Release notes 2025

PlanSA components

PlanSA's ePlanning platform is made up of different online components:

PlanSA is committed to ensuring its ePlanning system is responsive to the needs of its customers.

To view or to check on the status of a current enhancement project, visit the PlanSA system enhancements.

System updates are made fortnightly. After each update, system enhancements are documented as Release Notes and published on PlanSA.

Requests for system enhancements can be submitted to the PlanSA service desk via PlanSA@sa.gov.au.

DAP

Features

Scheme Coordinator added as a referral body

The DAP has been enhanced to include Scheme Coordinator as a new referral body within the Infrastructure Coordination Overlay, where an Infrastructure Delivery Scheme has been adopted.

Fee updates for Mutual Recognition Pathway and Supervisor Pathway scenarios

New fees have been introduced in the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (Fees) Notice (PDF, 181.0 KB) that are associated with the Accredited Professionals Scheme established under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016.

The changes include:

  • reduction of the Planning Level 1 application fee to match the other fees for new applications requiring full assessment
  • introducing reduced fees for applications under Mutual Recognition and Building Supervisor pathways
  • including the core competency assessment course fee as a new prescribed fee.

Accreditation/membership changes to allow reduced membership fee

Accreditation selection types have been amended to allow eligible members to apply for reduced fees through the Recognised Equivalent Scheme pathway. The selection amendments relate to the following options:

  • Registered Planner
  • Full Member
  • Full Member – Statement of Membership Equivalency
  • Affiliate – Statement of Membership Equivalency
  • Graduate – Statement of Membership Equivalency

The eligibility for the reduced fee applies to the Planning Levels (PLs) below, and a reduced membership fee shall apply under ‘Application for accreditation under an equivalent scheme pathway’.

  • PL1 only OR combination with any level
  • PL2 only OR combination with PL4
  • PL3 only OR combination with PL2 or PL4
  • PL4 only

DAP

Features

Applicant is notified when Land Division Certificate is ready to issue

An automated email notification is now sent to the applicant when a land division certificate status changes from ‘under assessment’ to ‘ready to issue’.

New housing element – Co-living A new refined element “Co‑living” for the “New housing” element has been added to the DAP. The Affordable Housing table now includes a row for Co‑living to accurately record housing numbers.
Fixeds

Verification of re-assigned applications with request for documentation (RFD)

When a planning consent is reassigned to another Relevant Authority (RA), and they issue an RFD, when the applicant responds to the RFD, the start verification task is now assigned to the current RA and not the original RA.

Planning Info UI expression error fix A fix has been implemented to address a UI expression error that occurred when users edited elements or updated Planning Info after selecting “Urban Tree Canopy does not apply” during verification. Previously, this error prevented users from completing the Planning Info review.

Power BI

Features

Council Performance Indicators Report 2024-25

A new Council Performance Indicators Scheme Report has been created providing councils with an annual report measuring applications lodged, decisions made and assessment timeframes.

The report follows the State Planning Commission Performance Indicators Scheme summarising data obtained from the Development Assessment Processing (DAP) system and a comparison with previous reporting years.

The Council Performance Indicator Report relates to data for the 2024-2025 financial year. The report will be updated annually, coinciding with the release of the State Performance Indicators.

Development Application Processing system (DAP)

Features

Land division fee changes

To align with section 102(1)(c) or (d) of the Act, the DAP has been updated to apply GST to applicable fees for deemed-to-satisfy land division applications submitted on or after 7 November 2025. Transitional applications and performance assessed applications remain exempt.

Assessment clock – remaining verification days removed/added

In response to the Expert Panel Report Recommendation 19.1 and 19.2, remaining verification days (positive or negative) are added or removed from the assessment clock. An audit entry has been added to DAP applications to mention when the assessment clock has been extended or reduced.

Latest version

Minor variations to planning consents assessments

In response to the Expert Panel Report Recommendation 22, regulation 65 has been amended, and the DAP has been updated to require that where an accredited professional has granted a planning consent, any minor variation to the planning consent after final development approval must be assessed by a council assessment manager (except where the SPC issued the approval).

Latest version

Accredited Professional ability to assess planning consents removed

In response to the Expert Panel Report Recommendation 5 Phase 1, and amendment to regulation 25, the DAP has been updated to remove the ability for Accredited Professional – Building Level 1 to assess planning consents.

Latest version

Referral timeframes updated

In response to the Expert Panel Report Recommendation 72.14, appendix 8-14, and Amendment to Schedule 9, referral timeframes in the DAP have been amended for the Tunnel Protection Overlay from 30 days to 20 days and for Native Vegetation to 30 business days.

Land division – Verification update and assessment timeframes reduced

To support the amendment to Regulation 53, the DAP now applies a reduced assessment timeframe of 30 business days for land division consent and combined planning and land division consent where land division creates 10 or less allotments and does not involve creation of a public road.

Latest version

Accredited Professional surveyor able to assess deemed-to -satisfy land division applications

To align with the amendment of regulation 22, private surveyors are now able to assess deemed-to-satisfy land division applications. This does not apply where the land division involves the creation of a public road or has land vested in council.

Latest version

Building Indemnity Insurance (BII) threshold update

For applications lodged on or after 10 November 2025, the BII information threshold increases from $12,000 to $20,000 for domestic building work in the DAP system.

Link: SA.GOV.AU - Building indemnity insurance

Latest version

Fixes

Applicants unable to submit building notifications

Applicant and volume applicant user types can submit mandatory building notifications where BII details are required.

Development Application Processing system (DAP)

Features

Building consent added to caravan and tourist park element

The building consent now appears when the caravan and tourist park element type is selected in applications.

PlanSA portal

Features

Code amendment register – export to CSV

The dates in the export to CSV functionality of the code amendment register data has now been formatted to Australian date format (DD/MM/YYYY).

