The most important documents in the day-to-day assessment of development applications are Development Plans. These documents include 'objectives' and 'principles of development control' against which proposed developments can be assessed. The zoning of areas into residential, commercial, industrial, rural and other zones is also achieved through Development Plans.

A Development Plan may relate to any geographical part of the State and in the majority of cases will relate to council areas. Development Plans are prepared or amended by councils for their own areas, although the Development Act 1993 contains provisions to enable the Minister to prepare a Development Plan in some circumstances.

Development Plans are available for inspection or purchase from Council Offices or at http://www.planning.sa.gov.au. It should be noted that due to recent council amalgamations and restructuring, many Development Plans now relate to areas that no longer cover the whole of a local council. This means that if your council has recently amalgamated, you may have to look under the previous council name to find a Development Plan.