RADIO INTERVIEW: FiveAA: Morphettville Racecourse development and traffic

Jayne Stinson, Member for Badcoe   (FIVEaa 9.15-9.26) 

 Host, Matthew Pantelis: Yesterday, about 24 hours ago in fact, the SAJC released a plan for a $350million redevelopment of the Morphettville Racecourse, or I suppose it’s really a development, it’s on empty ground as I understand it. But, it will include a community plaza for year-round events, a big entrance coming in off Anzac Highway, mixed-use apartments, 150 residences, 250 townhouses, a low-rise 2-3 story apartments, a supermarket, shops, a hospitality outlet, and a new tavern … Major project … wetlands out in the middle and all the rest. How do locals feel about that? Let’s get a perspective from Jayne Stinson, the State Member for the seat of Badcoe, Plympton Park the area we’re talking about, hello Jayne … what have people been telling you?

Well, people in Plympton Park in particular have known about this development for some time so I’ve had the opportunity to speak with people since I’ve been representing the area of Plympton Park and look it’s fair to say that there are some serious concerns from people in that community, particularly around traffic.

I wouldn’t say that people are opposed to the development overall, in fact, a lot of people in our community recognise that we do need more affordable housing and more housing full stop. And a lot of people live in the area because they like the racecourse and they like going to races and supporting the industry.

So, I wouldn’t say that people are opposed to it overall, but there are some serious concerns about what it’s going to mean for some traffic and some quite narrow streets, which we’re expecting these new residents to be exiting their properties to be able to access Marion Road.

So, in particular, Park Terrace, which is in Plympton Park, it looks like it’s going to be a main thoroughfare, and at the moment it’s just a little residential street with residents who’ve lived in the area for decades, and they’re really concerned about the volume of traffic that’s going to be coming through their community.

So, that’s why I’m at the Morphettville Racecourse right now! I actually requested a briefing and I’m heading in to chat with the CEO about what this actually means for our community, pose some of the questions that my community’s asking and see if we can come to some sort of outcome in the longer term that’s going to be better for my constituents.

Pantelis: … here’s what some people said on Nine News last night about it, locals. [Audio grab: Vox pops, “We will have a lot of traffic going in and out if they’re going to use this gate.” “If they’re going to have over 2,000 people there, how are they going to get to and from their jobs, the increased traffic on our streets.” End grab] So, traffic does really seem to be the key element …

Yeah, absolutely, that’s the resounding message I’m getting from residents and I’ve been getting for some time. I started a survey on my Facebook so that people can give me their thoughts directly and also I’ll be having a community meeting on the weekend for Plympton Park locals so that I can chat with them and gauge their thoughts.

There have been some changes to the plans since we last saw them so I’m keen to see what locals think of that and if that’s changed their views or how they’d like me to represent them in their views.

The other thing that’s really important to local people is consultation. People want to have a say about this, they want to get their message across to the Morphettville Racecourse and there are questions about what consultation the racecourse will be doing with local people and how much of a role they’ll have and how much local influence local people can have on that critical issue of traffic.

Pantelis: …the fact there are other apartment buildings along Anzac Highway, are there traffic issues as a result of those?

Quite a few of those front onto Anzac Highway which is obviously a major thoroughfare, six lanes, which can really handle higher volumes but of course there are concerns in my community about other developments as well. My community in the inner south is one that’s experiencing a really aggressive level of urban infill and high rise apartments as well as town houses and that means we are seeing a really sudden volume of people coming into the area – that is quite a shock for some of our areas which are single storey.

So, it is an issue across my electorate but you’re talking about some 400 new residents here, which is a very large number compared to some of the other developments that we’ve seen along Anzac Highway.

Pantelis: … the main way in and out will be through those back streets … to the south of Cross Road …)

That’s right … that’s exactly what I’m trying to get some information on today – how firm the plans are in terms of internal roads and where these new residents in these 400 new dwellings are going to be exiting the site.

My community’s concerned that all, if not most, of those new residents will be exiting onto Park Terrace and I can understand why they’re concerned – that’s a little narrow residential street that’s not used to having that volume of traffic … we’re going to have to look at what the traffic plans are and certainly I’ll be asking for a copy of the traffic study that hopefully I’ll be able to share with my community so people can get informed about what planning has been done around this and whether we think it’s suitable in our community.

Pantelis: … your electorate … we build all these apartments along this main road, particularly Anzac Highway … do we have the bus transport for them, do we have the tram transport for them? Do we need to look at boosting infrastructure in that regard … not everyone will want to drive every day to work along Anzac Highway, they’ll want to use public transport and I imagine … trams, which run pretty frequently as it is now, but if they fill up from Morphettville Racecourse heading into town, that creates problems further down the track.

I think we do need to make our public transport more attractive, that’s one of the reasons we’re bringing our public transport system, our trams and trains back into public hands. My area actually is pretty flush with public transport options, obviously we’ve got major bus routes but also the tram and train lines criss-cross through my electorate in the inner south, so those options are there, but we absolutely need to encourage people to use those more and we do see that when developers put in applications to build large new developments, they often do say ‘oh, look we don’t need as much parking, we don’t need to worry about traffic so much because so many of the new residents will use public transport. Sometimes that’s the case, other times it’s not. But we absolutely have to make sure that public transport’s a really viable option for people, that the timetables suit them, that they feel safe and secure on public transport so that they’re taking it and leaving the car behind.

Pantelis: Indeed, alright, appreciate your time … thank you …