Adelaide City councillors this week supported initiating a planning code amendment to identify “suitable and unsuitable” locations in the CBD and North Adelaide for strip clubs and sex shops.

The investigation will also review advertising policy and the “visual appearance” of adult entertainment venues with “consideration of local context and display of inappropriate materials that may be visible to minors”.

The code amendment, scheduled for public consultation in April 2024, would only apply to the City of Adelaide council area.

It would not force existing adult entertainment venues or shops in the city to move location, council administration said on Tuesday.

A draft council document says amending the planning code will help reduce “land use conflicts”, improve development assessment of strip clubs and sex shops, and provide “clarity and efficiency to planning and licensing outcomes”.

“Locations (of adult entertainment/shops) need to reflect the City of Adelaide’s strategic context and desire to create a vibrant city that attracts and supports a growing population through the provision of entertainment and music venues, a thriving night-time economy and high-quality residential amenity,” the council document states.

“The Code Amendment investigations will consider locations where adult entertainment could reasonably be contemplated and areas where it is considered unsuitable (or in conflict with other land uses).”

The document says specific investigations will be undertaken into Hindley, Rundle, Hutt, Gouger and Grote streets.

The City Main Street subzones, which include O’Connell Street and parts of Melbourne Street, Sturt Street and Halifax Street, will also form part of the investigation.

Adult entertainment venue Pole Position on Pirie Street in Adelaide’s East End. Existing adult entertainment venues in the CBD will not be forced to move location under the proposed code amendment, Adelaide City Council says. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

Councillors at a committee meeting on Tuesday night unanimously supported starting the code amendment process. It will go to a final vote at next Tuesday’s council meeting.

Central Ward councillor David Elliott queried council administration on Tuesday whether the code amendment was necessary and if council’s planning authorities could already make judgements about where strip clubs and sex shops should be located.

Council’s director of city shaping Ilia Houridis responded that council’s development assessors currently do not have adequate powers to reject development applications for an adult entertainment venue next to, for example, a school.

There isn’t a lot of nuance to our planning zones across the City of Adelaide, and the consequence of that is certain land uses…are joining other land uses that may not complement.

He said the council’s code amendment “reflects conversations” with the state government and Liquor Licensing Commissioner on the issue.

“The simple thing is do you have an adult entertainment premise next to a school,” Houridis said.

“This (code amendment) is to arm planning assessors, bodies like CAP (the Council Assessment Panel), with the tools they need to be able to make those decisions.

“Because currently, they can’t be judgement-based decisions, they’re on the assessment of what the plan allows.”

Houridis suggested there have been development applications for venues in locations “where we’d ideally think they don’t fit” – although didn’t name any specific examples.

“(The code amendment) gives additional tools for our staff and those assessors to say, ‘this use is not envisaged here or is in conflict with other uses’,” he said.

“Currently… that tool wouldn’t exist for those assessors, and they would effectively say in line with the code, ‘we must approve this development proposal because it is envisaged within the code’.

“And we have seen development applications where we’d ideally think they don’t fit and technically they would be allowable under the current provisions in the Planning and Design Code.”

Houridis attributed the issue to the state government’s controversial rollout of the new planning code 2021, which – to the dismay of the local government sector – consolidated 72 council development plans into one statewide code.

“What that meant is some of the deep and detailed work that was done through structure plans by councils that looked to curate how a city develops… has been lost or has been transitioned out,” he said.

“It’s very specific this to the City of Adelaide where our zones have largely been broadened and therefore really allowed for a whole series of activities.

“There isn’t a lot of nuance to our planning zones across the City of Adelaide, and the consequence of that is certain land uses…are joining other land uses that may not complement.”

The Firm on North Terrace. Advertising policy for adult entertainment venues will also come under the microscope as part of the Adelaide City Council-led review. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

The council’s move comes after the Planning and Design Code was updated in June to include a specific definition for “adult entertainment premises” instead of just “licensed premises”.

The intention of the update was to ensure that if a bar or club changed to a strip club it would be defined as a land use change under the planning code.

Adelaide MP Lucy Hood said she advocated for Planning Minister Nick Champion to approve this change so council could now consider where adult entertainment venues should be located.

“I’d been working with the residents in the East End community who rightly raised some concerns about whether or not those activities would happen in the East End,” Hood told ABC Radio Adelaide on Tuesday.

“There’s definitely a place for it in the city, but what we want to do is make sure that we have the right policies around where those kind of premises and shops and activities go.

“It’s just common sense really. It’s just looking at our CBD, looking at our different precincts, acknowledging that a place like the East End is known for its amazing shops and dining whereas Hindley Street’s your nightlife area.”

Asked whether there were specific concerns about an adult entertainment premise popping up on Rundle Street, Hood said: “That’s certainly where I’ve come in as the local MP.”

Council intends to begin consultation on the code amendment on April 17, 2024.

Under the timeline, the Planning Minister is expected to approve or decline the council’s proposal in September 2024.