Di Wilkins

2022 candidate for City of Burnside.
Heritage survey responses.

1. Do you think that Councils and community members need to have a greater voice in planning and development decisions affecting their local area?
   Absolutely they do!.....people want to know what decisions that affect properties and the amenities in their neighbourhood, suburb and their city. Totally out of character infill development that has been proliferating our suburbs in this city thanks to previous 16 years of previous gov under Minister Rau's development plan changes, has the potential to devalue their own investment in their on homes, particularly in heritage and character areas. People should have the right to review development as part of the Council planning process.

2. What role should Councils play in protecting local heritage places from demolition or inappropriate development?
   Instead of removing Council's knowledge of their local areas, Councils and residents should be allowed to add extra protections to existing homes, in all built heritage areas, and not allow existing tight protections to be watered down' or diminished or extinguished altogether. Local knowledge is paramount and should add greater depth of knowledge over and above the knowledge of government departments of heritage which are now virtually non-existent; they have been reduced in no of staff and quality of staff giving heritage advice & seeming to be always on the side of the developers of projects when it comes to agreeing to demolition of built heritage.

3. How would you seek to improve protections for heritage places in your area?
   Allow Councils to add heritage items to local heritage and state heritage lists and strengthen the protections under the state Act, not diminish protections to allow developers to proceed forthwith to demolish and build their 'glass or shoe boxes' in our city and our neighbourhoods. Glenside Hospital site is a classic example of heritage being 'trashed' by state government regulations & takeover by previous governments.

4. We rarely see new places added to local heritage listings. Why do you think this is?
   Governments & the Minister in the past did not want further built heritage listings, so Council's did try but the documents languished on the Minister's desk and not further action was allowed. Sometimes when past historic surveys were conducted, items were missed because facades were covered over, as has just been revealed this past week in the city, so Councils should have been allowed to identify, record and add extra items to the Local & State Heritage lists so this evidence of our past history is not destroyed.

5. How has the Planning and Design Code impacted on the heritage, amenity, and environment of your area? What changes would you seek to the Code?
   I want to see our past Heritage Zone Protections returned and strengthened when every heritage item in our suburb was identified on the suburb map & non complying development was clearly stated. I want demolition protections strengthened & demolition of entire character homes to not be allowed. People rush in and demolish all built form and gardens, heritage trees & shrubs so the builder has a 'brown clean' site to build upon. Often the block will sit with no vegetation for months, when mature trees could have been saved and incorporated into a character rebuild on that site that complemented the existing mature street scape.

6. What are the impacts of infill development in your area? What changes would you seek in the rules around infill development?
   No Demolition of character homes, under the guise of too expensive to restore, 'economic imperative'. ie the home of the Kingsford Smith brothers in Walkerville; the Romalo House in Magill, Glenside Hospital site etc etc.....There should be wide consultation in the neighbourhood & wide distribution of the plan of the home to be built within that street in that neighbourhood. Currently under the present regime, if lucky, the neighbour on either side of the proposed development, can read the A4 page posted on the gate or post......The whole system is designed to favour development at all costs in our eastern and inner suburbs.

7. Construction of new housing typically uses 30% labour and 70% materials. Renovation of existing housing stock typically uses 70% labour and 30% materials. What policy changes would you like to see made to encourage people to renovate, rather than demolish and build anew?
   Encourage training in skilled trades, as restoration, conservation provides more work than new housing builds. Training skilled artisans is a priority for the National Trust of SA.

8. How should the community be informed and involved in decisions about new developments?
   Wide consultation should happen in that local community and Council should advise residents by a mail out in that local suburb, street and Council area. Any resident should be able to present to the CAP on a development in their neighbourhood.

9. Do you think there is adequate tree canopy across your local government area?
   Yes but no more eucalypt species, only in open parkland and not on verge areas. We should be planting avenues of trees that are smaller ie Indian Summer crepe myrtles, & our iconic tree, the blue or white jacaranda.

10. How would you like to see significant and regulated trees in your area protected from removal?
    If significant or regulated trees are close to existing homes, & a branch drops then the tree needs should be removed if unstable. We had instances of this in this past storm. People and homes are our safety priority.

11. What involvement should Councils have in decisions about protecting or removing significant and regulated trees?
    Councils should prioritise the initial planting of safer trees & not plant further eucalypts in high density suburban streets. Only plant furture sig & reg trees in the foothills and open parkland.

12. What actions would you advocate to slow or mitigate the impacts of climate change in your local government area?
    Encourage recycling of rubbish and their should be changes in development that do not allow 99% of the block to be concreted and built upon. In my area it was regulated to be 50% which lef soil uncovered to collect rainfall and small trees to be planted on site, providing cover for smaller birds. This whole amenity under the current act has been destroyed.

13. What issues are there with traffic and parking in your area?
    Cut through traffic is creating a major traffic and parking problem in my local suburb. The Unley model of blocking off streets has proved to be a winner of the last 20+ years for the residents in that Council area. Quite safe suburban streets.

14. How could transport options be improved in your area?
    Keep traffic out of neighbourhood roads and only travel on state roads where buses should be smaller and offer more frequent travel times.

15. What would your top three priorities be for improving planning policy and outcomes in your local government area?
    Return decision making to local councils & not remove it as has been the case by previous governments
    More information and advice to local residents in the affected neighbourhood.
    Extra additions to listing of heritage properties both local & state should be continually updated & not neglected or rejected.