Call for park lands and Bight protection as state heritage listing bid languishes
A recommendation to list Adelaide’s park lands on the state heritage register has been waiting for the Environment Minister’s tick of approval since 2018. Now the Greens want urgent action.
Greens legislative councillor Robert Simms today called for the Adelaide park lands, Mount Lofty Ranges and Great Australian Bight to be protected by state heritage listing.
The SA Greens are also pushing for the next state government to push for the sites to be World Heritage listed.
“The park lands, the Mount Lofty Ranges, and the Great Australian Bight are treasures that belong to all South Australians,” Simms said.
“State Heritage listing for these iconic places will strengthen the case for World Heritage listing, which they richly deserve.”
A government spokesperson did not say whether a re-elected Labor would pursue state heritage listing for the Adelaide park lands and Mount Lofty Ranges, but said the party supported World Heritage listing for both, which now needed Commonwealth support to progress.
The spokesperson said the Labour Party also “continues to back World Heritage status for the Great Australian Bight, whose waters are fully protected in SA as national parks and marine parks”.
“As a State Government, we have made active and written representations to the Commonwealth to see this occur,” he said.
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The spokesperson said a re-elected Labor government “will consider any separate proposal for a tentative listing of the rural settlements of the Mount Lofty Ranges”.
A Liberal government would also pursue World Heritage Listing for the Adelaide park lands and the Great Australian Bight – and Shadow Treasurer Ben Hood MLC has said the party wants to grow the park lands by five per cent.
Today’s push comes after a recommendation that the Adelaide Park Lands, Squares and City Layout be listed as a State Heritage Area in December 2018. This recommendation has not been acted on.
A State Heritage Unit-commissioned report compiled by DASH Architects in May 2018 supported the listing, saying the areas are “an outstanding representation of a nineteenth-century planned colonial settlement”.
“The Adelaide Park Lands, Squares and City Layout embody rare qualities of cultural significance to South Australians, relating to the establishment of our settlement, governance by Great Britain and creation of our capital city,” it stated.
Adelaide Park Lands Association acting secretary Shane Sody said that state heritage protection for the Adelaide park lands, which have been listed on the National Heritage List since November 2008, was “well overdue”.
He said the association had first nominated the site for state heritage listing in 2009, claiming the stalled process “is an indictment on how little regard either state government has had for the Adelaide park lands”.
“It’s a lay down misère, it’s a no-brainer, yet they’ve refused to act,” he said.
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Sody also called on the next state government to introduce new legislation to protect the park lands.
“The Adelaide park lands are world unique … this is the only city in the world built inside a park,” he said.
“They are the lungs of the city. It’s so significant that you can go in any direction from the city centre – north, south, east, west – and interact with park lands. They are a world-unique resource that is totally underappreciated by most of the current crop of politicians.”
In a letter to Sody, SA Labor said it “celebrates the Adelaide park lands and is committed to preserving and enhancing them”.
This included restoring park lands protection for Helen Mayo Park, returning 1000 square metres of land back to the park lands as part of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre redevelopment, and creating 30,000 square metres of accessible park lands as part of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital development.
Meanwhile, a Hurn Liberal government would also establish a committee under Green Adelaide to improve the biodiversity of the park lands and establish a target to grow the open space footprint of the park lands by five per cent.
Shadow Treasurer Ben Hood MLC said that “Adelaide is fortunate to have the natural beauty of our park lands and suburban spaces, and we have a duty of care to not only preserve but enhance this natural asset”.
On Friday, Premier Peter Malinauskas and Environment Minister Lucy Hood announced that if re-elected, they would introduce a $19.2 million package to revitalise rivers and waterways, provide more support for conservation volunteers and expand work to improve SA’s environment.
A Department of Environment and Water spokesperson said that “the South Australian Heritage Council remains committed to protecting Adelaide’s unique park lands”.
“Any approach must carefully balance utilisation with protection of the Park Lands’ defining heritage characteristics, including distinctive characteristics such as grid layout, parkland belt and internal squares, which remain highly intact today,” he said.
“The best options and mechanisms under existing heritage protection and planning frameworks are being considered to allow continued appropriate public use, amenities and government functions, consistent with the original vision.
“Identifying the right mechanism requires careful design, heritage and planning advice, and community consultation so these values are protected for future generations.”
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