Jack Hudson

PLAYFORD residents are fuming at a possible “sell-off” of open-space “community land” alongside Main North Road.

On Tuesday last week, Playford councillors voted to apply to the State Government seeking approval to move forward with the “land revocation” for the gateway to the district.

The proposal incorporates three aspects revolving around the central business district opposite the Grenville Centre, an “uplifted gateway into the Playford area”, and gaining feelers if the market could provide carefully considered development of sites.

Council’s proposal includes “revitalisation and continuing maintenance of natural open spaces, active landscaped areas and public pathways”. It said to enable this, careful development would need to occur along Main North Road.

A Playford resident of 41 years, Bev Rudnick, said she enjoyed the natural aspects of the area and it would be a shame to see more trees cut down for the proposal.

“I just feel the trees needed a voice,” she said.

“Somebody needs to speak for them, otherwise they’re going to be chopped down, sold off and in a lot of cases, we will lose thousands of years of tree growth.

“It just really upsets me that we can just dismiss one of the best assets, and think it’s something we can sell off.”

Councillor Akram Arifi said during community consultation, council received a petition of more than 120 signatures and more than 80 submissions.

“Given that the community consultation hasn’t been going that long, the submissions we received were quite high and mainly they were against the proposal,” he said.

“When the application comes back from (Planning Minister Vickie Chapman), if the minister has decided to approve this proposal, then we’ll come back to council and there’ll be a simple question to the elected members; are they on the side of the residents or are they on the side of the developers?

“Because this is a significantly large section, and with real commercial opportunities, and developers will be looking at it quite strongly.

“We have to work with our residents to make sure that we get this right at the first time.”

Councillor Misty Norris said as a long-time local that the sell-off would hurt.

“This land revocation affects the whole of Playford, not just the nearby residents,” she said.

“No environmental studies have been conducted, nor any alternative plans to consider rejuvenation of the sites.

“As the gateway to Playford, the vast majority would rather drive and walk through a refreshing environmental corridor that provides fresh air, habitats for native animals, and a buffer for noise and traffic concerns.

“Once this land is gone, it’s gone forever. Playford needs more green spaces, not less. Let’s protect what remains and plan smarter for our future generations.”

Councillor Shirley Halls said other avenues could have been explored to update Elizabeth East residents on the proposal.

“For those in the area that responded and went to the trouble of getting a petition from the local residents, we should listen to them before we revoke the community land or put it out for EOI (expression of interest) or submitting to the government for approval,” she said.

“Although this process is at the beginning, it is going to cost money.

“Other options before revocation could have been an environmental study then engagement with our broader community of Playford, including the local Indigenous community for advice, then grants can be applied for.”

Elizabeth MP Lee Odenwalder said community land should remain as it was – as community land.

“If the council are going to seek to revoke the community land and go to the minister with a proposal to revoke it, they should at least have a very clear vision of what will replace it with,” he said.

“So far, I’ve seen no such vision.”

Playford Mayor Glenn Docherty said on ABC Radio there were some great natural spaces along Main North Road that he personally would not want to see developed.

He said last week’s move was merely an early step in the process.

“This is an early step in the process; councillors considered the role of the land along Main North Road and the CBD to deliver on community’s aspirations,” he said.

“The only decision councillors on Tuesday night made is to apply to the minister seeking approval to proceed with the land revocation process.”

Councillors will make a final decision on the revocation after they recieve clarification on whether it has received expressions of high-quality development through the EOI process.