Public notification –representation form updateWording on the public notification representation form has been refined to provide more clarity on the mandatory input for public representations. This aligns with Regulation 50 of the PDI Act.
Public Register – addition of concurrence informationThe Public Register now provides concurrence details within the Application Assessment tab for applications approved by councils, the Regional Assessment Panel (RAP), or the State Planning Commission. This update ensures compliance with legislative requirements for land division applications located in the Environment and Food Production Area and the Character Preservation Area.

Development Application Processing system (DAP)

Features

Tree Removal Fees – Practice Direction 12 update

Urban tree canopy and regulated/significant tree removal fees for non-Crown applications can now be raised by the relevant authority during assessment for planning consent and development approval, and must be paid by the applicant prior to development approval being granted.

Councils are reminded to update relevant conditions to comply with the updated Practice Direction 12 in DAP (can preset standard conditions at org admin level).

Latest version

Referral body standard contacts

Referral Body ‘organisation administrators' can now configure reusable contacts (e.g. applicant, builder, invoice, primary). Contacts can be set as default and reused across applications.

Latest version

Fixes

Land division certificates – visibility for volume applicants

Volume applicants can now view land division certificates in the dashboard.

Internal referral dashboard fix

The ‘Active internal referral’ dashboard is now displaying distributed, recalled and responded requests.

DAP

Features

New House element – Co-located Housing

A new refined element ‘Co-located Housing’ for the ‘New House’ element has been added to the DAP system. The element is visible and selectable on the submission form. Once selected, the element will be visible:

  • on the application summary page
  • application submission snapshot
  • planning consent verification
  • on the verification snapshot after verification completion.

Latest version

Concurrence process for non-complying applications approved by council, Regional Assessment Panel (RAP) or State Planning Commission (the Commission)

Where an application requires a concurrence process prior to the granting of authorisation for consent or development approval, the relevant authority (RA) can now submit their decision to another RA for concurrence.

This applies to applications located within an Environment and Food Protection Area Overlay (EFPA) and Character Preservation District (CPD) overlay, which involve a division of land creating one or more additional allotments.

Where the RAP or Council is the RA for the consent, the system prompts them to send a concurrence request to the Commission. Conversely, where the Commission is the RA, they will be prompted to send a concurrence request to the relevant Council.

A concurrence facility has been added to the decision page to facilitate this process. When a concurrence task is raised, the consent assessment clock is paused until a response to the concurrence is received. Once the concurrence response is received, the consent can be reconsidered — depending on the concurrence outcome, the decision can only be granted if the concurrence receiver agrees to it.

This change applies to both Crown and non-Crown applications.

Referral body and Relevant Authority (RA) - Notifications

Where an internal or external referral forms part of the development assessment process, the relevant referral body is now notified via email when the application is placed on and off hold by the RA (provided this occurs within the referral timeframe). Referral bodies can only respond to referrals when the assessment clocks for the consent are active. When the clocks are on hold, draft responses can be saved then submitted once the assessment has resumed.

When a referral body has requested a ‘Request for Further Information’ (RFI) that puts a consent on hold, the RA is now notified via email once the RFI task is marked as complete by the referral body and the assessment is resumed.

Latest version

Alignment of the Deemed Consent preloaded conditions to  the updated Practice Direction 11

The Deemed Consent preloaded conditions have been updated to be aligned with the Practice Direction 11 minor updates on 12 September 2025.

Latest version

Consent decisions – Updates to refusal reason for relevant authorities (RA) and referral bodies

When combining Planning and Land Division consents, RAs can now add a refusal reason for one or both consents. This includes the ability to edit, delete or enter another refusal reason. The Decision Notification Form (DNF) includes the refusal reason from the consent or consents when combined planning and land division.

Where the referral body is responding with 'Direct refusal of this application', the refusal text box heading 'Reason for refusal' has been updated to read 'The application was referred to under Direction, and has directed refusal of the application for the following reason/s:'

The revised wording and refusal reason are included in the Referral Response Snapshot and Decision Notification Form (DNF) alongside the referral body's name.

Latest version

Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) - Updates to decision

Councils should be undertaking inspections within the timeframes outlined in Practice Direction 9 – Council Inspections (2 business days if within a metro area and 3 business days outside of metro).

Where the inspection timeframe has been exceeded, Regulation 103E of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017 outlines that the entity issuing the Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) can presume that the council have undertaken the inspection/ aren’t inspecting and there isn’t any building work or other action required relevant to the suitability of the building for occupation.

This means that once the timeframe has exceeded, the entity issuing the CoO may proceed to make a decision on the application for the CoO.

For Class 1 buildings, building certifiers can now proceed with making a decision within the DAP on applications for CoO where there is an outstanding inspection outcome.

In making the decision, the certifier will be required to check and confirm that the inspection timeframe has lapsed and that they are satisfied that there are no outstanding non-conformances relevant to occupancy that remain unresolved.

Councils and certifiers are encouraged to continue collaborating to ensure that buildings are safe and suitable and CoO are being issued in a timely manner.

Latest version

Withdraw button in Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) summary page

The 'Withdraw Application' button is now visible on the CoO Summary page for applicants, contacts with shared access, and issuing entity, up until a decision is made.

Visibility is based on user role and application status.

Latest version

CoO fees tab and refund warning message

The following enhancements have been made in relation to CoO fees tabs and refund warning messages:

  • When a CoO is reassigned from council to an accredited professional, a yellow warning message prompts council users to refund any previously paid CoO fee. This ensures correct fee handling during reassignment.
  • The CoO fee was removed from the Building Consent fees tab during assessment and approval, ensuring it is only charged when applying for a CoO.
  • The fees tab is now always visible from validation through to decision. Councils can now charge, and refund CoO fees as required, supporting both pre- and post-validation scenarios.

Latest version

Fixes

Assessment days added to the assessment timeframe once an external referral is distributed

Referral days are now added to the assessment clocks as part of the assessment process for the consent once the external referral is distributed by the RA, rather than when it is initiated.

This fix revises the previous system logic, where the RA received additional assessment days at the referral initiation stage, before to the referral was distributed.

Consent Decision - Endorsement tab - uploaded stamped plans hidden

When stamped plans are uploaded via the Decision Endorsement tab for a consent, they now remain interna l (hidden from the applicant) until the decision is made.

This fix addresses an issue where stamped plans became visible to the applicant immediately after upload, before the decision was endorsed.

PlanSA Portal

Features

‘New House’ element – Additional refined element 'Co-located housing’

The ‘New House’ element in the Online Planning and Design Code, now has a new refined element option for ‘Co-located housing’.

DAP

Features

Recording of decisions for private accredited professionals

Private accredited professionals who are completing decisions within the Development Application Processing system (DAP) and do not hold current accreditation, will now be required to nominate the appropriate accredited professional in their organisation to endorse their recorded decision. The change to check the accreditation applies on both consent decision and variations.


The Accredited Professional dashboard has been modified to show current accreditation status and
registration end date. New Professional Accreditation links were modified to show new submission links
only when there's no existing submission initialised.

Latest version

Application for Accreditation - Save as Draft functionality

The ability to 'Save Draft' is now available for new, renewal and reapplication accreditation submissions.

Land division consent – Planning Information tab

The Planning Information tab is now available in the land division consent for the relevant authority to confirm the application type and allotment details of the land division/boundary re-alignment application.

Minor variation checkboxes and audit report integration

Two new declarative checkboxes have been introduced in accordance with legislative provisions: * When the relevant authority indicates there is a minor variation to DTS criteria an additional checkbox will be displayed – “Variation to DTS has been assessed as a minor variation under section 106(2) and Practice Direction 19 has been considered.” This check box is on the Category of Development screen in verification. * When the relevant authority selects Minor Variation as a variation decision, for Planning Consent or Planning and Land Division Consent, an additional checkbox is displayed – “Variation to planning consent has been assessed as minor under section 128(2)(b) and regulation 65(1), and Practice Direction 19 has been considered.” A text field is also provided for the details of the variation determination, and the user needs to declare that the planning consent is still operative.

Latest version

QBE insurance number validation

The Insurer field has been changed to a drop-down field with options for QBE and Other. When QBE is selected as the insurer at the point of capture, the system now validates that the insurance number entered matches one of these formats:

  • #########BWI-#
  • #########BWI-##
  • #########BWI-###

These changes do not apply to applications created before the release date.

Latest version

Apply for next consent task

The task to ‘Apply for next consent’ is now visible for applicants on the new homepage in the ‘Pending Your Action’ tab.

Endorsed date is recorded as the decision date when consent decision is endorsed

Where a consent decision by a relevant authority requires an endorsement, the endorsement date by a delegated officer is recorded as the decision date in DAP.

Ability to reassign endorsement function to another delegate by nominated endorser

When a minor variation requires endorsement, the nominated endorser can now reassign the endorsement function to another delegate within the organisation.

A ‘Reassign’ action has been added as an action in the variations table under the Variation Requests tab.

When the ‘Reassign’ option is selected, the user is prompted to search for another delegate within the organisation to reassign the endorsement to.

Once the endorsement is reassigned, the new nominated endorser receives an email notification advising them that they have a new task to respond to the endorsement request.

Latest Version

Fixes

Crown minor variation process update

The planning officer will now raise the fees, then add the conditions and notes on the final review screen after the applicant has paid the minor variation fee. The pop-up message has also been updated to align with the Crown minor variation process.

PlanSA Portal

Features

Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) available in the development application register

Where a CoO has been issued (and has not been revoked), the certificate is now visible and able to be downloaded from within the development application register.

Updates to the navigation bar within the online Planning and Design Code (the Code).

When browsing the Code, the left-hand section navigation bar is now locked in place, allowing users to scroll through Code policies on the right-hand side of the screen.

Fixes

Crown applications – elements added

Elements added to a Crown application will now show in the development application register.

DAP

Features

Building notifications and inspection rectifications can be submitted by contractors, tradespeople, and suppliers

Contractors and trades hired by the applicant/builder as well as suppliers (e.g. shed builders) now have an ability to submit building notifications on completion of building works and inspection rectifications.

Latest version

Assessments dashboard filtering for councils within a Regional Assessment Panel (RAP)

Council users within a RAP can filter results for their council in both ‘MY TASKS’ and ‘MY APPLICATIONS’ tabs in the Assessments dashboard.

Latest version

Fixes

Updates to building works for classes 7b and 8 to comply with amended Practice Direction 9

To comply with inspections requirements for ‘Farm buildings’ and ‘Farm sheds’ under amended Practice Direction 9, the DAP will follow the following logic:

  • when building work contains one of the following classes: 1A, 1B or 10C, and contains any of the classes 7B or 8, then 7B and 8 will be split into own building work 'Farm building or Farm shed'.

Latest version

Deletion of swimming pool default notification function for councils

Where a building certifier is the relevant authority for the building consent, council users for the location can remove the default swimming pool default notification 'Installation of temporary safety barrier for a swimming pool containing a water depth greater than 300mm' when processing development approval.

Latest version

Review of additional document submission permissions

The action to review additional documents submitted by the applicant can now only be accepted or declined by the active consent or development approval relevant authority.

Latest version

PlanSA portal

Features
Code amendment online feedback formThe PlanSA portal includes a facility which allows members of the community to make submissions and provide feedback as part of engagement on a proposed code amendment. This facility is available again following being temporarily offline for maintenance purposes.

DAP

Features

Applicants access to 'help for this page' for Certificate of Occupancy dashboards

Applicants now have access to the 'help for this page' in the Your Applications and Certificate of Occupancy sections of the dashboards.

Updates to the tasks that prevent Withdrawal or Cancellation Requests

Processing a request to withdraw an application or cancel a development authorisation is disabled when either of the following tasks is outstanding:

  • Endorse a Fee Refund - A message is displayed:

“An authorisation cannot be cancelled with an active fee refund endorsement task. Refund the fee before processing the authorisation cancellation request.”

  • Make Land Division Certificate Fee Payment - A message is displayed:

“An authorisation cannot be cancelled with an active fee refund endorsement task for Land Division Certificate fee. Contact SPC Planning Services for further assistance.”

Tasks automatically cancelled upon Withdrawal or Cancellation Request

When a request to withdraw an application or cancel a development authorisation is processed, the following outstanding tasks are automatically cancelled:

Review Extension of Time

  • The Operative Date tab reflects that consents and development approval have been withdrawn or cancelled.

Respond to Variation Request

  • The Variation tab shows the variation request as withdrawn.

Make Additional Payment

  • The fee advice is cancelled.
  • An email is sent to both the invoice contact and the relevant authority advising of the fee cancellation.

Make Payment – Variation

  • The fee advice is cancelled.
  • An email is sent to both the invoice contact and the relevant authority advising of the fee cancellation.

Satisfy Clearance Requirements Outstanding

  • The Conditions and Notes tab shows the condition “Clearance requirement not met” with a decision of “Withdrawn” and the corresponding date.

Additional task handling on Application Withdrawal

When an application is withdrawn, the following task is also cancelled:

Resolve Inconsistency

  • The Summary tab no longer displays the “Respond to Inconsistency” button.
  • The Inconsistency tab shows the consent with a “View” option and the message:

The inconsistency task has been cancelled due to application withdrawal.

Land Division Certificates

Deposited Plans

If Land Division Certificates (staged or non-staged) have been issued and deposited, cancellation of the development authorisation is not permitted.

A warning message is displayed:

An authorisation cannot be cancelled with deposited plans. Contact SPC Planning Services for further assistance, if required.

Certificates on Cancellation

When a development authorisation is cancelled and Land Division Certificates are present:

  • The Land Division Certificates tab remains visible.
  • The status of submitted certificates is updated to ‘Withdrawn’.
  • SPC Planning Services is notified via email.

PowerBI

Features

Power BI Building Inspections Report

The Building Inspections report, accessible under the Notifications & Inspections section in Power BI, has been updated with the following enhancements:

Separate Statistics for Farm Buildings and Sheds

  • These additions ensure compliance with the amended Practice Directions 9.

User Guide Link Added

  • A direct link to the user guide has been included in the report for easier reference and support.

DAP

Features

Apply for Certificate of Occupancy – new application successful message

On submitting an application for a Certificate of Occupancy, a new message shows confirming the application was successful, including the certificate ID number and instruction to pay a fee (as applicable).

Latest version

Fixes

Allocating consents to another user

Users are now able to reallocate themselves from consents.

  • Users will now be able to reallocate users for consents assigned to Regional Assessment Panels.
  • When users remove an allocated user and click 'save allocation', the change will be updated on the consent.

Update link in an email notification

When the applicant receives the email notification that the Land Division Certificate has been reissued, the link in the email to the Land Division Certificate points to the new Certificate ID.

Relevant authority name standardisation

The relevant authority's name is now standardised in the form when applying for subsequent consents.

PlanSA portal

Features

Online Planning and Design Code.

Display the latest version of the Code for the search results in the online Planning and Design Code, and when browsing the Planning and Design Code.

DALite

Features

DALite internal referrals – ability to add due date and a template

This enhancement introduces the ability in DALite for the Relevant Authority to specify a due date when distributing an internal referral during the assessment of a development application. The due date defines the expected timeframe for when referral feedback should be provided.

Internal referrals are used to engage team members with specialist expertise – such as engineers, arborists or wastewater experts – ensuring comprehensive assessment of applications. By capturing a due date, this feature improves workflow clarity, accountability and timely decision-making across multidisciplinary teams.

PlanSA portal

Features

PlanSA portal – Find out where to lodge page

The ‘Find out where to lodge’ page has been simplified to show the following information:

  • link on creating an account
  • link to lodge an application if the account has already been created
  • link if applicant is unsure if approval is required and information to reach out to their local council authority for further information
  • information for lodging state development along with those that are excluded in the PlanSA portal.

DAP

Features

DAP – homepage and dashboards

In response to the Expert Panel Report Early Recommendation 8, the Development Application Processing (DAP) system homepages and dashboards have been updated for improved functionality.

Key updates to the relevant authority homepage and dashboard:

  • simplified access to tasks that require action (my tasks) and all allocated development applications (my applications)
  • simplified views of development applications lodged with the relevant authority including those:
    • with requests for information
    • requiring or required public notification or referrals
    • requiring action or with development approvals or variations
  • relocated buttons for building notifications, inspections, rectification notifications and relevant authority reports to the left side navigation panel
  • a new certificate of occupancy dashboard
  • improved searching, filtering and sorting across the homepage and the dashboards.

Key updates to the referral body homepage and dashboard:

  • simplified access to tasks that require action (my tasks) and all allocated development applications (my referrals)
  • simplified views of all applications either allocated to the referral body or development applications with requests for information
  • improved searching, filtering and sorting across the homepage and the dashboards.

Key updates to the applicant homepage and dashboard:

  • simplified view of development applications
  • direct links to complete outstanding tasks
  • new dashboards for development approved applications, those under assessment and for notifications post development approval
  • a new certificate of occupancy dashboard
  • new help for this page feature with a pop-up for information and guides.

Latest version:

Certificate of Occupancy Dashboard

A new Certificate of Occupancy (COO) dashboard has been created for relevant authorities and applicants.

New pages within the dashboard for relevant authorities include in-progress, issued and revoked. These have similar functionality to the existing COO dashboard but with more information such as who the COO will be issued by and the ability to sort by status.

