Brewery site purchase raises hopes

by Shane Sody

The State Government reportedly is acting upon a recommendation from the Adelaide Park Lands Association by moving to purchase a prime brownfield site on the City fringes.

A report (Adelaide Now subscriber-only link) has revealed that the State Government is close to finalising a deal for the old West End brewery site at Thebarton. This has raised hopes that one or both State Government infrastructure developments threatened for your Park Lands might be switched to this alternative site.

The eight hectare former brewery site is more than large enough to accommodate not only the State Government’s promised new three hectare $135 million Aquatic and commercial centre but also a new four hectare Women's and Children's Hospital.

The Government's impending purchase of this site gives renewed hope to thousands of Park Lands supporters who have been lobbying for such a purchase for over a year.

The Government is purchasing 524 properties to upgrade South Road. Until now, it has shown no interest in buying any other brownfield sites for any of the infrastructure that it has been threatening to erect over the top of your Open, Green, Public Park Lands.

Four broken promises

The Government’s proposed Park Lands attack for a new $135 million two-storey megalith Aquatic and commercial centre would break FOUR promises.

  1. First, it breaks a promise to consult you on the proposed location. You were TOLD (not consulted) that your Park Lands would be targeted.

  2. Second, it breaks a promise to protect and restore Adelaide’s tree canopy. Using this site would require the destruction of dozens of mature trees, that are providing habitat for possums, koalas, and many bird species.

  3. Third, it breaks a promise to keep the old centre operating while the new centre is being built; and

  4. Fourth, it breaks a promise that the new centre would be smaller than the old one to return land to your Park Lands.

Buying the old West End brewery site would be the first sign that the Government might be considering your Adelaide Park Lands, like South Road, as an asset worthy of protection, by investing instead, in alternative sites.

Putting new infrastructure on a brownfield location like the old West End brewery site is an opportunity for a win-win. It would be in the public interest to get a new Aquatic centre and a new Women's and Children's Hospital erected on brownfield sites, without sacrificing any more of your ever-shrinking National Heritage-listed Open Green Public Adelaide Park Lands.

Thousands of people have been very clear with both the State Government and the City Council about the value that they place upon your Adelaide Park Lands.

More than 7,400 people have signed a petition urging the Premier to choose a near-city brownfield site for a proposed $135 million two-storey aquatic and commercial centre.

By 14 September 2023, the petition had attracted 7,430 signatures

  • Hundreds of survey respondents have told the Government that the proposed aquatic centre would be ideally located at a near-city site at, for example, Hindmarsh or Thebarton.

These responses were collected via a public survey in a brief window, in July 2022, when the State Government was undertaking a sham process; breaking its promise to consult the community on a location for its proposed new Aquatic Centre,

Council vote delayed

The City Council has delayed a vote on whether to allow the State Government to build its proposed $135 million two-storey aquatic and commercial centre on your Park Lands.

The decision was expected on Tuesday 12 September, but has been delayed, pending re-assessment of Council planning documents.

It is illegal for any Council to lease “community land” unless such a lease is envisaged in a “Community Land Management Plan”. A draft revised Community Land Management Plan for your Park Lands attracted substantial criticism, so the Council meeting on 12 September voted to refer it to a committee “workshop” at which members of the public would be invited “to provide further feedback.”

In the meantime……

What Can You Do?

  • Sign the petition if you haven’t already. Share it with others.

  • Attend a “Supporters of the Aquatic Centre” rally on Sunday 17 September at 11am.

  • Councillors need to hear directly from you, before they consider a State Government lease and construction licence over three hectares of your Park Lands; expected to be debated at a meeting expected before the end of September 2023.

Contact the Lord Mayor, and all Councillors individually to ensure that they get the message directly; i.e. not filtered through the Town Hall bureaucracy.

Clicking on any or all of these email addresses will open up a short simple draft email, alerting each Councillor to the Government’s false claim about returning land to your Park Lands, and asking each Councillor, in turn, to Love Your Park Lands and help the State Government find a better, brownfield site, to secure a win-win outcome for swimmers and your Park Lands.

Here is a plain text of the suggested email that you can copy and paste.

You can also:

  • ATTEND the Council meeting at the Adelaide Town Hall, when the item is on the agenda (it was previously scheduled for Tuesday 12 September but has been postponed, likely to a date later in September);

  • SEEK PERMISSION to make a deputation of up to 5 minutes; i.e. to speak directly to Councillors before they debate this matter. Here’s where you can register to make a deputation. A deputation request needs to be lodged by 12 midday on the day prior to the scheduled meeting.

Read more

See our ongoing coverage of the proposed new Aquatic Centre: