What is a Management Strategy?

by Shane Sody

Every five years, a law requires that a new Park Lands Management Strategy must be drawn up.

Staff at the City of Adelaide work hard to prepare what they hope will be accepted (by both the City Council and the State Government) as comprehensive plans, to be implemented over the following five-year period.

The previous Strategy was adopted in 2017, so it’s more than two years overdue for replacement.

Back in July 2024, a Draft version of the new Management Strategy “Towards 2036” was released for public comment.

The Adelaide Park Lands Association studied the draft "Towards 2036" document, to see how it reflected our simple goals to "Protect" and "Restore" your Adelaide Park Lands as Open, Green, Public. On 20 July, we made a submission (PDF, 4 pages, 1.4 Mb) to the City of Adelaide.

The main points in our submission:

  • praised the draft Strategy’s ideas to return several disused bitumen areas to Open, Green, Public Park Lands;

  • sounded a warning that the draft Strategy did not include any ambition to limit the endless claims by sectional interests for new and larger buildings on your Park Lands;

  • urged the return of previously-stated ambitions to reduce car parking on your Park Lands;

  • sought a commitment to push the State Government for long-delayed State Heritage listing; and

  • called for support in the Strategy for the proposed Adelaide Recreation Circuit.

What’s happened since then?

Council staff reviewed the feedback from APA and many others, and made many changes to the draft Plan. On 24 October 2024, Kadaltilla / Park Lands Authority considered and adopted a newer, revised version. It’s 180 pages. You can read the whole thing contained within the published agenda of that meeting: (224 pages, PDF 48.6 Mb)

Kadaltilla Presiding member, the Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, has described the revised document as a “bold and ambitious vision” for your Park Lands:

“As stewards of this globally recognised open space, preserving and celebrating the Adelaide Park Lands is essential.

“As we look toward 2036, Kadaltilla recognises that the Adelaide Park Lands will become increasingly valuable as Adelaide’s population increases."

Kadaltilla Presiding member, the Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith

On 25 October, the Advertiser / Adelaide Now covered the story by highlighting proposals for Helen Mayo Park and upgrades to community buildings ($$ subscriber-only link).

That’s not the end of the story, because this revised version will now be forwarded to both the City Council and the Minister for Planning, for their endorsement.

Does the new version fix the problems?

Partially. There has been a substantial improvement in the document endorsed by Kadaltilla on 24 October, compared to the draft version that was released for public comment last July.

  • An ambition to reduce car parking has been returned, albeit with a very modest goal of cutting car parking on land managed by the City of Adelaide by 5%;

  • Progressing the long-delayed State Heritage listing of your Park Lands has now been included as a “Strategic priority”;

  • The revised Management Strategy encourages upgrades or re-developments of “community buildings” with an emphasis on shared use of buildings, but it still stops short of including any ambition to reduce the number, size or scope of new buildings on your Park Lands; and

  • Unfortunately there is still no support for progressing the Adelaide Recreation Circuit.

What is its real-world effect?

Unfortunately, experience has taught us that well-meaning ambitions expressed in successive Park Lands Management Strategies mean nothing when they come into contact with the ambitions of State Government ministers who want to confiscate your Park Lands for new infrastructure or buildings.

The previous (still current) Park Lands Management Strategy 2015-2025 did NOT endorse any of these Park Lands attacks by the State Government:

Nevertheless the State Government pushed ahead with these Park Lands attacks, despite having no support for any of them within the previous (still current) Management Strategy.

It’s clear that the Lord Mayor and other members of Kadaltilla / Park Lands Authority are working within a legal framework which offers little if any long-term protection for your Park Lands.

Comprehensive Park Lands planning will continue to be ignored by the State Government, and Park Lands losses will continue to accumulate until or unless public demand creates sufficient political pressure for a new legal framework that might offer real protection.

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The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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