New pages for applicants include required, in progress, issued and revoked.

Applications will appear on the required page once a completion of building work notification has been submitted where it includes a direct link to apply for the COO. The COO application can be tracked through the in-progress and issued pages.  COOs that have been revoked will appear under the revoked page.

Latest version

DAP

Features

DAP internal referrals – ability to add due date and a template

This enhancement introduces the ability for the Relevant Authority to specify a due date when distributing an internal referral. The due date defines the expected timeframe for providing referral feedback.

A standard ‘referral response template’ can now be attached to internal referrals, assisting in ensuring response consistency. The respondent can download the template when they view internal referral details.

Latest version

Fixes

Housing numbers fix – SAHT entered housing numbers

An application containing 'housing numbers' for the new housing refined element 'Dwelling or residential flat building undertaken by South Australian Housing Trust' can now be submitted with updated values being saved during planning consent verification, assessment (Planning Info tab) and development approval (Statistics tab).

Housing numbers fix – values refresh when editing element information.

Saved changed are now reflected immediately in the Planning Information – ‘Elements details’ section, for elements and/or element information edited from the Application Summary tab options 'Elements selected' and 'Planning Information'.

The values entered for ‘No. of dwellings for affordable housing’ are now cleared when the proposed development does not include affordable housing.

PowerBI

Features

PowerBI Building Inspections report

The new Building Inspections report is now available. The report contains the updated Practice Direction page to comply with Practice Directions 8 and 9 that came into effect as of 1 July 2025. The report is accessible under the Notifications & Inspections section in PowerBI.

DAP

Features

Development Application Processing (DAP) system – file upload size increase

In response to the Expert Panel Report Recommendation 69, which highlighted insufficient file upload capacity within the DAP system, the maximum file upload size has been increased to 230 MB for plans and reports.

Farm building and farm sheds – Practice Direction 9

The updated Practice Directions 9 – Council Inspections, effective from 1 July 2025,  separates farm buildings and farm sheds for mandatory inspections.

To align with the mandatory inspection requirements set out in Practice Direction 9 the following enhancements are now in place:

  • a new prompt is shown when building work contains a Class 7b or Class 8 building to indicate whether the building is located on land primarily used for agriculture
  • separation of farm buildings and farm sheds for users to select the type of building for inspection purposes and to enter the total floor area
  • automatic splitting of confirmed farm building or farm shed into own building work when classed with another.

Latest version

Development Application Processing (DAP) – housing numbers

Applicants proposing new housing are now required to include information on the type and number of proposed dwellings in the DAP system. This includes the number of dwellings for affordable housing and the number of rooms for student accommodation and supported accommodation. Relevant authorities for planning consent will be required to confirm the number of new houses, the number of residential buildings and the number of rooms proposed for student accommodation and supported accommodation.

Further information can be found in Submit an application | PlanSA.

Latest version

External referral body response amendments

External referral bodies can now amend their responses directly within the system before consent is processed. This update supports work that allows relevant authority to self-serve, streamlining the amendment process and reducing delays in the development assessment.

The enhancement aims to:

  • Increase efficiency: Streamline the amendment process, reducing the time required to correct errors.
  • Reduce workload: Minimise manual amendment requests handled by DHUD staff.
  • Improve accuracy: Enable quicker and more accurate updates to referral responses.

Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) application issuing authority

A relevant authority submitting a CoO application on behalf of the applicant is now able to change the issuing authority (as applicable).

Latest version

Submission form new page – More information for consent approvals

The development application submission form has a new Consents page, 'More information for consent approvals', consolidating consent required information. It includes Preliminary Agreement, Public Notification Sign on Land, Construction Industry Training Fund (CITF) and Builder or Contractor Details.

Latest version

PowerBI

Features

PowerBI Building Inspections report

On 1 July 2025, PlanSA ceased data refreshes for the existing Practice Direction page in the Building Inspections report. This version of the report will be marked as 'refresh disabled' and will remain accessible for previous financial years, enabling data retrieval at any time according to the rules of the previous Practice Directions.

The new Building Inspections report is available from 9 July 2025. The report contains the updated Practice Direction page to comply with Practice Directions that came into effect as of 1 July 2025. The report will be accessible under the Notifications & Inspections section in PowerBI.

DAP

Features

Public notification communication

Emails associated with public notification have been updated replacing references from ‘public consultation’ to ‘public notification’.

DAP – CITF levy

The total development cost includes GST where the CITF levy does not. CITF levy requirements will now apply where the total development cost is equal to or greater than $110,001.

Fees and charges 2025-2026 financial year

New fees and charges take effect on 1 July 2025 as published on 15 May 2025 in the Government Gazette.

Crown land division applications

Applications for Crown development involving land division consent for leases no longer require information in fields for:

  • the number of existing allotments; and
  • proposed allotments.

Update to energy efficiency and liveable housing concession reason

Updates to Ministerial Building Standard (MBS) 007 (Amendment 4) – March 2025 include:

  • the concession reason 'Manufactured off-site – 60 m2 or less' has been updated from 60 m2 to 70 m2
  • if the old concession reason was selected the ‘Select concession reason’ field will show both old and new concession reasons.

Latest version

Updates to mandatory building notifications

The mandatory commencement and completion building notifications can determine requirements for the Statement of Compliance (SoC) and enable applicants to apply for a Certificate of Occupancy (where required). Deleting the mandatory completion notification and replacing it with an alternative notification means that applicants cannot apply for a Certificate of Occupancy. Therefore the following updates have been made:

  • the ability to delete mandatory commencement and completion building notifications has been removed to ensure there are no system restrictions on applying for a Certificate of Occupancy
  • this delete functionality is retained where development approvals are staged or there are multiple building works (unless a Certificate of Occupancy is required for the specific building work).

