New exclusion zones for adult entertainment venues in Adelaide's CBD

South Australia's state government has approved new planning rules that establish exclusion zones for adult entertainment venues and shops within Adelaide's CBD and North Adelaide. The regulations aim to preserve the civic character of the city's prominent areas.

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Massage parlours are managed under a different section of the code under personal services and there's a set of rules around them.

The newly designated zones prohibit new venues selling services like nude or lap dances, and shops selling sexually explicit materials, from operating in key locations. These include major thoroughfares such as King William Street, Rundle Mall, and Rundle Street, as well as significant parts of residential areas and all of North Adelaide. Notably, the entertainment precinct of Hindley Street has been excluded from these restrictions.

Existing adult entertainment businesses within the new exclusion zones will not be affected by the changes. The rules also do not apply to lingerie businesses or massage parlors, which are regulated under separate sections of the planning code. Planning Minister Nick Champion emphasized that the goal is to protect areas like boulevards, squares, and streets with particular character, ensuring they remain desirable places for people to live, visit, and frequent.

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What we want in Adelaide is to have our boulevards and our squares and the important areas of our city, like Rundle Street, which have particular characters, not just for the city but for the parklands.

Adelaide City Council highlighted that the changes address growing concerns about the lack of suitable policies for assessing such premises. The council sought to prevent potential negative impacts on areas like the East End, which has seen significant development by generations of South Australians. The new rules require closer scrutiny of factors like advertising and shop presentation for sex shops.

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It's planning rules