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Media Release

February 5 2010

Buckland Park development inappropriate, says academic

Assoc Prof Jon KellettThe newly approved Buckland Park development for Adelaide’s outer north is an unwise choice for expansion, says UniSA’s Head of Urban and Regional Planning Associate Professor Jon Kellett.
 
“My view of the news that the Buckland Park development has been approved is one of profound disappointment,” Assoc Prof Kellett says.
 
“This was never a wise choice of location for the expansion of Adelaide because of its distance from employment and services, its dependence on road transport and its physical attributes. The site is low lying and potentially flood prone.”
 
Assoc Prof Kellett says in the short to medium term it is likely to increase commuting into the urban core which is at odds with current planning policy.
 
“At the same time that the new Planning Strategy for Greater Adelaide is trying to refocus new housing and employment within the existing urban boundary with the declared intention of creating a more sustainable, climate resilient city, it is folly to declare a major new development in a place that is likely to increase car travel, increase greenhouse gas emissions and encourage more peripheral development,” he said.
 
“In the long run it also threatens the fertile market garden land around Virginia as the inexorable logic of joining up scattered urban areas drives future decision making.
 
“The argument that it will provide 2,200 new construction jobs per year is spurious. These jobs would be created wherever urban development of the scale required in the new Adelaide plan is located.  Building at Buckland Park simply ensures that most of these workers will be driving long distances to build the new suburb.
 
“I support the Planning Institute of Australia’s response, namely that ‘the remote Buckland Park is not an appropriate location for development of this scale’.”


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