Latest version

Documentation for Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) applications

The CoO application now shows the following documents to allow applicants to cross reference documents already uploaded against the required Statement of Compliance documents specified in the Decision Notification Form (DNF):

  • 'occupancy documentation' already uploaded (on building notification submissions)
  • required 'Statement of Compliance additional certificates, reports or other documents'.

Latest version

Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) - fee payment on application submission

Where council has been nominated as the entity responsible for issuing the CoO, the fee payment is now required when submitting the application, instead of at the completion of the validation process.

Latest version

Application Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) tab

The development application CoO tab has been updated to show more information including:

  • ‘Address on CoO’ shows the building address of the CoO
  • additional address information shows a dash if no information is provided
  • ‘Building Class’ shows the building classes of the selected building/building work building classes
  • ‘Submitted by’ shows the name and organisation of the individual who submitted the application.

Building works including swimming pool and/or safety features

Practice Direction 8 has been updated and was published on 19 June 2025.

Part 2, section 2 of the Practice Direction has been updated to include a mandatory inspection for ‘the installation of a temporary safety barrier for a swimming pool containing a water depth greater than 300 mm’ and the removal of paragraph 2.

In preparation for the introduction of the updated practice direction:

  • swimming pool building notifications have been standardised following input from some councils
  • a separate ‘building work’ for swimming pools and/or safety features will be automatically created where the building consent contains a class 10B building work and building consent authorities have answered ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Does this building work include a swimming pool and/or swimming pool safety features?’.

The standardised notifications are:

Swimming pool and/or safety features

  • Commencement of building work for swimming pool (mandatory with prompt for Statement of Compliance (SoC)
  • Completion of installation of a temporary safety barrier for a swimming pool containing a water depth greater than 300 mm
  • Completion of building work for swimming pool (mandatory with SoC prompt)
  • Completion of building work swimming pool safety features (mandatory).

Swimming pool safety features

  • Commencement of building work for swimming pool safety features (mandatory)
  • Completion of building work for swimming pool safety features (mandatory).

Latest version

Review Response to Discontinue Application – distribution date enhancements

A new ‘Distribution Date’ field has been added to the Review Response to Discontinue Application screen. This date is now mapped to the Application Discontinued Letter when uploaded, improving documentation accuracy.

When the RA selects ‘No’ to discontinue the application, a new Application Discontinue Process Declined Letter template becomes available. A mandatory comment is also required in this case, and both the comment and distribution date are reflected in the uploaded letter.

The Documents tab now displays the selected distribution date for both letter types, enhancing traceability and compliance.

Latest version

Rearrangement of consent order

Consents can now be rearranged if a subsequent consent was submitted after the initial application submission date, provided that the consents are either in the ‘Awaiting Precursor Consent’ or ‘Verification’ statuses.

A guide on how to rearrange consents can be found in the Application and Consents Details page of the PlanSA website.

Latest version

Fixes

Update to DAP Report – Building and Rectification Notification Report

The DAP Report – Building and Rectification Notification Report can now filter by Class 10 building/building works.

Predefined building notifications – delete restrictions

Predefined building notifications added either individually or by group can only be deleted by the relevant authority (council and/or RAP) who issued the building consent or development approval.

Latest version

Updates to development approval variation request

The relevant authority performing a development approval variation decision is now able to view the 'Required Notifications' and edit, as required.

Latest version

Certificate of Occupancy – adding licensed building work contractor for each Statement of Compliance

During Certificate of Occupancy validation, the ability to add and allocate a different 'licensed building work contractor' for each Statement of Compliance is now available.

DAP

Features

Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) request for documentation improvements

To improve the communication to applicants the following improvements have been made:

  • Request for Documentation now includes both development location and street address (linked child location)
  • Email request header now includes the Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) ID number, Building/Building Work and the Building Address (either development location or linked child location)
  • Additional and new document types for category ‘Occupancy Documents’ include:
    • Engineering Inspection Certificate/Report
    • Engineering Installation Certificate/Report
    • Fire Engineering Report – Final
    • Performance Based Design Report – Final
    • Schedule 2 - Site Contamination Form
    • Schedule 2 - Statement of Site Suitability
    • Statutory Declaration – Smoke Alarms/Bushfire Protection and Supervisor Checklist.
  • For specific document types the 'Type Description' field is shown to allow users to provide details of which part of the building/building work the document relates.

CoO refusal decision improvements

On refusal of a CoO, a new letter template 'Refusal of Certificate of Occupancy' is available for download.

This download is then attached to a new email 'Refused Certificate of Occupancy' and delivered to the primary applicants, primary contact, person who submitted the CoO application, landowner(s), building owner and the location council.

Updated CoO template

The CoO template has been updated with the following changes:

  • Includes the ability to display both the 'Location of Development' (address shown on the decision notification form) and, where applicable, the 'Address or location of building' that can be selected when an address has been created through land division.
  • The section on applicable conditions and/or limitations has been updated to remove the prescribed timeframe of '6 months' to allow the entity responsible for issuing the CoO to determine an appropriate timeframe relevant to the condition being applied.

The statement now reads: ‘In relation to a class 1a building, the following items listed in Part A clause 1 of the Statement/s of Compliance that have not been satisfied must be completed within the specified time from the date this Certificate of Occupancy is signed.’

Apply for CoO – address of building improvements

The ‘Apply for Certificate of Occupancy’ page now shows both development location and newly created address, including additional address information as entered during submission and the title and plan parcel references.

Latest version

DAP

Features

Inspection Outcome Editing Enhancement

This enhancement allows the Location Council or SPC users (in the case of land outside council areas) to edit an inspection outcome in the event of an erroneous submission.

Fixes

Relevant authority name standardisation in system generated documentation

The relevant authority's name is now standardised in the 'Development application summary - Assessment Status' table and across system generated documentation. This includes Snapshots (Submission and Referral), Verification Outcome Letter, Decision Notification Form (DNF) and Section 7 Data service.

