The Adelaide Hills is a unique area with
many planning issues:
• Mount Lofty Ranges Watershed
• Bushfire Prone Areas
• Hills Face Zone
• Native Vegetation
• Onsite stormwater and waste water
treatment systems
These issues are the difference between
developing in the Adelaide Hills and
the Adelaide Plains and are mostly
related to the region’s environmental
characteristics. To ensure sustainability,
development applications must be
assessed against numerous legislation.
This can also extend processing for
such applications.
Protection of the Mount Lofty
Ranges Watershed
The Mount Lofty Ranges Watershed
makes up most of the Adelaide Hills
Council area. The quality of Adelaide’s
water depends on the effectiveness of
pollution controls in these catchment
areas since the watershed supplies up
to 60% of Metropolitan Adelaide’s
drinking water.
Building in Bushfire Risk Areas
All but a small part of the Adelaide Hills
Council is in a Bushfire Prone Area.
To secure development approval, new
homes must comply with the bushfire
requirements in the Development Plan
and the Building Code of Australia.
It is mandatory that all applications for
dwellings and other buildings for human
habitation be referred to the Country
Fire Service (CFS) located within High
Bushfire risk areas. This can extend the
processing time, and sometimes the
design may need to be altered to
address the bushfire issues.
Developing in the Hills Face Zone
The Hills Face Zone (HFZ) represents the
most substantial ‘natural’ landscape in
the metropolitan area and is a precious
asset. Development should preserve and
enhance the natural character. Controls
are placed on development regarding
excavation and filling of land, height of
buildings, fencing types, and colours to
be used.
Native Vegetation Council
Native vegetation is very important to
the region in providing habitat for wildlife
and ensuring that the water quality is
maintained. Developments proposed in
areas with native vegetation are referred
to the Native Vegetation Council (NVC).
Provision of onsite stormwater and
waste water treatment systems
Many areas of the region are not
serviced with stormwater, mains water
or sewerage infrastructure, instead,
these need to be provided on site.
Installing infrastructure (e.g. rainwater
tank or dam) ensures that increased
runoff from a development does not
impact on the environment or other
properties.
Consideration of all of these issues is
essential to achieving a successful
development approval and may result in
increasing the complexity of the
application and the processing time.
Call the Planning and Development
Services Department on 8408 0558
for advice before lodging your
application and our staff can provide
guidance in this regard.
Developing in the Adelaide Hills is a complex business: here’s why...
15
H i l l s V o i c e - y o u r c o m m u n i t y n e w s p a p e r , y o u r v o i c e i n t h e H i l l s
Adelaide Hills Council is a proud
supporter of the Earth Hour project
Globally, Earth Hour’s “I Will if You Will” YouTube campaign attracted
millions of participants and received hundreds and thousands of com-
mitments from individuals, businesses, organisations and
governments, all taking action for our planet far beyond the Hour.
Adelaide Hills Council is proud to be an ongoing supporter. We agree
that there is no doubt that the world is facing some of the most
critical environmental challenges in its history. Along with hundreds and
thousands of other environmentally committed souls, we turned off all
of our non-essential power for Earth Hour on March 23.
You don’t have to wait for Earth Hour 2014 to make a commitment to
Dare The World To Help Save The Planet. Go to
to find out more. Remember to always unplug any appliances -
mobile phone chargers, televisions, microwaves,etc that are on
standby. This will also help lower your electricity bills.
