Forestville Hockey Club

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (15:11): I rise to address the petition that I presented to the parliament today. This petition was signed by 477 members of the electorate of Unley who all live in close proximity to Unley High School and use the facilities, as you would expect residents and the community to do.

There has been distinct government policy through the education department for open space on schools to be used, with shared maintenance with councils and schools after hours. It was accompanied by a letter that was written by a representative of the Residents' Steering Committee of the No to Forestville Hockey Club at Kingswood/Netherby group, who also have a Facebook site. The petition calls for the government to stop the relocation of Forestville Hockey Club on Unley High School's western playing fields and to find them a more suitable site. A letter was attached to the petition when it was delivered to my electorate office. It reads:

Please find enclosed our SA Parliamentary petition from Mitcham residents in close proximity expressing overwhelming opposition to the proposed relocation of Forestville Hockey Club onto the local Unley High School grounds. This Parliamentary petition is a more localised version of a previous petition of over 2,000 signatures presented to the Premier and relevant ministers several months ago, which was also from Mitcham Council residents or those coming to use school facilities.

Just for the record, most of those 2,000 signatures were in the seats of Waite and Elder; a few were in other seats. I think that even on Yorke Peninsula some people signed another petition that was presented by the member for Badcoe that had the opposing view. The letter continues:

The 477 signatures in this SA Parliamentary petition arose through door knocking that raised community awareness of the issue.

Over 90% of the signatures are from Mitcham residents who will be affected by this proposal and over 95% of local residents asked through door knocking agreed to sign the petition.

Residents are concerned about replacing 6,000 sq m of natural grass with artificial turf, sterilising the soil beneath and wider negative environmental effects, particularly microplastic contamination of Urrbrae Wetlands. Polluted stormwater would flow directly into the educationally important Wetlands, then on into Brownhill Creek, the Patawalonga and Gulf.

There has been no government assessment whether the current proposal adequately addresses infrastructure challenges posed by the relocation. Insufficient parking space, coupled with already congested suburban streets will inevitably lead to further traffic issues. Poor site accessibility also raises serious concerns about safety and convenience for community members and school students.

Allocating scarce public school land for exclusive use of a private sporting club, including licensed club rooms on school grounds is seen as inappropriate and unjust in contradiction to the land title conditions. Local residents and other sporting clubs will lose access to a cherished community asset on land originally bequeathed by Peter Waite for agricultural education.

All of these reasons, together with the belatedly inadequate attempt to consult the community, lie behind the sustained community objection to this poorly conceived proposal that aims to solve Forestville Hockey Club's desire to relocate but not Unley High School's need for well drained natural grass. A better solution must be found.

That was signed by a representative of the Residents' Steering Committee: No to the Forestville Hockey Club at Kingswood and Netherby.