20 Feb, 2015

Update From City of Adelaide On Disability Parking At Adelaide Oval

I’d like to reiterate Council’s role in supporting improvements for people with a disability accessing Adelaide Oval and clarify what came out of a recent City of Adelaide Committee meeting about disability parking on Pinky Flat.

It’s not clear to me why criticism from disability groups is solely directed at City of Adelaide. We believe the undersupply of disabled parking at the Oval is a problem to be solved not only by us but State Government, the Stadium Management Authority (SMA) and disability groups together. We’ve been working since day one to do that.

The reality is there were between 200 and 300 people accessing disability parking for AFL games at West Lakes before the move to the city and with this knowledge the new Adelaide Oval was built with its legislative minimum of 37 disabled parks.

In the first AFL season at the oval, space in the Torrens Parade Ground was set aside for disabled parking but this didn’t solve the chronic undersupply experienced at either end of the ground. To help manage this, we’ve already endorsed the plan for the SMA to install a hard stand surface for one hundred additional parks for people with a disability at the northern end of the Oval.

Council’s meeting on Tuesday night confirmed our support for the installation of new DDA compliant set down points on King William Road and War Memorial Drive to improve access, particularly to the southern end of the Adelaide Oval.

It is correct that Council’s reaffirmed its view that no vehicles should be parking on Pinky Flat. The area is not DDA compliant but this doesn’t stop a vehicle from traversing the Pinky Flat roadway to improve access and egress for War Memorial Drive.

With vehicles using the Pinky Flat roadway to loop around, it will reduce much of traffic congestion on War Memorial Drive and open up the possibility of parking spaces for people with a disability in one of the traffic lanes at the western end of the Drive. It’ll also add to overall pedestrian safety.

We also believe the SMA has the potential to relocate premium and general parkers currently using Oval 2 to the Torrens Parade Ground and clear the way for closer access to the southern end of the stadium for people who need it more.

Council wants to find a balance that gives better parking outcomes for people with a disability using Adelaide Oval, but this is a dilemma that will be solved together, not individually.

Martin Haese, Lord Mayor City of Adelaide