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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-29 Daily Xml
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ADELAIDE METROPOLITAN COAST PARK

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (16:02): My question is to the Minister for Urban Development and Planning. Will he provide an update on progress in developing a coast park along the metropolitan foreshore?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (16:03): I thank the Hon. Ian Hunter for his question. I am delighted to inform him that in the past month I officiated at the opening of two key sections of Adelaide's Coast Park. On 8 July, I attended a ceremony at the Broadway Kiosk at Brighton to mark the completion of stage 1 of the Somerton Coast Park Project. It was a delight to be back in an area of Adelaide where I grew up and to witness the achievements being made in upgrading the seafront along the Esplanade.

I was also pleased that the state government was able to provide $890,000 to the City of Holdfast Bay from the Planning and Development Fund for this section of the park. When people see what is being done there, they cannot help being impressed.

Last week, I was also invited to attend the opening of the Hamra Avenue activity node, which is part of the Adelaide Shores at West Beach. Again, the state government was able to kick in $650,000 from the Planning and Development Fund towards the cost of that project, which links the West Beach section of the coast park with existing cycle and pedestrian networks, such as the Sturt River Linear Park and the Reece Jennings Bikeway. The improvements to this popular section of the Coast Park are also designed to improve the environmental value of the area by safeguarding and complementing the extensive sand dune revegetation works at West Beach.

The Coast Park and its link to the River Torrens Linear Park provide South Australians with some great public space to enjoy walking, cycling or just sitting back to take in the beauty of this city. The metropolitan coast is a special part of Adelaide, and going to the beach is an essential South Australian experience, one that has produced for most of us some of our best memories.

The coast varies from wide, sandy beaches to dramatic cliffs, areas of remnant coastal dunes and important conservation areas. There are estuaries, offshore reefs, historic buildings and settlements. It is also highly accessible to the public with more than 50 per cent of Adelaide's residents living within an easy 20-minute drive to the coast. Residents of Adelaide are fortunate to have retained public ownership of most of its metropolitan coastline.

The Coast Park Concept Plan provides a framework that ensures a consistent approach to the future protection and development of our metropolitan coastline. Adelaide's Coast Park clearly reflects the government's policies of preserving the state's urban biodiversity and protecting our significant environment and cultural features. It also builds on the state government's dedication to social equity by creating a coastal linear park that can be freely used and enjoyed by the entire community.

Recently, I was delighted to announce the latest suite of grants out of the Planning and Development Fund, which increased the state government's investment in the coast park projects to more than $13 million. This money has been instrumental in helping local councils along the metropolitan coast to make a contribution to the 70-kilometre trail that will eventually connect Adelaide's seaside communities.

Incidentally, I notice that, in discussions in the media in the past about the amount of money this government spends on cycleways, those funds generally refer to money that comes out of DTEI. If one includes this substantial sum of money ($13 million alone for the Coast Park) and if one throws in what is spent on other parks, such as the Tramway Park and the River Torrens Linear Park, out of the Planning and Development Fund, then there are very significant sums that go to our cycle facilities over and above what comes directly out of the funding from DTEI.

I am happy to inform members that, so far, about 50 per cent of Adelaide's Coast Park has been completed with a further 15 per cent in the planning or construction phase. It would seem, I think, to most people that the concept of a shared-use path linking seaside communities is a fairly simple and straightforward concept but, in reality, the Coast Park involves a lot of intricate design work to ensure that that path navigates its way safely between roads, houses, dunes and the sea. Many obstacles often stand in the way of such a simple concept.

Careful planning has allowed local councils to overcome the challenges created by the many pinch points and the competing demands on the small amount of available space in many cases. These developments also require extensive consultation with residents and other community stakeholders, but the outcome is well worth the investment of time, money and energy by both the state government and local authorities. The result is a piece of civil engineering that satisfies community expectations and achieves our shared vision of a high quality coast park that will eventually stretch from Sellicks Beach to North Haven.

Work on the last stages of the connection between the River Torrens Linear Park and the West Beach Trust Reserve is underway, so we hope that there will be an opening of that section of the road fairly soon. Then people will be able to either walk or ride their bikes all the way from the Hills down the River Torrens to connect to Glenelg and beyond. Of course, there is also further work being done in the Holdfast Bay council area. It is a great piece of work. A significant amount of money has been spent on the Coast Park over a number of years—$13 million since this government was elected—and I think the results are very worthwhile.

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