by Shane Sody

The Adelaide City Council is contemplating removal of remnant native vegetation to accommodate more car parking. It’s also missing an opportunity to restore a large slice of your Adelaide Park Lands to 'Open, Green Public' status.

The Aquatic Centre on Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) is nearing the end of its useful life and Council is considering options to replace it. The Council has spent $90,000 on a feasibility study to consider its options.

Independent consultants (Warren Green Consulting and Co-Op Studio) were hired to prepare the study. However, the consultants hands were tied. The Council had earlier instructed the consultants to look at sites for a new Aquatic Centre ONLY within Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2).

Previously there have been suggestions that a new Aquatic Centre might be located in the CBD, perhaps near the Central Market, or near the Central bus station in Franklin street. APA also encouraged the City Council to enter discussions with other near-city suburban Councils (e.g. Prospect, Charles Sturt, West Torrens, Port Adelaide-Enfield, etc) to examine a wider range of potential locations, and potential co-funding options.

However, none of these other possibilities have been followed up. The consultant's feasibility study tabled at the Council meeting on 12 October followed the Council's instructions, and looked ONLY at your Open Green Public Park Lands for a potential new Aquatic Centre location.

The feasibility study's "preferred option" is to locate a new Aquatic Centre in the south-eastern corner of Denise Norton Park / Pardipardinyilla (Park 2) near the corner of Barton Terrace West and Prospect Road. This would destroy some remnant native vegetation along the western side of Prospect Road.

The indicative site plan also includes an expanded area for car parking to accommodate up to 400 cars. This would be an increase on the estimated 270 spaces at the existing Aquatic Centre.

At its meeting on 12 October, the Council "noted" the report and also authorised the Council’s CEO “to progress funding discussions … [to include] … an indoor 50m pool and a sizeable leasable area to accommodate allied health professionals.”

It is disappointing that the Council, like the State Government, continues to regard Park Lands as potential development sites, and a source of revenue, rather than priceless Open Green Public spaces that no other city in the world can match.

If the existing Aquatic Centre is about to be re-placed then this would represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to find a better location for a new Aquatic Centre and then restore the site of the current Aquatic Centre to your Open Green Public Park Lands.

Park Lands leadership has never been more important.