Building Indemnity Insurance (BII) and Data extract for Section 7.

Building Indemnity Insurance (BII) details have been reviewed and are only included in the Section 7 data extract documents after the first commencement notification for the building work is submitted or if notifications aren’t required, when the development approval is granted.

Note:

  • BII shows as “Still required” if there is a domestic building work contract, but exemption or Building Indemnity Insurance information has not been entered and is required.
  • BIIs shows as “Not Applicable” if the domestic building work contract is stated as Not Applicable for development ≥ $12,000 and the building work is classified as 1A, 1B, 10A, or 10B.

The Decision Notification Form (DNF) has enhanced wording to align with the BII section in Section 7 data extract.

A disclaimer now advises councils to verify document accuracy independently.

Update consent relevant authority reason

When an under-assessment consent is assigned to a new relevant authority, they can now update the relevant authority reason.

PlanSA portal

Features

Code Amendment Register

The public code amendment register has been enhanced to assist in identifying whether a code amendment is relevant for the purposes of completing Form 1.

The Register table now includes a column titled Form 1 which will provide one of the following responses:

  • Yes – the code amendment is released for consultation or consultation is continuing; or consultation has ended but the code amendment has not come into operation (policy live).
  • No – indicates that a code amendment has received initiation approval but has not yet progressed to consultation or that the code amendment has been implemented into the Planning and Design Code (in operation, policy live).

Other enhancements include:

  • A register glossary – providing definitions and further details about the information available in the register.
  • Identification of Local Government Authority (LGA) – the Register table includes a ‘LGA’ column, indicating where the code amendment is located. Where a code amendment is located in ‘multiple’ LGAs, further detail is available within the overview of the code amendment.

DAP

Features

Building indemnity insurance

Removed the requirement to provide a reason why building indemnity insurance had not been provided to the building consent relevant authority (field is now optional).

Also changed the recipients of a system generated email advising that insurance must be provided prior to commencement. This email is now only sent to the applicant as a reminder by PlanSA.

DAP

Features

Compliance with South Australian Cyber Security Framework (SACSF)

Updated authentication settings for Referral Body accounts.

Expert Panel Report Early Recommendation 4 – Online development application improvements for adding development locations and application contacts

In response to the Expert Panel Report Early Recommendation 4, the location and contacts pages have been improved for applicants submitting a new development application.

Location Page

Improvements to the locations page include:

  • Applicants can now add land parcels to an application using its valuation number. The former “Title or Plan Search” option has now been split into two different search tools.
  • A location will be automatically added to an application when searched. Individual parcels can be removed using a delete tool or all parcels can be removed using the reset locations button.
  • The ‘add selected’ button has been removed, and applicants can proceed to the next page with the next button or save a draft application.
  • Applicants can continue to add more locations to an application and can choose any of the location search types to do this (i.e. address, map or another method).
  • The ‘edit’ option is shown when required location information is missing, e.g. location address and/or council.

Edit development location

The location improvements are also available when editing the development location from the Development Application – Summary page.

Contacts Page

Improvements to the contacts page include:

  • Consolidating the contacts pages to a single application contacts page. Default contacts will be returned where they are recorded for the applicant, primary contact and invoice contact.
  • The add contact button will appear on any contacts where there is no default contact and when more than one contact is allowed.
  • Contacts can be added in any order.

Note – Refer to the below guide to create frequently used and default contacts:

Applications saved in draft form will be reopened in the new format.

Updates have been applied to the contact cards visible from the development application summary, consent and development approval summary pages.

Latest version

City of Victor Harbor to Fleurieu Regional Assessment Panel (FRAP)The City of Victor Harbor has been integrated into the FRAP.

PowerBI

Features

Power BI – Section 138 Clearance Requirements report

The information on this page provides councils with an overview of land division development applications, where a land division certificate has been applied for and their prescribed conditions. The table displays records of prescribed conditions for each land division application showing whether these conditions have been satisfied.

DAP

Features

Land Division Certificate Changes

The Land Division Certificate has had the following changes made:

  • when submitting an application, the land to be divided will accept ‘0’ if the application is for a boundary realignment
  • relabelling the proposed allotment field to inform applicants that it excludes roads and reserves
  • relocating the “apply for certificate” button to the application’s land division certificate tab.

City of Victor Harbor to Fleurieu Regional Assessment Panel (FRAP)

The City of Victor Harbor has been integrated into the FRAP.

PlanSA Portal

Features

Applications on Notice – Location details and current policies

Improvements have been made to the application details section, which includes:

  • combining the Address and Land details (title and plan parcel) into a single view
  • providing a link to view the current development policies for each location.

This change will apply for new and existing applications on public notification.

CATS

Features

Code Amendment Tracking System (CATS)

The CATS is an online system where you can submit, manage and track your code amendment.

In CATS you can perform the following tasks:

  • submit a Proposal to Initiate
  • respond to requests for information
  • pay invoices
  • track the code amendment
  • complete and respond to actions (such as the requirement for engagement approval)
  • submit and activate stages as the code amendment progresses (such as submitting for engagement to commence or submitting for determination).

CATS will be used for processing all new and existing code amendments.

Portal

Code Amendment Register (Portal)

The public code amendment register has been enhanced to connect with CATS and reflect the status of code amendments.

  • The website register has improved search functionality by the LGA filter, and a new code amendment ID filter.
  • The code amendment status bar has been enhanced and will show: Adopted (Implementation Pending), Altered and Adopted (Implementation Pending), Code Amendment Progressing, Declined (Determination), Declined (Initiation), Policy Live (dd/mm/yyyy), Withdrawn 

To view code amendments currently on consultation, use the show code amendments on consultation toggle in the search filter.

There are also additional tiles linking to the:

  • Toolkit (Code Amendment Toolkit)
  • Code Amendment Dashboard
  • Link to Browse the Planning and Design Code
Code Amendment Tracking System (CATS) DashboardThe new public facing dashboard provides a clear and accessible overview of all code amendments currently in the system with counts of code amendments at various statuses.

