At the Civic Review 2016 Awards and Brickbats ceremony on 24th October, Australian Civic Trust Inc. chairperson Darian Hiles commented on the surprising number of brickbats this year. (Some years there have been none.) Darian stated “Last year a trend toward stronger emphasis on general public consultation and engagement on major projects was noted, but this has proved ephemeral. The public is increasingly bypassed: a problem that the government must address.” You can see details of all the entries that were accepted at this address: People’s choice

The Community Alliance SA Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 17th November at the Joinery (111 Franklin Street, Adelaide), starting at 7 p.m.

Community Alliance SA has produced a response to the State Government’s Local Heritage Discussion paper aimed at reforming and “improving the ways we recognise heritage places in South Australia”.

The community was only given a few weeks to respond to the Government’s ideas on heritage reform, and the Community Alliance and National Trust calls for this to be extended to 6 months have not been met. Continue reading Our local heritage under threat (part 2) →

The State Government introduced a new Bill into Parliament last week, which sets out how the new planning laws will be implemented.

The Statutes Amendment (Planning, Development and Infrastructure) Bill 2016 will not only pave the way for the implementation of the Planning Development and Infrastructure Act 2016, it will also make changes to the Act itself.  The changes include decreasing further the role of the yet-to-be-formed State Planning Commission, while increasing the powers of the Planning Minister!

The alert from Kelledy Jones Lawyers gives the first detailed summary of the Bill and what it entails.

ADELAIDE TOWN HALL, MONDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2016

from 6.00-7.30 PM

TIME TO HAVE YOUR SAY ON LOCAL HERITAGE

We have to send the State Government a very clear message: HANDS OFF OUR HERITAGE!

More information on the public forum called by the Lord Mayor of Adelaide can be found here

Australia is building too many poor-quality high-rise apartment towers that are alienating to live in and have low environmental performance, one of the nation’s most widely respected residential architects has warned, in an article in The Age.
Other experts have warned against building too many central-city high-rises, while suburbs continue to sprawl outwards, with not enough medium density being built in the middle-ring suburbs. There also needs to be more green infrastructure – large parks and natural landscapes, and quality public streets and urban spaces – adding to features in apartments like communal rooftop and private balconies.
Though the article focuses on Melbourne, Adelaide is making many of the same mistakes. Is the Update to the 30-year Plan released on 25th August really moving Adelaide in the right direction?

The National Trust of South Australia has produced a damning report on the State Government’ s discussion paper aimed at reforming and “improving the ways we recognise heritage places in South Australia”:

Heritage Under Threat – National Trust Response

The community has only been given a few weeks to respond to the Government’s ideas on heritage reform, although the deadline for written feedback has now been extended to 23rd September.

It seems that the Adelaide City Council and Local Government Association also have concerns about the Paper and consultation process:

Advertiser – Expert warns of ‘demolition derby’ for heritage buildings

Advertiser – Heritage-listed properties can be demolished on ‘merit’ under new State Government plan

InDaily – Govt proposal threatens to demolish local heritage system: National Trust

Govt proposal threatens to demolish local heritage system: National Trust

Community Alliance SA will be producing a response to the Local Heritage Discussion Paper, which can be found here.

General meeting of members starting at 7pm on Thursday 25th August 2016, in the Seminar Room (downstairs) at the Joinery – 111 Franklin Street, Adelaide

Please avoid parking in the gravelly area next to the Joinery, even though it looks like a car park. A sign to avoid parking is not easy to see at night, but parking inspectors will not miss imposing penalties on a vehicle parked there!

Adelaide has many traditional high streets providing focal points across the metropolitan area, such as Prospect Road, Unley Road, Henley Beach Road, Jetty Road in Glenelg, the Parade in Norwood and many others.

The Community Alliance SA has produced a blueprint to assist the wider community in having a greater say on preserving and enhancing Adelaide’s traditional high streets as many of them undergo rapid growth and development through planning rule changes.  Our blueprint has a focus on what we believe is:

acceptable in a traditional high street; or

        unacceptable in a traditional high street

The blueprint can be downloaded here:

High Streets Blueprint – Community Alliance SA August 2016

Our traditional high streets are well connected to their local neighbourhoods and have characteristics that make them pedestrian-friendly and walkable.  They provide a wide range of mainly small footprint shops, businesses, cafés and other services fronting the high street, contributing to a fine grained urban fabric.  Many of the streets also have a heritage component, adding to the creation of a special place that people want to live in or visit.

The Community Alliance SA would like individuals and community groups to use the information contained in this blueprint to drive policy for their areas.

Without adequate policies in place, our traditional high streets are potentially under threat from inappropriate or incompatible development.  They are areas of high character and amenity which need to be given more recognition and value.

The Blueprint was featured in the Messenger Press on August 10th:

And again in a letter from Kevin O’Leary on August 17th:

Please contact us for further information or to share examples of what you consider to be good or bad developments.

Contact details

Dr Helen Wilmore, PhD, President

Ph:  08 8522 3019; Email:  HelenP.Wilmore@bigpond.com

Community Alliance SA Inc., P.O. Box 520, Goodwood, SA 5034