Almost 100 leases in the Adelaide Parklands make City Council close to $1 million a year

The Adelaide City Council is raking in almost $1 million a year in rent from about 100 Adelaide Parklands leases. Explore the map and see the list of who owns them.

These new school sport clubrooms in Park 9 off Bundeys Rd, North Adelaide, is one of dozens of leases in the Adelaide Parklands netting the city council almost $1 million a year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

The Adelaide City Council earns around $847,000 each year by leasing dozens of buildings and about 100ha of space to private schools, sporting clubs and commercial ventures in the parklands.

The Advertiser can reveal the full list of about 100 Adelaide parklands lease holders, as debate continues to rage over the move of SA Police’s mounted operations to make way for the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Adelaide City Council has been vocal in opposing SA Police’s move from the northwest parklands to their preferred site in the south parklands. Another swath of land in Ellis Park, in the east parklands, has now been mooted as a potential site.

The Parklands Preservation Association has criticised the proliferation of council’s money-spinning leases.

Spokesman Shane Sody said it was not opposed to playing fields in the parklands but said “leases for buildings are a different matter”.

“Any changes that restrict public access to your parklands undermine the character of a park – effectively privatising parts of a park,” he said.

“Parks are, or should be, open, green, public.”

The figures were released by the council as it completes a five-year review of its parklands Lease and Licence Policy.

The council charges rent for 68 separate buildings dotted around the parklands, along with many sporting fields.

The majority of the buildings are sport pavilions and rowing boatsheds used by mostly private schools and community-based clubs.

A breakdown of the leases shows that 46 are owned by sporting and community clubs, 42 by schools, the vast majority of which are private, and 11 are purely for commercial purposes.

The commercial leases are mostly for restaurants and cafes and include two sites – the North Adelaide train station and Rymill Park kiosk – that are currently vacant and pending new owners.

The parks with the greatest concentration of leases are Park 12, taking in Red Gum Park, University oval and a chunk of the Torrens riverbank.

This is home to six boatsheds, Jolley’s Boathouse and Lounders Boatshed Cafe, 6ha of Adelaide Uni playing fields and buildings including pavilions, a scoreboard and shed.

Parks 17 (Carriageway Park) and 20 (Blue Gum Park) in the south parklands are also home to private school sports grounds and clubrooms, fenced tennis and hockey courts, and the Tree Climb site that is home to a cafe.

Mr Sody said he was concerned about a recent trend of schools and sporting clubs with leases on buildings expanding their footprint.

“In recent years there has been a tendency for schools and sports clubs to seek larger and larger buildings to cater for not just the playing of sport, but also for private function rooms, private storage facilities, private bars etc,” he said.

A fenced hockey and tennis compound in Park 20 off Greenhill Rd, with accompanying clubroom/pavilion, are among the leases in the Parklands. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

A proposed redevelopment of Park 21 West (Golden Wattle Park/Mirnu Wirra) near Goodwood Road has become bogged down over a proposal to build a new two-storey clubrooms that are bigger than the existing facility.

Mr Sody said an important difference between leases and the “blatant theft” of the police proposal was that the police had been gifted their land under an act of Parliament.

He said the Tennis SA and Memorial Drive tennis club (council lease figures for which were not available), and the fenced hockey compound in Park 20 off Greenhill Rd, were examples of excluding the public.

The Adelaide City Council declined to comment.