A new survey has found that more than 60 per cent of South Australians want more of a say in planning their own communities.

Additionally, almost 60 per cent of respondents believe that their local council is in the best place to manage development application assessments.

The survey conducted by McGregor Tan and commissioned by the Local Government Association of SA is accessible in PDF form here. 

LGA President Mayor Dave Burgess says two thirds of the 500 people surveyed thought elected council members should be the central decision-makers on development applications.

Just 23 per cent of the community felt independent experts should fulfil that role.

"With Councils calling for changes to our complicated and confusing planning system and the Government undertaking an extensive review the LGA thought it a good time to ask our communities what they wanted," Mayor Burgess said.

"This survey returned results that clearly indicate community members want to be part of the planning process and they want the process managed by their local Council.”

The survey backed the view of many councils about the complexity of the system. Just 7 per cent of respondents said they have a strong understanding of the assessment process, while 36 per cent advised that they have no understanding at all.

There is some speculation that the survey has really revealed how little people generally know about planning, and it could be assumed that they would be more involved if they knew what the processes were.

Mayor Burgess said the LGA was preparing to bring the public views to the Government and Parliament.

“It certainly appears that elements of the Government’s Planning, Development and Infrastructure Bill which seeks to centralise decision-making and squeeze communities and their local representatives out of development assessment are at odds with public views,” he said.

“The majority of respondents clearly felt that local Councils have a strong role to play in all aspects of the planning system- developing the strategic vision, setting local policy content and assessing development. Communities also expect State and Local Government to work together.”

Mayor Burgess pointed out that many of the responses revealed similar attitudes to a 2004 survey also conducted by McGregor Tan Research.

The recent survey involved 500 metropolitan and country respondents, and was conducted earlier this year.