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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-11 Daily Xml
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Badcoe Electorate

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (15:42): I rise to talk about a plot of land in my electorate of particular interest and importance to the people of Badcoe. Indeed, it is a plot of land with a great deal of unrealised potential, a plot that I understand is about nine hectares—a substantial size—a plot that is close to the Adelaide Showground, close to the Goodwood train station and not too far from the Forestville tram stop.

Across the road from Ashford Hospital, it is bounded by Anzac Highway as well as Leader Street and Maple Avenue. It is a plot of land that is now only home to weeds and mud puddles, but it is known by many in the area as the former long-term home of furniture retailer Le Cornu. Some more recently would know it as a site abandoned by German grocery retailer Kaufland. It is a plot of land that was purchased by Renewal SA in about October last year, eight months ago.

Since 2017, before I was even elected, I have been listening to the people of Forestville, Keswick, Ashford, Everard Park and other parts of Badcoe about this site. Why? Because I know and my community knows the enormous potential that this site has to positively enhance our community. We also know the risk posed by failing to ensure that this site is developed in a suitable way and indeed the opportunity forfeited if this site is wasted on a humdrum investment.

I have doorknocked homes and businesses surrounding the site on more than one occasion over the past four years. I have done several mailouts to keep locals up to date, and I have held several community meetings about the site's future, including in partnership with Kaufland, who I commend for their interaction with our community.

More recently, I have done two rounds of surveys, asking locals what they would like to see at the site, to which I have received about 800 responses. That consultation stands in stark contrast to the level of interest that this government have shown in my local community's hopes and dreams for the site. What have they done to consult with our community since taking over the site eight months ago? Nothing—absolutely nothing.

As a resident of Forestville myself, I have been checking the mail, looking for information, looking for surveys; maybe someone wants to know what we think. No, nothing. Then, suddenly, the newspaper publishes a government-provided drop that expressions of interest are being sought for the site until about 25 May. 'Great,' I thought, 'they want to hear from us, finally'. But, sadly, no. They do not want to hear from locals; they want to hear from developers. Maybe what is most galling is that the government has decided that the brief is to be given to those developers without so much as a word with local leaders, councils, businesses or residents. Of course, if they had taken a moment in the last eight months to talk with locals, they would have found what I found.

The survey results I have are pretty enlightening and they are a great articulation of issues in our area and show that local people have thought long and hard about what should happen on this site. It is a pretty magic opportunity because this is now public land, land that can be used for the public good and utilised to lift the lives of those who live in our area. It is a big plot of land that could hold multiple uses, so I have given people the opportunity to nominate more than one potential use for the site.

Maybe unsurprisingly, 43 per cent of local people said they would like to see a new school built on the site. That was the top result. Coming in close to a new school was green space. Our council area has the lowest level of green space of any council, and open green space as parkland, sportsgrounds, playgrounds or nature space is severely lacking. It is little wonder that this is a priority for locals, and with a huge plot of land like this, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our community to have something truly special that contributes to our standard of living, our health, good urban planning and design and, importantly, our environment.

Whatever goes on this site, it is imperative that it is not just the obligatory minimum legislated amount of green space but something much more sizeable, something usable. Our community demands that. Next, 32 per cent of respondents wanted sporting facilities, again reflecting the growth in sports participation and the lack of facilities. The preferences after that were for mixed-use development, retail, park-and-ride, a community centre, public housing, health services—right across the road from the Ashford Hospital—and just 3 per cent wanted industrial use. A few other great ideas emerged, including walking and exercise trails, aged care, an ice rink, a concert hall and, of course, there was a bid for the Adelaide Crows' new home.

I hope I have the chance to convey these details to Renewal SA when they finally get back to me but, most importantly, I hope that Renewal SA and the government actually listen to our community and take advantage of what is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our community and the wider Adelaide community.

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