Emma Jane Flowerdew

2014 candidate for City of Marion.
Heritage survey responses.

1. What do you think Council's role is in protecting and conserving heritage?
   Council has an important role to play as it is the body that regulates new development. It is important that Council that respects our heritage as once something is gone - it is gone forever.

2. What measures and incentives do you support to protect and conserve local heritage?
   If financial rewards are put in to place it may, unfortunately, over burden council with unnecessary heritage applications. We need to find a balance between this and rewarding those that lodge a successful application. Balancing heritage is important but it needs to be council in combination with the community - the community is who will benefit in the end.

3. What is the most important heritage protection issue in your local government area?
   Our area is seeing a lot of redevelopment which is great for our future but not much consideration is being put in to the historical implications of this. Unfortunately though a lot of heritage buildings in our area have asbestos which makes them very costly for safe renovations. The other issue is the lack of protection of large trees due to the introduction of foreign plant life in open spaces.

4. What policies and programs will you advocate to protect and conserve heritage in your local area?
   I am a believer in making sure our open spaces and public areas use native and indigenous fauna in order to reinvigorate the local environment. These are often also a lot cheaper to fund as many require less water and they also bring back native wildlife.

5. Do you support local Councils retaining development approval powers for projects over $3m in value?
   Yes. The council should have main control, in conjunction with state government (and even the federal government in some projects), as they are the ones that will have regulatory control over the project when completed. Giving up this control may result in a lack of protection on local concerns.

6. Do you have any other thoughts about the protection of heritage in your Council area?
   I believe that heritage should be respected if it is wanted by the community and it is safe for the community to protect it. All councils need to take in to account these wants and desires whilst keeping heritage in mind. Also safety issues need to also be taken in to account such as asbestos (in buildings) and safety of surrounding houses (in regards to trees etc).