Your views: on paying for park lands repair
Today, readers comment on Adelaide City Council struggling with park lands rehabilitation after an events boom, and preserving state heritage buildings.
Commenting on the story: Adelaide events boom takes park lands toll
Council should charge and be paid fair commercial rent for the use of the park lands by events that charge for admission.
The millions pumped into the state economy give a big return to the state through GST, but not a cent of this comes to the council. A fair share of GST revenue should flow on to local government. – David Plumridge
The SA Government and Adelaide City Council need first an assessment of the “economic value of the park lands” as a basis to at least charge for public and private events that utilise the park lands, including to restore and repair any damage done such as recently completed in Hindmarsh Square.
The full cost should not be borne by ACC ratepayers but by all who use the events (eg the Fringe, Womadelaide). That is to say, a recovery and repair cost should be included in all ticket sales. – Michael O’Neil
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Commenting on the story: ‘Demolition by neglect’: Push to protect state heritage buildings
As the owner of a heritage listed property, I find the planning processes for repairs expensive, frustrating and complicated.
To do any repair, no matter how minor, requires a development application costing $1000. This application must include full details of the work to be done, the company doing the work, materials to be used, etc, etc. This might seem reasonable, but the information needs to be provided for every little point. And then every little point needs approval.
State Heritage expect owners to do “bulk” applications, to submit applications for a number of repairs simultaneously in one DA to spread costs and stop us complaining about the costs. This means that some things are not repaired in a timely manner; they’re saved up to be done as a bulk lot.
In short, the reason why some repairs have not been done is because the current approvals system is a massive time consuming and expensive pain in the butt for property owners. – Johanne Taylor
