impact assessed). The Planning and Design Code does most of the sorting; for the top layer, the regulations or a declaration can.
General informationThis guide describes South Australian law as the Act and PlanSA set it out. It is not planning advice for any proposal. PlanSA’s assessment pathways page and the Code itself are the official places to check which pathway applies to a site.
Three categories, six names
The two ways of counting fit together like this. Exempt work sits outside the categories altogether; each of the Act’s two larger categories holds two of PlanSA’s pathways.
| PlanSA’s name | The Act’s category | Where in the law | Planning consent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exempt | None: excluded from development, or needing no approval | PDI (General) Regulations 2017, Schedules 4, 4A, 5 and 13 | No approval of any kind |
| Accepted | Accepted development | Section 104 | Not required; building consent only |
| Deemed-to-satisfy | Code assessed development | Sections 105 and 106 | Must be granted |
| Performance assessed | Code assessed development | Sections 105 and 107 | Assessed on its merits; can be refused |
| Restricted | Impact assessed development | Sections 108(1)(a) and 110 | The Commission decides whether to assess it, then whether to grant |
| Impact assessed | Impact assessed development | Sections 108(1)(b) to (d) and 111 | The Minister decides, after an EIS |
Exempt and accepted: the pan and the finest mesh
PlanSA describes exempt development as minor projects that need no approval, giving a new fence or a garden shed as its examples. The activities excluded from the definition of development, or not needing approval, are listed in Schedules 4, 4A, 5 and 13 of the PDI (General) Regulations 2017, and PlanSA notes that a local council can give preliminary advice on whether a proposal is exempt.
Accepted development is the first of the Act’s categories. A development is accepted if the Code or the regulations classify it that way, and accepted development does not require planning consent. It still needs building consent: PlanSA calls these minor projects that need to be structurally sound, such as a carport or a shop fit-out. PlanSA’s list of accepted development also takes in detached homes that meet set planning requirements in two zones, Master Planned Neighbourhood and Master Planned Township, and some temporary accommodation for workers and for people affected by flooding.
Code assessed: the middle of the stack
Section 105 makes code assessment the default. Development is code assessed if the Code classifies it as deemed-to-satisfy, or if it falls into neither of the other two categories. Anything that is not accepted and not impact assessed is therefore assessed against the Code.
Deemed-to-satisfy
A proposal classified as deemed-to-satisfy must be granted planning consent, and that consent is granted without public notification or submissions. Where a design standard applies, consent is granted on conditions requiring the development to be consistent with it. The Act also deals with the near miss:
“If a relevant authority is satisfied that development is deemed-to-satisfy development except for 1 or more minor variations, the relevant authority must assess it as being deemed-to-satisfy”
Section 106(2)
PlanSA describes these as straightforward developments envisaged for their location, with a new house in a residential zone as its example, and says a deemed-to-satisfy proposal must meet all the criteria the Code sets for it. In PlanSA’s words they cannot be refused, and the decision-maker must grant approval after five business days of assessment.
Performance assessed
When a code assessed proposal cannot be assessed, or fully assessed, as deemed-to-satisfy, it is assessed on its merits against the Planning Rules. The Act splits it in two. Any element the Code classifies as deemed-to-satisfy is taken to have planning consent; the rest is assessed on its merits against the Code, and must not be granted consent if the relevant authority thinks it is “seriously at variance with the Planning and Design Code (disregarding minor variations)”. The deemed-to-satisfy elements do not carry the whole: consent can still be refused on the assessment of the balance.
PlanSA calls these developments generally more complex but still envisaged for their location, gives as its example a building of several storeys with shops on the ground floor, in a mixed use zone, and notes they may involve public notification or referrals.
Impact assessed: the coarsest meshes
Section 108 puts development in the impact assessed category in four ways: the Code classifies it as restricted, the regulations classify it as impact assessed, the Minister declares it impact assessed, or it is declared so under the State Development Coordination and Facilitation Act 2025.
Restricted
PlanSA says restricted development is generally development whose strategic implications and impacts need weighing, or which needs deeper investigation and assessment than the performance assessed pathway offers. Each zone in the Code has a Table 4 listing the kinds of development classed as restricted, subject to any exclusions.
The State Planning Commission is the relevant authority. It decides first whether a restricted proposal will be assessed at all and, if so, whether consent is granted. It takes the Code’s relevant provisions into account but is not bound by them, and, acting through its delegate, it may refuse an application without assessing it. The Commission may also consider other guidelines, legislation or documents set out in its Practice Direction 4.
Impact assessed by the Minister
PlanSA describes these as major projects declared by the Minister for Planning and considered to be of state significance, with a new marina in a coastal town or a foundry as its examples. A Minister’s declaration is published in the Gazette and on the SA planning portal, and where the development would sit in a council area the Minister must tell the council before making it. A declaration does not reach development already lawfully begun by substantial work on the site before the Gazette notice, and neither a declaration nor such a regulation can apply within the Adelaide Park Lands.
An Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared, analysing the possible environmental, social or economic impacts and how they will be managed, and the Minister decides whether planning consent is granted. PlanSA says all impact assessed developments are assessed by the Department on the Minister’s behalf.
What the pathway sets next
The pathway goes on to decide who is told about an application, which authority decides it, how long the assessment may take, and who can challenge the decision. Each guide reads the same stack for that question.