SA planning law changes: red tape in green fields around Murray Bridge, Fleurieu, Adelaide Hills, Barossa

Property owners anywhere in a band of land around Adelaide, from the Fleurieu through the Murraylands to the Lower North, would have to apply to an Adelaide-based State Planning Commission to subdivide their land, and residential development would be banned.

The restrictions would apply anywhere outside existing township boundaries, and those boundaries could not be moved without the consent of the Planning Commission or the minister.

Local councils were not consulted on the proposals, and Murray Bridge's mayor was unaware they existed until MP Adrian Pederick contacted him on Tuesday.

Mr Pederick expressed his concern in Parliament later that day.

"This, to me - and I do not want to be alarmist - looks like it is going to block virtually every development in a huge area," he said.

"No new allotments can be created for residential purposes and no new allotments can be created for any other purpose without the concurrence of the Planning Commission.

"If our five-acre or 10-acre blocks ... get cut up, they will not have the ability to be developed without the authority of the Planning Commission."

Attorney-General John Rau defended the proposals and the lack of consultation, saying he had planned to introduce the legislation to Parliament first and talk about it later.

"What is happening is what we said we were going to do: ... debate this bill and engage with the relevant people simultaneously," he said.

He said the laws would not affect industry or job creation; they would just keep townships from overtaking productive farmland, as occurred during Mount Barker's sudden expansion.

But Mr Pederick was still concerned after the debate.

"We need to produce food and have environmental expectations, but we also need to sustain town growth into the future," he said.

"It's being regulated now, without the extra level of red tape."

The debate will continue in Parliament.