Alexander Scott

2014 candidate for City of West Torrens.
Heritage survey responses.

What do you think Council's role is in protecting and conserving heritage?
I believe that Council has a huge role in protecting and conserving heritage, especially when it comes to their decisions on the DAP. Looking at West Torrens, and the Keswick ward in particular, we have a large number of heritage style homes, especially in the Mile End pocket of the city. It is defiantly important to protect the look and feel of the area by ensuring the heritage style homes don't get demolished for a set of units. But I do also believe that we need to allow home owners the ability to make their home their own. Not as much with homes that have been kept in good condition, but some of the homes that have been allowed to be rundown - I would love to see them be renovated to their former glory on the outside but would also have no objection to updating the inside of the home to modern standards
What measures and incentives do you support to protect and conserve local heritage?
I have heard many stories from people owning heritage style or heritage listed homes, that the cost of maintance is much higher than a home from the 60's or 70's. The issue always seems to be with the tight restrictions on what they are actually allowed to do to their homes, from paint colour, facade restoration and the general feel of the home. These heavy regulations, I believe, not only make it a huge burden to people owning these homes, but I think that they actually act as a deterrent to buying these homes or to renovating and maintaining them, which only compacts the issue of high costs and eventually mounting the argument for demolition. I would like to see a loosening of restrictions - to allow home owners to keep the feel and style of their homes but not to have to use a certain colour or a certain type of timber.
What is the most important heritage protection issue in your local government area?
At the moment, the biggest heritage issue in Keswick is what we should do with the old Mothers and Children's building in Kesmond Reserve, Keswick. Their are two very strong and compelling arguments for the building. One is that the cost of restoring the building to a usable state, including removing asbestos in the building, would cost over $300,000, which is much higher than the cost of demolition and building a new room. Added to this is the fact that the council haven't been able to lease it for over 5 years, and would struggle to make back their large investment in the building. The other argument is that we should keep maintenance up in the area of West Torrens and that if we did, we wouldn't need to spend this much money on restoring the building. Their is around $140,000 budgeted for maintenance over the last 5 years that the administration has decided not to do. If this general maintenance had been done we wouldn't be talking about whether to demolish the building or not. I don't personally have an opinion one way or another on whether we should keep the building. I would be going around to the residents and seeing what their desire is and pushing that.,
What policies and programs will you advocate to protect and conserve heritage in your local area?
I will be advocating for council to listen to the residents and ratepayers on what their wishes are for the area. With the State Government's plans for 'Greater Adelaide', we know that our main arterial roads, especially ANZAC Highway, will be transformed into high density housing. I will be pushing to keep our suburbs a family orientated area with houses and small sub-divisions where necessary. I will also be pushing to keep the look and feel of our area, and to keep the older style homes, especially in Mile End and Glandore and to work towards regulations that allow certain freedom for residents but also keep the heritage style of the home
Do you support local Councils retaining development approval powers for projects over $3m in value?
I support local Council retaining all approval for their area. .
Do you have any other thoughts about the protection of heritage in your Council area?