John Photakis

2022 candidate for City of Onkaparinga.
Heritage survey responses.

Do you think that Councils and community members need to have a greater voice in planning and development decisions affecting their local area?
In short yes, I think it's very important we have people at the centre of the planning and development process.
What role should Councils play in protecting local heritage places from demolition or inappropriate development?
If issues in politics is highly localised, then heritage is similar. Local people recognise places that are or should be protected as local heritage. I think we need better communication to the people about what happens when a development e.g. the new hackham suburb division where there are a few local heritage sites, what these developments mean for these sites and how the landscape will change around them.
How would you seek to improve protections for heritage places in your area?
If we don't protect these spaces, their culture and story is lost. I don't think we are very good at valuing what is heritage and we can't really restore what we have lost
We rarely see new places added to local heritage listings. Why do you think this is?
This is a great question, I've never thought of this. I can only speculate that people don't want to leave their house or land to the state for whatever reason. Perhaps newer building are built to be taken down easily and quickly and aren't built to last.
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?
My changes I'd make to the design code wouldn't directly affect heritage. I have been watching a lot of town planning on Youtube. One very interesting video or a city moving a heritage church and graveyard to make way for a air strip
What are the impacts of infill development in your area? What changes would you seek in the rules around infill development?
Well there is very little infill in our area, but I imagine opposition to infill is very high in my area. As long as we stick to the plan for Greater Adelaide with the 70/30 Infill vs. greenfield development, we are going to need to do infill and urban consolidation. I just don't support ugly houses but that's very subjective and means different things to different people. I think for my area we desperately need a more diverse build of housing and much for social and affordable public housing.
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?
My area our houses are old and need to be renewed, they aren't built with good heating or cooling, very poor insulation, holes are appearing in them and don't incorporate passive solar heating or water sensitive urban design. I think it is too hard to retrofit this and better to renew the housing stock here.
How should the community be informed and involved in decisions about new developments?
I once had this say when a neighbor a few streets away wanted to build a shed on his property. It was a bit jarring because we didn't know why we were being asked for consent and we tried to understand on the map where it was going to be and now it's build we can't see it unless we go to their house so it didn't really affect us. Another example was a few streets down is an investment property and has 4 tenants and the land lord was applying to double the capacity of this one house so 8 different people are living in the one house. My neighbour asked what they should say and I just thought that's just too many people to fit into 1 house like sharing facilities and personal space, I just don't think that could possibly be a healthy home to live in and I don't think the land lord should have the right to do that
Do you think there is adequate tree canopy across your local government area?
Nope, our area has more than other parts of the council but it still gets very hot and dry in summer and we need more shade, tree cover for people, biota and the atmosphere
How would you like to see significant and regulated trees in your area protected from removal?
I think there is lots of confusion about tree rights and there needs to be a lot more clarity and monitoring and enforcement of rules if we are going to protect any trees for removal, not just significant or regulated.
What involvement should Councils have in decisions about protecting or removing significant and regulated trees?
They need the power, resources and capacity to monitor and enforce the rules
What actions would you advocate to slow or mitigate the impacts of climate change in your local government area?
1. Declare a climate emergency for one, and continue to work on and support projects of climate mitigation and resilience
What issues are there with traffic and parking in your area?
There arn't many alternatives from car travel. The transport grid incentives car travel which adds to the cost of living and makes alternative forms of transport harder to work and more expensive
How could transport options be improved in your area?
Change the planning code to promote walkable neighbourhoods, where people can reach services and meet there needs close to home
What would your top three priorities be for improving planning policy and outcomes in your local government area?
Put people at the centre of public planning
Fix the housing crisis
Protect our open and green spaces