Do I need Development Approval?

Development approval is not required if the shed does not exceed the following:

Reference: Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017

Development approval is not required if the pergola does not exceed the following:

Reference: Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017

Provided the business adheres to the criteria set out above, then no formal approval from council is required, as a home activity does not constitute development within the meaning of the Act.

As no approval is needed, you do not need to lodge an application with us for assessment. Therefore, within the constraints imposed by the criteria listed above, you are entitled to carry on that business enterprise without further reference to us unless other issues are involved with that business, such as health and hygiene matters which may require special attention.

Your attention is drawn to the requirement that any such activity is to be conducted so that it does not detrimentally affect the amenity of the locality. As can be appreciated, this can be a rather subjective test and one that has the potential to create friction if the impact of the activity is at all felt beyond the boundaries of the site.

Any sort of business which involves manufacturing, or the production of something that has the potential to cause problems because of the very nature of any operations, processes and tools used. Because of that subjective test that the amenity must not be affected (as mentioned above), council has the power to intervene to check the situation and see if you are operating within the home activity criteria.

We often receive complaints from neighbours and others about business activities which:

• create repeated, prolonged or loud noise
• interfere with TV or radio reception
• produce smoke, smells, fumes, dust and the like
• increase traffic in the street or lead to congestion brought about by visitor parking
• and general movement
• are carried on at times outside of normal working hours.

Ordinarily, mechanical repairs, panel beating, spray painting and activities that use noisy machinery or require regular delivery of materials or constant turnover of customers do not fit into the definition of a home activity.

Some general examples of a home activity include:

• A professional office that is set up in a room of the house
• A one-person consultancy or drafting office
• A journalist or writer working from home
• Light handicrafts being fashioned
• An agency which does not rely on constant public access nor the movement/storage of goods and products. 

Please note: that these are possibilities only and are provided merely be way of example, not to indicate that they would be automatically acceptable.

Irrespective, you need to be mindful at all times to operate within the limits imposed by the home activity criteria and, of course, not to cause any nuisance to neighbours nor create conditions which may give rise to complaint.

If you cannot meet at the outset any of the criteria or subsequently breach any of the criteria (e.g. the level of impact is such that it is clearly affecting amenity), then you are operating outside the definition of a home activity, and the business becomes a change in land use and therefore requires development approval. 

In this event you must immediately cease from undertaking the activity and/or not commence.

If you still wish to undertake the activity you must lodge a development application on the PlanSA website for an assessment under the South Australian Planning & Design Code. Processing such an application may involve giving public notice to neighbours and consultation with other government agencies.

If it is deemed that your business is inappropriate for the location and Zone, it may well be that you will need to look at industrial or commercial premises in an appropriate location.

Explore the different Zones on SAPPA (South Australian Property & Planning Atlas)