Locals slam Lifestyle Precinct plan for Prospect, fearing major building will overshadow homes

An inner city council is pressing ahead with a huge development to shake up this prominent suburb, leaving locals fuming – but who’s in the right? Vote in our poll.

Will Curtis (centre) with local Prospect residents opposed to an apartment block forming part of an ambitious plan for a Prospect lifestyle precinct. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Ambitious plans for a lifestyle and sporting precinct have been endorsed by Prospect Council, moving some locals to rally against what they call a “mass development” that will overshadow local homes.

The council on Tuesday night endorsed a masterplan for the Prospect Lifestyle Precinct – a precinct centred around Prospect Oval – that would include a large multipurpose sports facility and a commercial development with the potential for shops and apartments.

The plan, which the council has been working on since 2017, would also revitalise the Prospect District Cricket Club’s facilities, reduce the number of croquet courts at the North Adelaide Croquet Club and expand Memorial Park.

Prospect Concerned Residents Group spokesman Will Curtis said the council had ignored residents opposed to the commercial development on Main North Road, after elected members endorsed an option that was “disliked” by 79 per cent of people surveyed by the council.

Will Curtis (centre) with local Prospect residents opposed to an apartment block forming part of an ambitious plan for a Prospect lifestyle precinct. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

The area’s zoning rules allow for buildings of up to five storeys, but council officers have proposed a code amendment that could allow for a higher limit, saying a possible eight-storey development “depends on market demand”.

Mr Curtis said his group of about 100 members opposed a building taller than five storeys, with many fearful of overshadowing.

“Several residents have discussed having to move … and that this process has had a very negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing,” he said.

The Prospect Lifestyle Precinct will centre around Prospect Oval. Picture: Supplied

“We believe most of the Prospect Council residents support a lower level of development.”

Mr Curtis said his group also wanted to keep down costs by reducing the scope of the sports centre and scrapping a proposed aerobridge connecting the new centre to the present grandstand.

Prospect Council in 2023 purchased the Main North Rd development site for $8.3m.

Mayor Matt Larwood said it was prudent for the council to consider a code amendment – which was likely to increase the maximum building height – to stimulate interest from the development community.

“With the code amendment application comes public consultation; so the public will have multiple opportunities to continue to have their say in what happens on the site,” he said.

Mr Larwood said the precinct was “one of the biggest projects that we’ve undertaken”.

Under the masterplan, the multipurpose community and sports centre would include two competition-size basketball courts, spectator viewing, changerooms, and a combined cricket club and RSL facility.

Mr Larwood said there was no confirmed time frame for the project and construction was unlikely to begin in the next financial year.

He said there was no total project cost yet, but this would be “dug into in great detail over the next 12 months”, stressing the present masterplan was a “blueprint to start the next stage”.