PoweBI

Features

Workload Management Report - Awaiting Payments

A new Awaiting Payments Report has been created in the Workload Management Report to replace an earlier version of the report.

The Awaiting Payment Report provides councils and the State Planning Commission with an overview of development applications awaiting payment. The report returns records of applications with outstanding payments at the consent or application level. Fees for the Certificate of Occupancy charged by an accredited professional are not shown in this report.

DAP

Features

Enhanced Visibility of Building Work ID in PlanSA System

A new enhancement to the PlanSA system designed to improve the building indemnity insurance (BII) application process for builders.

This enhancement provides visibility of the building work ID on the respective DAP screen locations where the building work short name is displayed.

Builders can now easily view the building work ID alongside the building work short name, streamlining the BII application process.

Assessment clock - endorsements

The assessment clock now remains visible in the application assessment status table while consent is awaiting endorsement.

Public notification communication

Emails associated with public notification have been updated to replace references to "public consultation" with "public notification".

Latest version

Tree damaging activity on neighbouring land

Updates to the significant and regulated tree question during submission now include a prompt to indicate separately if any of the tree(s) are on the neighbour’s property.

Certificate of Occupancy - Ability to allocate an assessor

The Certificate of Occupancy (CoO) summary tab now has the ability to assign validation and/or decision to an assessor.

Latest version

Fixes

Discontinue application communication

In the discontinue process, the generated email and letter communication signatory now shows the active consent assessing officer and/or relevant authority and associated contact details.

Extension of Time Notifications

When an extension of time is processed for development approval, the email notification is sent to the Relevant Authority, allocated assessor, and primary contact.

Latest version

PlanSA portal

Features

Code amendment submission form

PlanSA is currently developing a new code amendment dashboard which will allow proponents to lodge and track the progress of code amendments. Changes to the Website Submission Form have been made to support the development of the dashboard.

The changes to the website provide a new user interface to submit a Proposal to Initiate a Code Amendment, including:

  • user validation functionality to verify submission details (to reduce spam and safeguard information)
  • detailed submission questions capturing detailed spatial information, related zoning and anticipated yield
  • connectivity with the Code Amendment Tracking System (CATS) currently under development.

The form to request a change to the code remains unchanged and can be found on the Code Amendment website page.

PowerBI

Fixes

PowerBI - Practice direction dashboard

The Practice Direction 9 table has been updated to include all inspections in the total count (except rectifications). This fixes an error where monthly totals were incorrect. The Building Works Inspected column in the Practice Direction 8 Table has been renamed to Building Work Completion Inspection.

DAP

Features

Custom contact email for building occupation/ completion

The Council/SPC user defined email address for building notifications will appear on the Decision Notification Form's Building Occupation/Completion section.

Rectification decision comment field visibility

The rectification decision comment detail is now visible on the Building Notification screen for the Relevant Authority and Accredited Professional (Building Certifier).

This enhancement improves the efficiency and accuracy of the rectification process by providing critical feedback to authorised personnel while maintaining confidentiality.

Building Notification enhancements

An email notification is sent to the applicant when building consent is granted and building indemnity insurance has not yet been provided. The email advises that indemnity insurance must be provided in DAP prior to the notice of building works commencing.

An applicant is required to enter a reason where they did not enter into a domestic work contract and are not exempt from holding insurance.

Planning consent “on hold” feature

The system now allows a Planning Consent to be placed on hold after the consultation process has closed.

Fixes

Development application – application contacts

Adding or modifying an application contact (i.e. applicant, primary contact, invoice contact, or land owner), changing the contact style (e.g. individual to business), or selecting contact style 'Council' no longer resets the selected contact type.

Development application – document date distributed

For contacts requiring postal correspondence. The entered ‘Date Distributed’ for a selected document is now saved when the document is updated.

Development application council contacts

When 'council' is an application contact (applicant, invoice contact, primary contact, or land owner) the contact's name field now displays the name of the council in the following places:

  • Submit Development Application pages - Applicants, Primary Contact, Invoice Contact and Land Owner
  • Application contacts
  • Current and new Beta dashboards for relevant authorities
  • DALite
  • DAP Reports
  • PlanSA Public Register

Edit consent elements – purpose of the development now available

When editing planning consent elements from the application summary page, the purpose of development checkbox is now available when council is the applicant and/or land owner.

Electronic lodgement fee – council development is not revenue raising

The Electronic Lodgement Fee (ELF) no longer automatically defaults for the second consent when the applicant and/or land owner is council and development is not revenue-raising as determined on assessing the first consent.

Withdraw application – referral body notified

The referral body is now informed when a development application with a state government agency agreement (pre-lodgement agreement) is withdrawn.

DAP

Feature

Construction Industry Training Fund (CITF) threshold change

Effective 1 January 2025 development approvals issues after this date, the CITF levy payable by the project owner is now calculated on the estimated project value of building or construction works greater than $100,000.

Development applications with a building consent under assessment on or after 1 January 2025 the new threshold (works greater than $100,000) applies. To ensure that applicants have easy access to necessary information and maintain compliance with CITF levy requirements, the following enhancements have been made.

  • During application submission the question “Has the CITF Levy been paid? “ shows for development elements that require building consent approval and the total development cost exceeds $100,000.
  • When the CITF Levy is not paid submitters are advised “The CITF receipt number is required by PlanSA for Building Consent Approval” including a link to Lodge or Pay a Levy | Levies | Construction Industry Training Board.
  • More CITF Levy information is now available via a link to the Leviable Work Reference Table | Construction Industry Training Board.
  • Development applications with a building consent under assessment on or after 1 January 2025 and the total development cost is under $100,000 the CITF levy question is now hidden.

Visit About Levies | Construction Industry Training Board for more information.

Latest version