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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-02 Daily Xml
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Buckingham Arms Hotel Redevelopment

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:18): I rise on behalf of my local community in regard to the proposed development at 1 Walkerville Terrace, Gilberton, the site of the former Buckingham Arms Hotel. I want to first acknowledge some of the locals in the gallery today who have come here to show our collective support as a community: in particular, Pip Duigan; the Mayor of Walkerville, Melissa Jones; the Deputy Mayor, Liz Trotter; and Councillor John Zeppel, as well as all the other local residents. Thank you for being here today.

Through a code amendment process first initiated under the former Marshall Liberal government in 2021, the former Buckingham Arms Hotel site was rezoned to a maximum height of six storeys. Despite this, a developer is seeking to build a high-density housing development featuring three 10-storey towers. It will feature 174 dwellings, 146 of those being residential apartments, and 305 car parks.

The majority of the local residents who have contacted me as their local MP or those with whom I have spoken at streetcorner meetings or over the phone provided their feedback and strongly oppose this development in its current form. Many residents believe the excessive scale of the development goes too far, does not pass the pub test and will have a significant detrimental impact on our local community.

It is important to note that the majority of these local residents do support development at the site—specifically, a well-designed, sustainable, medium-density development within the allowable six-storey limit.

We do acknowledge there is a housing crisis across our nation, and sites close to the CBD, services and the Adelaide Parklands provide an opportunity to provide such housing. But overwhelmingly, local residents say the excessive scale of the proposed high-density development of three 10-storey towers will, to name but a few issues:

1. Create a negative entry statement to the historic character suburbs of Medindie, Gilberton and Walkerville.

2. Negatively impact the amenity of the neighbourhood, including noise and privacy impacts.

3. Significantly impact traffic in the area, leading to increased congestion at the five-arm intersection, in particular Northcote Terrace and Walkerville Terrace.

The suburbs of Medindie, Gilberton and Walkerville are well known for their character and heritage. Local residents say having a development of such excessive scale as the entry statement to their community will have a negative impact on the suburbs renowned for their heritage and character. We argue that the developer has failed in its attempt to provide integration with the local community. Placing the lower-built form townhouses and office buildings on the northern boundary of the site in no way detracts from the excessive bulk and height of the three 10-storey towers. We then come to the issue of the heritage of the Buckingham Arms itself.

It does not make sense to my community that the developer, in retaining and conserving the heritage elements of the former Buckingham Arms Hotel, then seeks to qualify for a 30 per cent increase in the zoned height given the significant size of the site. Any benefits gained from retaining the heritage is more than cancelled out by the detrimental impact to amenity that will be caused by the excessive scale of the building. Many local residents have also raised concerns regarding privacy and noise impacts, in particular around the continuous noise generated from 174 dwellings and 305 basement car parks.

As I said earlier, a major concern is the significant impact on traffic in the area, leading to increased congestion at the five-arm intersection and also a concern around the increase in rat running, particularly around Buckingham Street and James Street and, on the northern side of Walkerville Terrace, Tyne Street and Gilbert Street, as motorists attempt to avoid the intersection. This will only be exacerbated by the fact that residents of this new apartment building will be able to turn right across Walkerville Terrace.

Given that I only have five minutes, I have only just scratched the surface on the concerns raised with me by local residents. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the view of my local community that we do support a sustainable, well-designed development of this site. But given the current proposal before us the majority of the residents who have shared their feedback strongly oppose a high-density development of three 10-storey towers at this site. A proposed development at this site should contribute positively to the community and not create significant angst and concern, as this proposal has done, largely driven by its excessive scale.

On behalf of my local community, it is my privilege to ensure their voices are heard in this place. I once again thank the many locals for attending today, along with the many others who joined us recently at a community meeting on the development site, and to all of those who provided submissions to the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP). We stand together as a community and eagerly await the SCAP's decision.

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