Claims new police horses’ home has cost ‘Adelaide’s second generation of parklands’

Keeping the city free of SAPOL’s horse barracks has destroyed a generational plan for a second swathe of parklands, this time across Adelaide’s northern surburbs.

Keeping the city parklands free of SAPOL’s horses has robbed northern suburbs residents of their own planned parklands, including playing fields, sports courts, nature adventure areas, bike trails and picnic areas.

Government documents show the site was to be part of “Adelaide’s second generation of parklands”.

However, following protests by powerful advocates, including Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, the belated decision to send the Mounted Operations Unit and Dog Operations Unit to Gepps Cross instead of the preferred site in the south parklands means the government’s own plan for community parklands in the north has been dumped.

State sports park masterplan showing the ‘community recreation’ precinct in bottom right corner where the SAPOL horses and dogs units will now be housed.

A government spokesman has confirmed land scheduled for the parklands would instead be used to house the police horses.

The move from the Thebarton Barracks site is to free up land for the new $3.2bn Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Government documents show the site at Gepps Cross forms part of the ‘Greater State Sports Park’.

While the land at Grand Junction Rd and Briens Rd is now vacant, the government had drawn up a state sports park masterplan showing it was to be used for community recreation.

State Sports Park Master Plan. Picture: Supplied

This was to include two playing fields suited to football, rugby and cricket, with terraced viewing areas and picnic areas.

It was also to have eight multi-use sports courts, bikeways, nature adventure areas, “inclusive exercise equipment”, terraced carparking, “congregation spaces” with shelters and native tree avenues.

State Sports Park Master Plan, showing the various facilities planned for the Community Recreation precinct including playing fields, sports courts, exercise equipment and nature adventure areas.

The Community Recreation precinct in the master plan also had pathways connecting it to the state’s biggest school, Roma Mitchell Secondary College.

This access for students would have helped alleviate the loss of open space due to the need to build new classrooms for the influx of Year 7 students from this year.

Instead, permanent security fencing will be installed around the SAPOL site.

Chris and Jacqui Martyn, who live opposite the Gepps Cross site on Briens Rd, said the scrapping of the park was “unfair”.

The Martyns, who have four children under seven, said there had been “no transparency” about plans to scrap the park and they would have to drive 15 minutes to take their children to the nearest park rather than crossing the road.

“This would be more beneficial for the community,” Mr Martyn said.

“Our kids would definitely use it and with the limited parking that’s already here … to have somewhere to gather and top park would be very beneficial to us.

The Martyns said they were concerned relocation of the police horses to the site would “devalue” their property.

Under the $90m plan to move the horses to Gepps Cross, the Mounted Operations Unit will have 32 larger purpose build stables and an undercover arena.

The Dog Operations Unit will have a separate area for kennels and special training facilities.

Artist impression of SAPOL stables at Gepps Cross.

Port Adelaide Enfield Mayor Claire Boan declined to speak to The Advertiser about the loss of the planned community recreation precinct.

A statement from the council says: “This is state government land and a state government project. We don’t know anything more about the project so cannot provide comment at this stage.”

However, former mayor Gary Johanson called for the area to be quarantined for sport.

He said the people of the northern suburbs were being “treated like second class citizens – as usual”.

“The state sports park should be quarantined for sport – the whole area has had an influx of young migrant families and we are going to need every square inch to cater for young people’s sports, for community recreation, let alone schools,” he said.

“People in this area are going to be extremely annoyed to learn their parklands are being taken away from them while the high income city people keep their parklands.

“Some parts of the sports park have already been sliced off and developers would love to get their hands on it, and it would be a damn shame to lose any more.”

State Sports Park Master Plan showing area in bottom right corner now is vacant land, with plans to turn it into a Community Recreation precinct. The red line is the boundary of the “Greater State Sports Park.”