A relevant authority makes the decision to grant or refuse approval, and PlanSA lists six kinds of them: an assessment manager, an assessment panel, the State Planning Commission, an accredited professional, a council, and the Minister for Planning. Which one assesses a development is set by its pathway.
General informationThis guide describes the decision-makers as PlanSA and the Act set them out. It is not advice about where any application should go. PlanSA’s relevant authorities page is the official place to check.
Councils decide through others
Under the current system, PlanSA says, councils no longer decide planning consent or land division consent as a relevant authority of their own. Instead each must appoint an assessment manager and an assessment panel to carry out those assessments.
Councils keep two roles of their own. They are responsible for issuing final approval for a development in their area, and their building officers, if accredited, can assess a development for building consent. In rural areas a joint planning board may oversee the issue of final approvals across several councils.
Assessment managers
An assessment manager is a planner accredited under the Accredited Professionals Scheme as Planning Level 1. It may be a senior planner from the council or a private consultant the council has engaged. On PlanSA’s page, an assessment manager can grant or refuse planning consent for deemed-to-satisfy development and for performance assessed development that is not publicly notified, and land division consent for all development except where the Commission or the Minister is the authority.
Every assessment panel must have one. The assessment manager runs the panel’s staff and operations and gives its members expert advice, cannot also sit on the panel, and remains a relevant authority in their own right.
Assessment panels
A panel has at least three and at most five members, each accredited as Planning Level 2, though PlanSA notes that one member may be an elected member who needs no accreditation. A panel is the relevant authority for planning consent that requires public notification, and it can grant or refuse building consent for any development after seeking the advice of an accredited building professional. PlanSA describes five kinds:
| Panel | How it is set up |
|---|---|
| Council Assessment Panel | A council appoints it, replacing the council’s old Development Assessment Panel (a body under the Development Act 1993) |
| Joint Planning Board Assessment Panel | A joint planning board appoints it |
| Combined Assessment Panel | Set up by the Minister for applications that cross different laws, such as planning with mining or liquor licensing |
| Regional Assessment Panel | Set up by the Minister over all or part of two or more council areas, or by a joint planning board |
| Local Assessment Panel | Constituted by the Minister on the Commission’s recommendation, after an inquiry into a Council Assessment Panel |
An applicant whose application was decided by an assessment manager can ask that manager’s panel to review the decision; the guide to reviews and appeals sets out how.
The State Planning Commission
The Commission is the relevant authority for certain applications. PlanSA lists the planning and land division consents it can grant or refuse: restricted development, some performance assessed development, applications called in by the Minister, and development in outback areas with no local council. It delegates its decision-making to the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) and to the Department’s administration.
It can also grant or refuse building consent for any development once it has sought an accredited building professional’s advice, and in outback areas with no council it can issue full development approval. For land division it provides a Statement of Requirements, including consultation with the council where new public roads or reserves are proposed.
Accredited professionals
Some decisions sit with accredited professionals outside councils and panels. PlanSA sets out three groups:
- Planning Level 3 or 4
- Accredited planning professionals. They decide planning consent for the least complex development, which includes deemed-to-satisfy development.
- Building Level 1 to 4
- Accredited building professionals. They decide building consent as their level of accreditation allows.
- Accredited surveyors
- Accredited under the Accredited Professionals Scheme, they decide land divisions that do not create a public road.
Building consent: often a different decision-maker
Planning consent and building consent are separate consents, and the Act lets them be decided apart. Subject to the regulations, the consents a development needs can be granted in any order, and where a development has two or more elements needing planning consent, each can be assessed separately, including by different relevant authorities.
Several authorities can decide building consent. Accredited building professionals decide it within their level, and a council’s building officers can assess it if they are accredited. An assessment panel or the Commission can grant or refuse it for any development, but each must first seek the advice of an accredited building professional, and either may refer the application to a building certifier or the relevant council under section 99(1). PlanSA also lets an applicant look for an accredited professional to decide an application that is eligible for one.
The Minister for Planning
The Minister decides the state’s most complex developments, and developments of state interest. PlanSA lists the planning or land division consents the Minister can grant or refuse: impact assessed development declared as major, Crown development proposed by a state government agency, and essential infrastructure. The Minister also grants final development approval to Crown development. How the Minister’s assessment is opened to the public is in the guide to public notice.