Why the city council was right to resist a permanent grandstand in Victoria Park

THE CITY Council cops a dreadful trouncing for a range of initiatives - but they got one thing right when they resisted a push for a permanent grandstand in Vic Park.

The temporary grandstands that are erected every year in Victoria Park.

IN 2008 the Adelaide City Council defied pressure from the State Government and horse racing and motor racing interests and rejected a proposal to build a permanent grandstand 250m long and four stories high in the centre of Victoria Park in the Adelaide parklands.

The City Council cops a dreadful trouncing for a range of initiatives from the upgrading of Victoria Square and reconstructing Frome Street to the remodelling of Rundle Mall.

But the Council had the courage to stick to its principles in 2008 and banned the construction of a permanent grandstand, which was designed to serve both horse racing and motorsports.

The Government, furious at being snubbed by the Council, spat the dummy and scrapped plans to upgrade the Victoria Park or Park 16 section of the Adelaide parklands.

Six years later, it is clear the permanent grandstand would have been an embarrassing folly, a perpetual reminder of a decision made for immediate economic convenience rather than the long-term, aesthetic beauty of the parklands.

The planned grandstand would have had administration offices for horse racing and motorsport as well as function, bar, restaurant and other entertainment facilities. By definition it would have attracted a constant stream of traffic, day and night, into the very heart of Victoria Park.

A park designed for the serenity and tranquillity of neighbouring residents, cycling and pedestrian commuters and bands of hobbyists would have become a moth-flame of commercial and social activity. Put bluntly, Victoria Park, as perceived by Adelaide’s designer, Colonel William Light, would have been ruined.

This week the last of the temporary grandstands erected for the Clipsal 500 V8 car race will be carted away. The fences and barriers have gone long-ago, the grassed areas and gardens are reviving and Victoria Park has all but been reclaimed by joggers, walkers, cyclists, dog-walkers and model aircraft enthusiasts.

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After the State government stumped off in a huff, the Council announced a $20 million upgrade of Victoria Park, converting it into a “people’s park” incorporating wetlands, community sports facilities, walking tracks and temporary motor racing facilities. The Council has largely fulfilled its promise.

Victoria Park is a people’s park which is borrowed in the early part of each year to stage the Clipsal 500. It is an acceptable compromise. At dawn and dusk hundreds of white cockatoos and galahs inhabit the mature gums trees on the west side of Victoria Park and local possums and magpies have become accustomed to the joggers, walkers and cyclists using the network of pathways.

This serenity was nearly lost. It is an example of local government properly representing the local people.

Now there are whispers a new bid will be made to construct a permanent grandstand and other facilities in Victoria Park. It would be easy to justify. Erecting and demolishing the main temporary stand every year is expensive. A permanent stand could attract horse racing back to Victoria Park. It would generate funding and give horse racing and car racing a permanent home.

But any moves to revive plans for a permanent grandstand must be resisted – whatever the financial, social or political cost – as they were in 2008.

Enough of the original 9.31 square kilometres of parklands set aside by Colonel Light has already been turned over to permanent development.

A permanent grandstand would be little short of blatant planning vandalism.

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