Cactus Canyon, Sellicks Beach

Published on 02 June 2021

Council approves Sellicks Beach Structure Plan

Council has endorsed the Sellicks Beach Structure Plan to help guide any future planning decisions and growth in the town, following extensive feedback from the community.

Sellicks Beach, currently a small coastal community, is designated as a future growth area of Metropolitan Adelaide under the state government’s growth strategy, its 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide, as well as the Onkaparinga Local Area Plan.

“By adopting the Sellicks Beach Structure Plan, council is now prepared to manage the projected growth in a coordinated way,” City of Onkaparinga Mayor Erin Thompson said.

“This isn’t a rezoning process or council’s plan to develop the town, it simply allows us to guide future planning decisions and growth in a way that respects Sellicks’ unique lifestyle and character, protects the environment and improves community wellbeing.”

Council engaged with the community on the draft plan from November 2020 to February 2021, with the responses encompassing a broad cross-section of the local community.

Nine key themes and highly valued attributes were identified by the community in their feedback.

These included sustainability and climate change, beachside character and coastal theme, biodiversity and conservation, transport and movement, infrastructure, cultural heritage, built form and scale, amenity and aesthetics, density and landscaping and open space.

These themes have shaped the final Structure Plan and were consolidated into practical Working Design Guidelines, which will form the basis of conversations with developers on what the community envisage, and be used during negotiations in any future stages of rezoning and land division.

Mayor Thompson thanked local residents for sharing their vision and helping to shape the future of Sellicks Beach.

“A huge thank you to everyone that provided feedback and participated in the community information sessions earlier this year,” she said.

“It was fantastic to see such an actively engaged community, which—like any community—contains a range of differing opinions and views.

“A key element of the engagement was to understand the community’s vision for the future development of Sellicks Beach, and your submissions were crucial in shaping and refining this plan.

“We’re now in a strong position to respond to any future rezoning and land division proposals by those who want to develop, because we’ll be backed by the community and technical investigations.

“Our conversations with the state government can now be based on the objectives and principles of the Structure Plan and the Working Design Guidelines.”

Sellicks Beach currently contains approximately 1315 houses, but the Sellicks Beach Structure Plan anticipates the potential for an additional 1425 houses (in an underdeveloped section of Suburban Neighbourhood Zone and in the current Deferred Urban and Rural Zone).

The Structure Plan identifies a range of infrastructure and services (such as upgraded wastewater and stormwater systems) that would be required to support development such as this.

Head to council’s Your Say page to see the endorsed Sellicks Beach Structure Plan, the Working Design Guidelines and Community Engagement Feedback Report.

Council will be seeking community feedback on two more projects in Sellicks Beach in the next four weeks via Your Say – a proposed upgrade of the lookout area at the end of Palmerston Street, and repairing the concrete beach access at the end of Button Road.