Under a new land management plan to govern the use of council-owned land such as Sturt Reserve, the long-held practice of waiving hire fees will be abandoned.

But organisers will be invited to apply for council sponsorship of their events to make up for the extra costs.

The move is another step in council chief executive officer Damien Moloney’s efforts to streamline council business practices.

“Rather than waiving the fee, why don’t we set the fee, they pay the fee and then council can say, “Okay, we’ll sponsor the event for the same amount,” he said.

Currently applications to stage large events are decided at council meetings on an individual basis.

Under the land management plan groups would apply to the council for a permit for large events which would be granted so long as they met the appropriate criteria.

Mr Moloney said the plan would provide more transparency and consistency, while also allowing the council to better promote its community contributions.

He said the move would mean the council’s books would show fees were being properly collected but council could make the same contribution to events through its community grants or marketing budgets.

The plan would also save ratepayers’ money by reducing the need to prepare individual reports for council every time a major event was planned.

It will also set consistent criteria for all events and remove the need for events running under three days to go out to public consultation.

Mr Moloney said land management plans were common in councils around Australia and introducing such a plan in Murray Bridge would cut down on red tape and save money without negatively impacting community groups or events.