Tom O’Donnell

2022 candidate for City of Playford.
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! I believe that the primary purpose of the council is to provide a platform for residents voices to be heard and to allow residents to have greater involvement in local legislature.

2. What role should Councils play in protecting local heritage places from demolition or inappropriate development?
   I'm supportive of the council adopting a historical preservation policy to prevent over development of historical/first nations sites. This also includes a policy to mandate a regular up-keeping schedule at said sights. As a resident of the Playford area I have seen multiple historical sites and places of First Nations cultural significance lost to vandalism and careless developers. Historical Preservation is something I am very passionate about.

3. How would you seek to improve protections for heritage places in your area?
   I'm currently serving as the first chair of the Northern Historical Preservation Society and have worked closely with the "Elizabeth That Was" Facebook page to better public education and awareness of historical preservation issues within our area. I will campaign for the council to adopt a historical preservation and heritage protection policy that would prevent the needless destruction of historical sites as well as also mandating regular up keeping schedules and maintenance to keep these sites in good working order. I am also passionate about the council adopting a grave site protection policy, there are many graves dotted around the Playford council area that date back to early settlement that are either unmarked or the headstones have been destroyed. This is simply unacceptable and I will fight for the council to introduce a grave site protection policy, that will mandate the upkeep and necessary protection for graves in the area.

4. We rarely see new places added to local heritage listings. Why do you think this is?
   Local heritage listing is an extremely important part of our local culture and recognising our past as a community. I believe that we rarely see new additions to our local heritage register because the general public lacks the knowledge of the history of our area to begin with. This is why Council needs to take the initiative in providing more publicly available education in regards to local history. It has been a long time goal of mine to establish a self guided walking tour of the Northern suburbs historical sites. To achieve such a thing, the local heritage register will be immensely valuable to locate and document such sites.

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?
   Adjacent to my local area, we have seen an entire township practically flattened to make way for suburban development and commercial centres. Whilst some small relics of the past still remain, the vast majority of Smithfield's past has been completely lost to time and destruction.

6. What are the impacts of infill development in your area? What changes would you seek in the rules around infill development?
   I am unaware of any infill development causing damage in my ward. However, I agree that proper caution and consideration for the long term be used before undertaking such a task.

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?
   I believe in the old saying of "If it's not broken, don't fix it!". However, I believe that it's not the duty of council to dictate what homeowners seek to do their own property but to regulate and provide strict guidelines on what can and cannot be done. In the case of historical properties, I believe that the council should have a policy preventing serious structural changes it would completely modify the actual composition of the structure itself.

8. How should the community be informed and involved in decisions about new developments?
   Advertising via leaf drops, social media and local radio at a minimum.

9. Do you think there is adequate tree canopy across your local government area?
   "Getting there" comes to mind. The Urban tree canopy across Playford is growing but as always there is more room for improvement.

10. How would you like to see significant and regulated trees in your area protected from removal?
    I would like to see the council Arbor team as well as qualified environmental services dim the tree is safe or not safe. We must also be very considerate of the fire danger risk that certain species of tree can hold. I always believe in getting a second opinion before any decision is made.

11. What involvement should Councils have in decisions about protecting or removing significant and regulated trees?
    If it's on council property, then it's the council's issue. If it is on private property then I believe the council should have minimal input unless the tree is posing a significant health and safety risk.

12. What actions would you advocate to slow or mitigate the impacts of climate change in your local government area?
    More tree planting, creating larger green spaces, more local wetlands, etc.

13. What issues are there with traffic and parking in your area?
    Over development and streets that aren't sufficient enough to hold large amounts of traffic. Traffic snakes and bottlenecking a large issues within certain parts of the ward that I am running to represent. Most of the suburbs within this Ward were designed before the rapid population growth of the area between the year 2000 to now. As a result of this many of the streets are designed around only needing to serve a smaller amount of vehicles.

14. How could transport options be improved in your area?
    Public transport improvement is always a must. We need more incentive for people to be using public transport, the best incentive is to simply make something better than what it already is.

15. What would your top three priorities be for improving planning policy and outcomes in your local government area?
    Historical Preservation/Grave Site Protection
    Green Space Improvement
    Historical Structure Modification Mitigation