08 Feb, 2016
Have Your Say on the Draft Park lands Mangement Strategy
The draft Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy is open for public comment through yoursay.cityofadelaide.com.au until 26 February 2016.
In 2015 a new vision for the Adelaide Park Lands was released by the Adelaide Park Lands Authority, including a management strategy intended to enhance the diversity and quality of the Park Lands as a unique place for all to enjoy, in one of the most liveable cities in the world.
The draft Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy is the key planning document that describes future directions, proposed actions and projects to be delivered for the Park Lands.
It aims to increase the quality of our Park Lands, diversify what’s on offer and encourage increased use of the Park Lands while supporting City and inner-metropolitan growth.
City of Adelaide Lord Mayor, and Presiding Member of the Adelaide Park Lands Authority, Martin Haese said the strategy shows the Park Lands as a globally recognised and unique park system.
“Adelaide is after all, one of the most liveable cities in the world and integral to this is the beautiful Park Lands, central to our quality of life, our identity and our sustainable future,” said Martin.
“The community told us, through the Shape the Park Lands community consultation last year that they want the Park Lands to be more vibrant and active, to have better connections, with more play spaces, better lighting, public art, and formal gardens.
“People who responded also told us they want the Park Lands to be sustainable and help us adapt to climate change and we are confident the strategy responds on all fronts,” he said.
“Shape the Park Lands” public consultation ran for 11 weeks from May to July 2015 and Council received more than 1,500 ideas generating close to 3,000 online votes.
“To begin to implement and manage some of these ideas, it is vital that we have a strategy in place that is simple to interpret, easy to access and presents both good value for money and good utilisation of the Park Lands across the broad range of community groups and individuals who use it,” said Martin.
“The time is right to align this new Strategy with the available funding to help demonstrate how to make great parks, even greater. We have worked closely with the State Government and inner-metropolitan Councils to develop this Strategy, and there is now an opportunity to work together to deliver it.
“If people are going to give up their backyard for an apartment with a balcony the Park Lands need to deliver more things for more people – from the young to the not so young. We need to work together to deliver on this vision,” he said.
The Strategy aims to increase the quality and diversity of places and spaces across the Park Lands and to improve walking and cycling connections between the City and suburbs and between parks. This will help further increase the value people place on the Park Lands and their use of them.
It includes a target to increase utilisation of the Park Lands by 15% over the next five years, from the current 10 million visits a year, to around 11.5 million visits. This will be equivalent to every South Australian visiting the Park Lands seven times a year.
“The Park Lands are a great place to meet friends and family, to place sport and attend events. They are central to our identity, and the identity of our City. We want more people to uses them and rave about them.”
The plans to create more vibrant and actives places in the Park Lands are balanced with an understanding and retention of large areas of untouched natural open space.
“The Park Lands play an important role in helping us reconnect with nature, they help cool the City, and increasingly will help us adapt to climate change.”
SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS OF THE 2015 “SHAPE YOUR PARK LANDS” CONSULTATION:
The consultation ran for 11 weeks and during that time:
- It collected more than 1,50 ideas large, medium and small
- More than 50 people participated in the online forum
- The consultation website received more than 2,275 ‘like’ votes and over 680 ‘I’m not sold’ votes
- 22,843 page views
- 5,683 website visits
- It reached more than 50,000 people through Facebook
- Respondents were 52% female and 48% male
- 20% of respondents resided in the City of Adelaide area