Westfield Marion to become a magnet for high-rise development, council fears
A local mayor fears hundreds of residents around Westfield Marion will be swamped by high-rise developments after the State Government rejected the council’s plans for height restrictions.
Marion Council fears four-storey buildings will spring up around the Westfield shopping centre after the State Government rejected its plan for restrictions.
Marion Mayor Kris Hanna said hundreds of residents around Westfield Marion would feel the squeeze after the State Government overruled its plan to halt “excessive” urban infill.
Mr Hanna said the areas affected would be several blocks back from the Westfield shopping centre in the suburbs of Warradale, Oaklands Park, and Seacombe Gardens.
“Excessive urban infill is choking our neighbourhoods by causing traffic congestion and pressure on the environment and resources,” he said.
The council has for 18 months been trying to reverse the decision of a former pro-development council which in 2003 passed plans to make Marion a major transport and shopping hub.
The plan now means in some areas developers only have to buy four domestic blocks of 500 square metres each to build up to four storeys high.
Mr Hanna said: “From the time I became Mayor one of the biggest issues and most frequent complaints to me was about people being crowded out of their own homes’’.
“Marion Council were seeking to restrict urban infill more than 18 months ago by
submitting a Development Plan Amendment. We had worked on it for two years before
that,’’ he said.
He said the council believed urban infill had gone too far. “We suggested to the State Government we could compromise and tolerate some higher density around main roads, train stations and shopping centres, but we want to save our suburbs,” he said.
“It is disappointing the State Government announced its decision via a notice in the South Australian Government Gazette rather than informing us directly first.
“I am also disappointed our compromise proposal has been ignored.”
The former State Government took many planning powers away from local councils to boost Adelaide development.
Current Planning Minister Stephan Knoll said although the process had begun well before he became minister last year and the Government had simply opted to keep the current system set by the previous council.
“The area that sits around the Marion shopping centre, what we did there is chose to keep the status quo and we believe that that’s the right outcome, given the proximity to the shopping centre, given the proximity to public transport,’’ he said.
“This is a place, a transport orientated development, where we can support people being able to walk to and from where they live to shop and to get to public transport and we think that that’s an appropriate mechanism.’’
Mr Hanna welcomed other measures in the Development Plan Amendment that would limit infill in most suburbs between Seacombe Rd and the tramline.
“I’m glad our hard work has paid off for residents in Glengowrie, Park Holme, Morphettville, Plympton Park and Marion,” he said.